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zivazivc · 3 years

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Pinocchio AU

Okay people want the explanation for this comic so here it goes. It’s long and complicated and MESSED UP because of course it is, this is me. I’m going to write in points because my small tired brain can’t handle good english atm but basically to sum up the Adrien was a sentimonster theory or Pinocchio AU as I like to call it:

Young married Emilie and Gabriel can’t have kids. Gabriel reluctantly accepts this fate and even brings up adoption as a possibility once, but Emilie doesn’t want to hear any of that. She’s a bit of a Marinette in the sense that she pictures this romanticized ideal life for herself and a child—her flesh and blood—HAS to be in it.

They keep trying to get a baby while other young families Emilie knows keep growing. She feels left out and hurt and depressed, then her newlywed twin sister announces she’s expecting a baby too and something within Emilie just unhinges.

She eventually lies to some of her friends, who she was out for coffee with, that she’s pregnant too. She mostly does it just to see their reaction and feel what it would be like but it quickly spirals out of control where she just starts pretending she’s pregnant until you can’t even tell if she believes it herself.

Gabriel is confused at first because he hears the news second hand (a friend/family member congratulating him) so he’s apprehensive when he approaches his wife but she convinces him that they really are getting a baby and Gabriel is ecstatic.

It’s only later at a doctor’s check up that Gabriel learns that she indeed is not pregnant. The doctor even speaks to him alone explaining that his wife is in denial and that he should make sure she goes to see a psychiatrist, something she definitely wouldn’t do alone.

Gabriel is unsuccessful with that because he’s not entirely persistent, doesn’t want to be the guy with the crazy wife having to tell everyone she lied about being pregnant, and hopelessly believes she’ll just get over it eventually.

That is until her “pregnancy is near due”—her sister already had Félix in England a few months ago—and he stumbles on her transformed with her peacock miraculous (they already have both of them) creating a sentimonster newborn.

They have a huge fight about it but because Emilie refuses to destroy it, won’t tell Gabriel where the amok is, and Gabriel can’t just hurt the baby with his hands, Emilie just… wins. Fucked up, yeah?

Now she tried creating kids before this one, using her imagination to try and blend her and Gabriel’s looks but it just wasn’t working. So she decided to copy of photos of baby Félix because he already looked almost like a copy of his mother, and Amélie and Emilie already looked alike so it’s not so weird?—is what her mind was telling her.

She didn’t dare alter his looks but she decided to give the baby Gabriel’s eye color to include the “father” in some way. (Yes in that comic I made I gave Adrien a mix of green and gray but that was mainly to get the point across to the perceptive readers)

Now we got Adrien, a normal baby boy to the whole world except for Gabriel who’s forced into his wife’s fantasy through social expectations.

Why are we only at this point and this post is already so long AAAAAAAA!!!

Adrien physically basically grows in a way where Emilie just keeps changing his appearance to match what Félix looked like a few months prior.

Mentally he’s like a robot just taking in information without really needing to learn it. So Emilie decides when he says his first word, she decides when he learns to walk,… He knows how to walk, he just wasn’t given the command to do so yet.

But even so he does develop a personality over time, just slower, because unlike a normal child who’s always testing his boundaries, how far they’re allowed to go until they’re in real trouble, Adrien just can’t misbehave. At all.

But he does have his favorite foods and favorite toys, and jokes that make him laugh the most. The problem is just that Emilie could just decide that his favorite food is strawberries and he’d just start acting accordingly, rewiring his belief.

He also isn’t allowed to argue or be mean to others which is why Félix thinks he’s a goody two-shoes weirdo while Chloé the brat adores him.

This behavior isn’t so hard to hide with a toddler who’s fickle but it’s harder and harder as the kid grows. Which is why the family becomes very secluded over time.

Gabriel always keeps distance with his “son”. He’s not Dad, he’s Father, he doesn’t do hugs and cuddles, he doesn’t say I love you. But Adrien knows he loves him because his mom told him so and he loves him back unconditionally because Mom said that’s what families do.

Now even though Gabriel is traumatized by this whole ordeal and knowing Adrien “isn’t real” freaks him out he does soften a bit over time. I’m going to give an awful example but like someone who hates cats softening for a cat that their partner/roommate decided to get/had from before. Continuing with this example: But still becoming appalled when the cat starts acting odd/unusually.

Okay I think you get the gist. Let’s move on…

Emilie loves her son more and more as he grows and his sentimonster behaviours start bothering her more and more too. She hates being reminded that he’s not a real boy by people mentioning he looks young for his age because Emilie forgot to make him grow for a while. She hates when he does everything like he’s told. She hates that he has no real friends because they’re afraid to expose him to the outside too much and without supervision. She hates to think about his future.

Her desire for him to be real keeps growing and is what drives her to search for a solution in the miraculous spellbook.

She cracks the script after years, when Adrien is nearly a teen, and finds a way to transfer the creators soul into a sentimonster.

It’s a long process that takes time and while she falls ill to everyone around her, Adrien becomes more real.

Gabriel starts realizing what’s happening when he notices Adrien hesitate for a second when he’s playing a video game and Gabriel wants him to do something, groan when he gets bothered watching TV, huff, complain, have slightly opposing opinions to his and Emilie’s, when he argues with his mother when she tells him she’s feeling fine; when he notices his son’s eyes are greener. Or is it all in his head?

He confronts his wife too late, when she’s extremely ill already, her normally vibrant eyes dulled match Adrien’s bluish gray, and he pieces together in his head what she’s doing.

Before Gabriel could properly think what to do to stop the love of his life from turning into a lifeless doll, in a fit of panic he tries to take her wedding band (where he knows Adrien’s amok is) to get rid of Adrien instead, but is unsuccessful in getting it off her so he snatches her peacock brooch instead (which she needs to complete the spell obvs) and breaks it. (Heyoo! broken peacock miraculous. things are coming together)

Because the spell was almost complete anyway it’s Emilie who falls unconscious. But she doesn’t disappear because she’s not a real sentimonster, she just becomes dormant like one.

This is the point in the story where Gabriel makes it seem like Emilie ran away or something like that—basically disappear. Now he’s living knowing he has an almost sentimonster wife in the basement, knowing he almost killed his son (or her), and having to care for a son that suddenly became much more alive, questioning, arguing, angry, screaming, not accepting, crying, grieving, staring at him with Emilie’s eyes.

Instead of becoming a real parent, Gabriel shuts him out.

Soon Adrien evolves desires for socializing, company, getting away from the suffocating home which eventually leads to him going to a public school.

He slowly starts to live life freely without the restrictions that were put around his thoughts.

Gabriel has an even stranger relationship with Adrien now because he still loves him in a way but also holds resentment toward him. But mostly he sees him as something valuable.

The show happens here… And now finally we get to the comic…

Gabriel gets a hold of the ladybug and black cat miraculouses. (There’s no epic fight in his lair as you see there’s no Ladybug in the comic but that’s not really important)

What’s important is that Gabriel had deciphered the miraculous spellbook with the help of Emilie’s notes and had decided to use the unification’s “wish” power to awaken Emilie.

He’s aware he’ll need to sacrifice something for the wish to come true and he’s certain Adrien should be enough because the soul inside him is literally the one thing Emilie is missing.

✨Adrien (poor boy just lost his miraculous) is taken to Gabriel’s lair, where he finds out his father is Hawk Moth, sees his mother, learns he’s a sentimonster, and that he’s going to become a sacrifice ✨

Of course the last part is not what happens. It’s Gabriel who ends up being sacrificed.

I can’t decide if Gabriel ends up sacrificing himself because he changed his mind in the last moment while Adrien was screaming for him to stop, OR because he didn’t love Adrien enough for him to be considered an equal exchange for his wife… O.O

But anyhow…

Emilie wakes up with Gabriel’s soul within her (hence the bluish gray eyes in the comic).

Adrien is traumatized for life.

This took me hours to write… I knew there was a reason why I didn’t want to do it. I hope I didn’t forget anything and my brain made sense of it all

Well there you have it, peeps. The Pinocchio AU. It’s as messed up as my sleep schedule. Good night.

#and they all lived happily ever after. the end #ml #miraculous ladybug #sentimonster adrien theory #sentimonster!adrien #adrien agreste #emilie agreste #gabriel agreste #pinocchio au #answered #my art

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justcourttee · 3 years

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Adrien asks mari out and she says i would of been so happy in the past but now its too little to late. She's engaged to Damian but they haven't announced it yet

Bittersweet

It had been a while since Adrien had found himself in Gotham City. Too many years to count on his hand. Yet when he received an invite from Marinette he didn’t hesitate to hop on the next flight to attend her gala.

He had no idea that she had created a partnership with Wayne Enterprises, in fact, he had no idea they were interested in the fashion world at all. Then again, why should he be surprised? When Marinette put her mind to something, nothing would get in her way.

Ever since he had taken over his father’s company, Adrien hadn’t had much time to keep up with his old school friends but it hadn’t stopped them from trying to keep him in the loop. From what he could gather, Alya and Nino would also be attending, Rose and Juleka too. It would be nice to see them all again, especially Marinette.

Stepping out from the warmth of his hotel room and into the cool streets, Adrien couldn’t help but let his mind drift to thoughts of her.

It took Marinette moving to the States for him to realize how much he was in love with her. It was something he never wanted to admit seeing how much he adored Ladybug, but as she disappeared from his grasps, he was left to face his true feelings.

Glancing at his phone, Adrien confirmed that he was mere minutes away from the address she had listed. The gala was still a few days away, but Marinette asked if he had wanted to meet up for a late-night coffee, a Gotham specialty. Even her scarf that she had gifted him ages ago couldn’t hide the red on his cheeks as he imagined the perfect date with the girl of his dreams.

He paused, reaching the door of Deja Brew, his heart beating a million miles a minute. Somewhere in this late-night shop was his best friend. How would she react to seeing him again? Would she be as excited as he was? Would she feel the same way as she did?

Taking a deep breath, he pushed through the door, his eyes glancing through the scattered exhausted customers until they landed on her. She still hadn’t noticed his presence, her nose buried into her sketchbook, her coffee still steaming beside her seemingly untouched.

She was early.

The thought almost drew a laugh as he approached the counter to place his order. Of course she would have finally picked up some time management skills by now. Marinette was 27 and slowly making a name for herself as the future of the fashion industry. That wasn’t something accomplished by constant tardiness.

He picked up his cup, placing a ten into the tip jar, the hostess’ raised eyebrows making him smile. He could already hear his father scolding him. After all, that wasn’t the way to becoming a billionaire. You only make money by holding onto it.

Honestly, Adrien didn’t understand why he had to be a billionaire. His father said it would raise the bar for their line, but it just wasn’t in Adrien’s heart to hoard all of the money unnecessarily. Maybe the Waynes offered Marinette the same advice. Maybe they had something they could relate to together.

“Excuse me ma’am, is this seat taken?”

His heart had finally slowed down but as her eyes slowly peeked up at him under her lashes, it immediately began somersaulting once more.

“Oh Gods, Adrien!” She was out of her seat before he even had the chance to set down his coffee, her arms flung around his neck. He hoped and prayed she couldn’t feel his chest threatening to explode. “You should have said something! I’ve gotten into the bad habit of zoning out in public places.”

Her smile was blinding as she unwound herself, slipping back into her seat, motioning for him to sit as well.

“How was the flight? Did you fly private or first class?”

Adrien gasped, his hand covering his chest as if she had shot him.

“I only flew business thank you very much.” Marinette’s look of mock disbelief earned a small chuckle.

“That must have been so hard for you. I really am sorry you went through so much trouble for my sake.”

“You know, I would go through so much more for you Marinette.”

Her smile faltered for a moment, so quick that if he hadn’t been staring so hard at her, he might have missed it. Did his statement make her uncomfortable? He had only meant it jokingly with the truth laced in, but he was sure his eyes gave him away. They always softened when it came to her.

Marinette cleared her voice, her true smile shining once more as if the falter never happened in the first place.

“You’ve missed so much, I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about from the beginning?” She nodded as she dove into her move to the States and how she began as an intern for the CEO, Tim Drake, years ago and slowly worked her way up to personal assistant.

She recounted how Tim found her sketchbook at work one day and showed it to his father. Together they agreed that she was their way into the fashion industry, an investment that could open the door to many more jobs for the Gotham citizens.

It took two years, but she finally had a full line that was presented at Bruce’s first fashion show.

“So many big names were there Adrien! I really thought I was gonna faint!”

His smile became softer and softer as she recounted meeting the rest of the Waynes and finally after six long years, she had made enough of a name for herself to be holding her own official Gala, the Wayne’s simply a sponsor.

“That’s amazing Marinette, you’re amazing.”

She beamed proudly, her smile pulling at his heart.

“I couldn’t have done it without them. They are genuine and kind people and they are pretty much family.” Something glistened in her eyes as she spoke of them. It could have been obvious to anyone, Marinette cared so deeply for these people.

It was Adrien’s turn to falter as an ugly thought passed.

She’s so comfortable here, she would never want to come back to Paris with me.

He was shocked with himself. This was no time for jealousy. His best friend, the love of his life, was excitedly telling him about a future she had built for herself and the only thing he could think was that it was an obstacle keeping her from him?

Adrien desperately wanted to smack his own forehead, but for Marinette’s sake he straightened out his smile instead.

“I’m so sorry. I’ve only been talking about myself! What’s new with you? How’s your dad’s business? Do you have anyone you’re seeing?”

His eyebrow raised at the last question. She asked the question he so desperately wanted to ask her. And she did it so casually, equating it to his work and social life. Did that mean she was also fishing for his response?

“Nothing much. Dad wants to move from a multi-million dollar business to a multi-billion dollar business so he’s been pretty aggressive about money lately. He didn’t even want me flying over here for the gala.”

Marinette snorted much to his amusement. She knew how his dad was and how petty he could be as well.

“And as for your last question,” he paused watching her face carefully. “No, I am not seeing anyone.”

He waited for the reaction, any reaction really. But none came. Instead, she simply nodded as if she expected as much. Maybe he had read into it too much. She really could’ve just been asking for the sake of catching up. Should he ask too? Was that what she was leading up to?

Adrien cleared his throat before taking a long draw from his cup. This was so nerve wracking. She looked so content, so grown. This was a Marinette who had grown leaps and bounds while he was still stuck in this high school romance that was quite possibly one-sided.

“Well, I hate to cut it short but it’s going to be a long day tomorrow and Damian will be here any moment to pick me up.”

She slid out of her seat so effortlessly, her sketch book snapping shut before it disappeared into a bag that he hadn’t even noticed. Her smile was just as warm as he remembered, but something was missing from the girl he loved.

“Your eyes.” The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Marinette’s smile faltered as she tentatively reached up to touch her eyelid, confusion etching it’s way into her face.

“Is there something near my eyes Adrien?”

“No, no, I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. I just-” Adrien bit his lip, trying to string his thoughts together before he sounded even more like an idiot. “You used to stare at me with such soft look. I’m sorry I never noticed, but once I did, it was all I could see. Yet now-”

He trailed off as her lips drew into an o, her hand moving slowly from her eye to her lips, trying to hide her shock.

“-now, I can still feel the love in them, love directed at me, but it’s not the same love is it?”

She looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the right words. He knew she was trying to explain that he was wrong, but couldn’t bring herself to lie. It was the only confirmation he needed.

He slid out of the booth, his hand grasping the scarf slipping from his neck.

“Marinette, I was so excited when you invited me out tonight. In fact, I thought of it as a date.” She tried to reach out, but Adrien took a step back, tears brimming in his eyes. “I don’t blame you at all, please don’t think I’m saying all this to make you feel guilty. I just had to get it off my chest.”

Adrien blinked hard, trying to spill the tears clouding his vision. This was harder to say than he thought. Her eyes were so distracting, the sympathy oozing toward him in waves.

“I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I know you’ve made your life here and I would never dream of taking that from you. Hell, if you asked me to, I would drop everything to be at your side in an instance. Is there any chance at all that after the gala ends, we could give this a shot? Just one real date. Not some deluded fantasy I created in my head, but something we both consent to.”

He flinched when her hand finally made contact with his upper arm.

“Adrien, I love you. I really do. But you were right when you said my eyes had changed. That soft look is meant for someone else now. He and I had tried to keep our relationship quiet, but tomorrow at the gala, I was going to announce my engagement to Damian.”

Adrien couldn’t help the small sob that left his mouth. He was painfully aware of the few scattered glances all directed toward him, but he couldn’t help it. He felt Marinette pulling his head down until it laid resting on her shoulder, her small arms wrapping around his figure. It was embarrassing how hard he cried, unable to hold back his sobs any longer.

“I’m so sorry Adrien, I had no idea your feelings had changed. You were always chasing after a dream when we were younger and when I left Paris, I had finally decided that there wasn’t a chance after all between us.”

He knew she meant her words as a comfort, a promise that at one point, she would have gladly accepted his offer. Why couldn’t he have seen it earlier? Why was he so blinded by a partner who never even revealed herself right to the end? He had someone who trusted and loved him with all of their being and he ignored their feelings for a what if.

Adrien slowly pulled himself from her grasp, his smile shaky. He took a moment to use the end of his scarf to dry his soaked face.

“I’m glad you told me that Marinette. I really am. And I hope you and Damian have a long and prosperous life together.”

Her eyes widened, her mouth forming the wait, but he was already out of the door, running. It was a cowards move, one he would mull over all night. But it was too painful to look into the eyes of one you love and only find pity reflecting in them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“So you came?”

Adrien turned, his smile bittersweet as he embraced Alya, his fist connecting with Nino’s outstretched hand.

“How could I not support her? She’s worked so hard to make this a reality. My feelings can take a backburner for one night.”Their eyes all trailed to the center of the room where she stood, her arm threaded through with the man he assumed to be Damian Wayne. “Besides, you can tell. She loves that man beside her more than anything in this world.”

The glint of the ring on her finger caused an aching in his heart. Despite it all, he really did wish the Wayne boy no ill will. If he was who Marinette chose to spend the rest of her life with, then Adrien trusted her decision.

“I’ve never seen her smile so bright. And to think, I used to believe her smile was at its maximum blindlingness.” Nino’s chuckle earned a small chuckle from Adrien as well.

There was no denying it.

Marinette was where she belonged. The only thing left was for him to support her in any way that he could. And that was exactly what he planned to do.

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#daminette #maribat #miraculous ladybug

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starshine583 · 3 years

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New Girl on the Block (19)

(Hey, everyone!!! Thank you so much for your patience while I was away. It’s good to be back! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!)

Ch. 1 / Ch. 18 / Ch. 20 (ao3)

Chapter 19: A Date with Misery

“Marinette, you are.. an incredible person.”

“You don’t need anyone to validate how amazing you are.”

“You are talented, kind, and capable all on your own.”

Felix’s words from the night before played over in Marinette’s mind again and again, an endless loop that she found herself incapable of escaping, and with each echo, her heart seemed to melt further than she thought possible. The comments were simply too honey-sweet, too sincere. She couldn’t help reveling in them. How long had he thought of her that way? How long had he placed her on such a high pedestal that she wasn’t aware of? Marinette knew that Felix had a tendency to make unexpected comments every now and then, but last night truly caught her off guard.. and perhaps made her just a tad bit love-stricken. Had he always spoken to her in that soft manner, the one that made her believe she could be the very stars in his night sky? Had he always possessed the ability to send her heart fluttering the way it did last night, when he allowed her to pull him onto the dance floor and hold him incredibly close? She had no way of knowing, and certainly not enough nerve to ask aloud. But, oh, how her mind ran rampant with fantasies anyway. Will she ever be able to dance with him like that again? Would he look at her the same way he had then, with eyes that felt soft as a cloud in the moment? Did he go home last night and think about her too, endlessly turning on his bed and glancing at his diary- if he kept one, that is -and thinking maybe just one more entry-

“Marinette?”

Marinette jumped, nearly falling off of the ladder that she’d been balancing on, and felt a blush explode across her cheeks.

“Nothing! What? I mean-” She flailed her arms a bit to regain balance, then peeked down at the person below, the very boy she’d been fantasizing about “-Did you need something?”

Felix stood at the base of the ladder, his brows furrowed slightly. “..No. I just wanted to know if there was something wrong with your heart.”

Marinette sputtered, her blush deepening considerably. She couldn’t have been that obvious, right? What expression was she making before he came over?

“M-My heart?” She asked- or rather, squeaked.

Felix pointed to a stream of hearts on the wall, the ones she was supposed to be taking down. “You were staring at one of the hearts for quite a while. Is it ripped?”

“Oh.” She said, staring blankly at the wall. The paper hearts. He meant the paper hearts hanging next to her. Not her heart specifically. That made a lot more sense. “No, sorry. The hearts are fine. I was just, uh.. you know.. reminiscing. We had a lot of fun times with these decorations.”

“Ah,” Felix tilted his head up in a slight nod, “my apologies for interrupting you then.”

“Oh, you didn’t.” Marinette assured hastily. “It really wasn’t anything important.”

Definitely wasn’t anything important..

She plucked out the pin that held the hearts and started down the ladder to move to the other end of the stream. Felix offered a hand to help her down in the process, and she took it, strongly ignoring the tingling sensation that came from doing so.

“If you’d like to keep one as a memorial, I’m sure Allegra wouldn’t mind.” He remarked. “I doubt she’s going to keep any of these things herself after all the parties they’ve had.”

Marinette hummed. Keeping a heart streamer as a memorial, huh? That didn’t sound like a bad idea.

“Thanks. I just might do that.”

Felix gave her the tiniest of smiles, the kind Marinette was used to catching at this point, and slipped his hand out of hers when her feet hit the ground. She clasped her hands together afterwards to compensate, also ignoring the fact that it might have been nice for him to hold her hand just a tad bit longer.

“Would you like help moving the ladder?” He asked, to which she shook her head.

“I’ve got it, but if you could move the box over to the other round table while I move the ladder, I would be grateful.”

Allegra had given her an empty box to put the decorations in as she took them off of the wall. So far, Marinette had exactly.. zero decorations in the box. Gosh, how long had she been staring at that heart? Was she going insane? Why would she even be thinking about Felix this way? He’d just told her last night that he wasn’t interested in romance. Falling for him would be guaranteed heartbreak! It would be completely ridiculous! It would.. It would..

It would probably be inevitable.

Felix was just too sweet to her, too kind. He was always looking out for her and supporting her, always sharing his quiet laughs and amused smiles, and he said too many things that made her head spin for her not to start liking him. There was just no escape! It was going to happen eventually. The only question now was when.

And maybe today was her answer.

Stop it. Marinette scolded herself as she picked up the ladder to walk it over. It’s just some butterflies in your stomach. How many of those did you digest around Adrien?

Marinette froze midstep, an immense sense of horror washing over her. Oh, gosh, this wasn’t going to be another Adrien situation, was it? It couldn’t be. She refused to go through that again. At least not this soon.

Marinette continued walking, if only to avoid Felix’s suspicions, and set up the ladder under the next pin that was holding up her stream.

When you think about it, this really can’t be another Adrien situation, right? With Adrien, she had no idea whether he liked her or not, but was hopeful despite that and used her friends in an effort to gain his attention. With Felix, she already had her answer. She knew for a fact that he didn’t like her romantically, that he wouldn’t ever like her romantically, and she also hadn’t asked any of her new friends to help her gain Felix’s attention. (Though, in all honesty, she probably wouldn’t need help even if she was looking for his attention, because he already gave it to her willingly on a constant basis, but that thought didn’t exactly help her cause.)

“Is here alright?” Felix asked as he set the box on the end of the round table.

Marinette nodded, scaling the ladder to pluck the next pin. “Yep. That’s great, thank you.”

“Of course. If you need anything else, I’ll be wrapping the candles and putting them in boxes.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” She said, pulling a smile.

No, this wasn’t going to be anything like her crush on Adrien. This time she at least had closure before she began, and although it might be just as heart-shattering in the long run, she won’t be wasting her time wondering “what if” or tripping over herself to become his dream girl in an effort to be ‘chosen’. She’ll simply be his friend, as he’s been to her, and if she’s lucky, this sort-of-tiny-little crush of hers will wither away before it grows into a bigger problem.

After all, it’s like Felix said: She’ll find someone new who appreciates her eventually. It just.. won’t be him. The sooner she took this lesson to heart, the better.

Marinette plucked the next pin out of the wall, watching the stream of hearts fall into the box below, and started back down the ladder again. That’s one down. Five to go.

She paused at the bottom of the ladder, ready to pull it together so she could pick it up and move it again, when her phone started buzzing in her pocket. She quickly shimmied it out to check what the buzzing was for, only to be met with the flashing words “Adrien Agreste - Café”.

It was her alarm clock telling her that it was time to go meet Adrien for lunch. And it couldn’t have picked a worse time. She still had five other heart streamers to take down, and at this rate she was going to have to run half way across town just to make it on time. Ugh- why didn’t she set her alarm clock earlier?

“Hey, guys?” She called out to the group, tucking her phone back into her pocket. “I hate to say it, but I actually need to get going. I’m sorry I couldn’t help out more.”

If she hadn’t stopped every two seconds to daydream about somebody-

“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Allegra called back with a smile. “You’ve helped out plenty.”

“Yeah,” Claude agreed. “This was our party anyway.”

“I know, but I only managed to get one of the streamers down.” Marinette sighed.

“But you also helped fold all of the tablecloths and put them away.” Allan reminded her.

“And you swept the room after the trash was taken care of.” Allegra added.

“Go have fun at your appointment thing or whatever. We’ve got everything covered here.” Claude assured, emptying the water from another flower vase.

Marinette smiled as she grabbed her purse from one of the round tables. Her friends were so great, each and every one of them.

“I’ll see you guys later then.”

“See ya!”

“Bye, Mari!”

“Do you want me to call my driver for you?” Felix asked, briefly setting his candles aside. “It’s quite a walk from here to your house, isn’t it?”

“Thanks, but I’m good. I can have Maman and Papa come to pick me up if I start running late.” Or she can transform into Ladybug and swing right over to Adrien herself, which was exactly what she planned on doing. “I’ll text you guys when I get there, though.”

That seemed to satisfy Felix, because he nodded and continued placing his candles in the box. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you then.”

Marinette pursed her lips and spun towards the door, hoping he didn’t notice the fresh blush that was creeping across her cheeks. Gosh, how was she ever going to survive this boy? Maybe Adrien’s presence will give her a good slap in the face and bring her back to her senses.. She highly doubted it though. With her track record, she’ll probably end up falling for Adrien again too, and then she’ll be stuck between two unrequited crushes! Great!

..Why does she always have to fall for the people who don’t love her back?

~~~~~~~

Wind rushed past Chat Noir’s face as he raced across the rooftops, his grin stretching wide from ear to ear. Today was the day! It was finally the fifteenth! In just a few short blocks, he was going to meet Marinette at their agreed café, and they were going to have a whole lunch together just to themselves! It made him buzz with excitement at the very thought, because finally his plans were progressing. Finally he was gonna have a long, drawn out chat with Marinette as Adrien, and perhaps, if he had gained even the slightest bit of luck from his partner, he would be able to convince her to transfer back to Dupont. Or at least have her consider it. She probably shouldn’t come back right this second.

Chat Noir landed on a rooftop and slid down the tiles with glee, but before he could leap to the next rooftop, a red and black-spotted figure flew out in front of him. He stumbled back with a yelp, staring at the person with wide eyes as they sailed onto the rooftop across from him. Was that..?

“My Lady?” He called out, pushing himself back onto his feet. What was she doing out at this time of day? It wasn’t like her to be out and about during daylight when no akumas were present.

Unless there is an akuma. Chat realized with horror. He glanced around the city, looking for explosions or destruction of some kind. Please, let there not be an akuma. That would mean he’d have to skip out on his lunch with Marinette! And he’d worked so hard just to get her there!

The spotted figure turned around- proving that it was, in fact, his wonderful Ladybug -and flashed him her signature, Lady-Luck smile. “Oh, Chat Noir! I didn’t realize you would be out today.”

Chat Noir returned her smile and hopped over to her rooftop. “I could say the same to you, Bugaboo. Is an akuma on the loose again?”

“No, not that I’m aware of.” She assured, to his relief. “I just had some free time and thought I would do a small patrol around the city to make sure everything’s still in order.”

Chat Noir chuckled. That’s His Lady for you. Never ceasing to protect Paris. Could she ever become more amazing?

“Sounds like a great idea. I’d be tempted to join you, but I’m actually on my way home already. I’ve been out for a while.” He said, though none of it was true. He hadn’t been out for a while, and he certainly wasn’t running home, but Ladybug was extremely strict on the ‘keeping identities a secret’ policy. If he let something about his civilian life slip- like, say, meeting someone at a cafe about five minutes from now to talk about school transfers -she’d get upset and scold him for divulging too much information. It wasn’t fun lying to the person he was supposed to trust the most, but this was the set up that they’d decided to use.

“That’s alright. I wasn’t planning on staying out long anyway.” Ladybug replied. “I’ll see you during our next patrol?”

“Or attack.” Chat Noir agreed, giving her a little wink before he took off again. This time he turned to the left of the café, moving in a direction that was somewhat opposite of it. He didn’t want Ladybug seeing where he was going- again, secret identities -but, he also didn’t want to stray too far from his and Marinette’s meeting place, or else he was going to be late. So, he figured he could find a comfortable alleyway about a block or two away from his destination and simply run the rest of the way on foot.

Thank goodness he did, because as soon as he turned left, Ladybug swung off in the exact direction he’d originally been heading. Can you imagine if they’d started going the same way? The explanation for that one would have been awful, he’s sure.

Chat Noir dropped down into an alleyway a few minutes later, just as planned, and detransformed back into Adrien. Running around Paris in his civilian form probably wasn’t going to be any easier than jumping rooftops, but at least he didn’t run into any problems with His Lady. That was a plus, right?

“Ugh,” Plagg groaned as he swirled back into the air, “remind me again why we had to waste my precious energy on a lunch date?”

“Come on, Plagg, you know I hate having Gorilla hover over my shoulder.” Adrien said, offering his kwami a slice of cheese. Gorilla does his best to give Adrien as much space as possible, but still, when you know someone is there specifically to watch you.. “Besides, it’ll give Marinette and I more privacy while we talk.”

Plagg gave a dismissive sigh as he snatched the cheese from Adrien’s hands. “Oh, that’s right. We’re still on pigtails.. I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with her. It’s not like she died or anything.”

Adrien frowned. “I’m not obsessed. I’m just trying to be a good friend. She’s always been there for all of us. So why shouldn’t I be there for her?”

“Mm.. Does this really count as being there for her, though?” Plagg asked as he shoved the first half of the cheese into his mouth.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re trying to be there for her by bringing her back to Dupont, right? Well, she seems perfectly happy at her new school to me. So why not leave her be? If you want to be there for her, don’t you think you should be supporting her decisions?”

A bit of guilt festered in Adrien’s chest, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I.. get what you’re saying, but I want her back too. I want to hang out again and talk like we used to.”

“You’re about to talk with her right now.”

“You know what I mean. I want to talk with her daily, like we do at school.”

“Then, why don’t you transfer schools?”

Adrien let out a small chuckle. “And leave Nino? I couldn’t do that to him.”

“Okay~, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if things don’t work out the way you want them to.” Plagg said. He then shoved the rest of the cheese into his mouth and zipped into Adrien’s shirt pocket.

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows, but didn’t reply, instead starting for the cafe. Why would Plagg say something like that? Of course everything was going to work out! Yes, Marinette was happy at her new school, and yes, getting her to come back to Dupont might be a tad tricky (especially since he had to deal with Lila first) but that didn’t mean his plan was going to fail. He simply needed to remind Marinette that she loved being at Dupont too! More so than Rosemary even! It’ll be alright. Plagg will see.

With little time to spare, Adrien booked it to the café, careful to keep his head down and not catch the eyes of the media. Thankfully, he made it there in one piece, albeit five minutes late. It should be fine, though. If anyone were to understand missing the mark for an appointment, it would be her, right?

Adrien slipped his phone out of his pocket as he walked inside to check for any new messages from the ravenette, then silenced it when he saw that there were none. He didn’t want this precious time to be interrupted.

The bell on the café door jingled above him when he entered, reminding him of a certain bakery. He glanced around the room for Marinette hopefully, then lit up when he caught sight of a pair of ravenette pigtails at a table in the middle of the room. Yes! She was here!

Adrien wasted no time strolling over the table, tapping the top of her head to get her attention. She jumped- as she usually does -and whirled around with wide eyes.

“Hey, Marinette.” He greeted with a smile.

“Adrien!” She said, letting out a nervous laugh. “Y-You’re here.”

“Yeah!” He chirped, slipping into the seat across from her. “Sorry I’m late. I ran into a bit of traffic on the way here. How have you been? Did you have a good Valentine’s Day?”

Marinette settled back into her chair as well, pulling a small, tight smile. “It’s alright.. I’ve been pretty good, and my Valentine’s Day was wonderful. How was yours?”

“Oh, you know,” Adrien shrugged, “same as always. I got some cards from a few fans and did a special photoshoot for my father, but that was about it. I tried to go see Nino or something, but he was with Alya, so..”

“Aw, I’m sorry. I wish it could have worked out better.”

“No, it’s fine.” He quickly assured. “I’m used to it. Besides, Nino and I have actually been hanging out a lot more during the winter break.”

“Oh,” Marinette said, “That’s good then. You deserve the free time.”

Adrien smiled. What a very ‘Marinette’ thing to say. “Thanks. Have you ordered anything yet?”

She shook her head. “No, I figured I’d wait for you.”

“Then let’s go get some food.” He said, standing from the table again. “I’m starving.”

Marinette stood with him, and they made their way over to the line that led to the service counter. It wasn’t long, thankfully, only holding about three people or so. They should be back at the table in no time.

“So, are you enjoying your new school life? I heard you transferred to Rosemary.”

“Yeah, I’ve been having a great time,” Marinette said, a bit too cheerful for Adrien’s liking, “but I do have a question. How did you know I transferred to Rosemary?”

“Oh, uh..”

Would she accept ‘my good friend Chat Noir’ as a proper answer?

“..Mlle Bustier. She announced to the class that you had transferred, and when I asked about it afterwards, she told me that you went to Rosemary.”

A hum came from Marinette, the corner of her lips tugging downwards. Why was she frowning? Did he say something wrong?

“Is that a problem?” He asked.

“Oh! No.” Marinette replied hastily. “Well.. sort of. I’m just worried that if she told you, then she’d be willing to tell other people.. Like Lila or Alya.”

Ah.. She made a good point. Her whereabouts could be spread around easily if Mlle Bustier was being loose-lipped. Although he doubted that Lila would come after Marinette since she’s not trying to out her anymore, Adrien wouldn’t put it past the girl entirely, especially since she was still spreading rumors about Marinette on a regular basis..

Granted, this only mattered if Mlle Bustier actually told him where Marinette went to school, which she didn’t. So they should be perfectly safe for the time being.

“I’m sure everything will be fine.” He insisted. “I was the only one that asked, anyway, and I made sure we were alone.”

Marinette nodded, but she didn’t look any less unsettled. “You’re sure you were the only one that asked?”

“Positive.”

“.. Okay.” She muttered, fiddling with the tip of her black jacket. Oh, she was getting anxious now! He needed to fix this. Change the subject!

“Anyway, you said your new school was great?” He asked as he stepped forward in line. “That’s good to hear. Have you made any friends there yet?”

Of course, he already knew that she’d made new friends- several, in fact -but hopefully talking about them would help her relax. Plus, it would give him more information on her new environment. So it’s a double bonus.

Marinette took the bait, her hands quickly falling back to her side as she said, “I have. I was fortunate enough to run into a whole group of friends on my first day, and they took me in without hesitation, which was sweet. They even gave me a tour of the school and everything.”

Adrien plastered a tight smile onto his face in an effort to show support. She already had an entire group of new friends? That was gonna be hard to pull her away from.

“Wow, they sound really nice. You’ll have to introduce me to them sometime.”

“Maybe I can,” Marinette agreed, “but it probably won’t be for a while. We all have schedules and things that we’d need to work out, and I’ve been working on this fashion project lately that I was hoping to get done by the end of next week.”

“No worries. I definitely understand having a busy schedule.” Adrien joked, stepping forward in the line again. “Dupont’s been a little crazy since you left too. We had to pick a new vice president and everything.”

“Yeah, I heard. Lila had to come by and grab the books.” Marinette said bitterly.

Adrien winced. “Really? What did she say?”

“Gosh, I don’t even remember anymore.” Marinette rolled her eyes. “I try not to worry over stupid people. I’m sure she just rubbed her ‘victory’ towards me leaving in my face.”

Adrien chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “I bet.. Lila aside, though, we all miss you. Dupont isn’t the same without you here.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him as they took another step forward in line. “You all miss me?”

Adrien frowned, partly because she doubted him, but mostly because he knew her skepticism was justified. They didn’t all miss her. Some- if not everyone besides himself -seemed to be happy that she was gone. It was a true tragedy.

“Well.. I miss you.” He said, his heart dropping further when she gave a satisfied nod. She’s already accepted the tragedy as fact, something unchanging, but he was going to work to make things different.

“Can I take your order?” The cashier cut in, grabbing the pair’s attention.

Adrien and Marinette gave the cashier their order and walked back to their table to wait for their names being called.

“So..” Adrien trailed off as they took their seats. “Do.. you miss us?”

He knew it was a risky question, especially since she’d firmly told Chat Noir a month prior that she did not, in fact, miss Dupont, but maybe her opinion had changed since then?

Marinette shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable. “I.. I’m not sure how to answer that, Adrien. How can I say that I miss the people who treated me like a monster for no other reason than the fact that I decided to stand up against a liar? I get that Lila twisted their views, and that everyone has their own version of a story, but it still hurt for them not to believe me even though most of us have known each other since childhood.”

“Do I miss the fun times and the people they used to be before Lila came along? Sure I do, but they’re not the people they used to be. They’re not the friends I grew up with anymore, and I’m not going to regret leaving a situation that wasn’t good for me.”

Adrien sighed. “Alright.. That’s a fair answer.. But what if they did come back? I mean- like - What if they realized that Lila was lying and came back and apologized and everything went back to normal. Would you come back?”

Marinette frowned. “.. I don’t know. What you’re suggesting is extremely far-fetched, and even if everything did go back to ‘normal’, it still wouldn’t quite be the same. They abandoned me for a foreigner. You can’t really come back from that. Plus, I think Rosemary is a great opportunity for me. It’s a prestigious school with extensive classes on the fashion industry and many other things, and although there can be some snooty, rich students, most of the people I’ve met there are really nice.”

Adrien hummed. Her answer was, once again, disheartening, but he took comfort in the fact that she said ‘I don’t know’ instead of just a straight up ‘no’. That was at least something, right? He could work with an ‘I don’t know’.

“Was this all you wanted to talk with me about?” Marinette asked. “Whether or not I would come back to Dupont?”

Adrien winced. “Well, no-”

Yes.

“-I also just wanted to catch up in general. We haven’t really seen each other in over a month, ya know?”

Although she appeared to be hesitant towards his answer, she gave a small smile anyway. “Yeah, it’s definitely been a while.”

Adrien chuckled. “You know, I actually tried to go visit you at Rosemary one time before this, but when I asked a student where you were, he said that you didn’t even attend the school. Had you two just not met yet?”

“Uh.. Can you describe him? There’s a lot of people at the school.”

“Sure. He was about my height, maybe a bit taller, with pale blonde hair and light eyes- I think. He was kind of just pale in general.”

Marinette snorted. “Do you know the amount of people at the school that could match that description?”

“Okay, okay, uhm.. I think he was wearing dark colors that day. Like, greys or blacks maybe.”

“Wears dark colors, but has light hair and eyes, and is tall. Got it.” Marinette smiled. “Sorry, Adrien, but I’m just not sure. That could be Devin or Caleb or Eliot or any other number of boys. It could have even been someone who’s not in my classes.”

“Right, that’s fine. I was just curious.” He said casually, though it was really eating him alive. He knew that they knew each other. They had to! No one gets that upset during an akuma attack and calls the person their friend without knowing them. The guy even mentioned that their mutual friends were waiting for them! So who could it be?

“Order for Adrien and Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”

Adrien stood. “I’ll get it.”

Honestly, he didn’t need to know the guy’s name. It was a bitter inconvenience, to be sure, but in the end, finding out the blond-haired dude’s name isn’t the objective. The objective was to get rid of Lila, then get Marinette to come back to Dupont. She might be hesitant about it now, which was understandable, but once she sees the changes that he’s gonna make at Dupont, she’ll be more than happy to come back. He simply needed to open her up to the idea again.

Lucky for him, he had a whole lunch date to do just that.

~~~~~~

Lila slowed to a stop on the sidewalk, panting and out of breath. She searched the city streets from left to right, but was only met with the scenery of a regular, Paris afternoon. Where were the screaming fans? The paparazzi? The bodyguards holding everyone back? Did they all disperse already? That post was literally made five minutes ago! How did he run away so fast?

She pulled out her phone to unlock it, watching as her social media popped up again. It was a picture of XY standing next to a downtown café, the very café Lila was standing next to right now.

“Chillin’ at the Café Aroma today!” The post read, but there was no XY in sight. There were hardly even any XY fans here looking for him. Was the post just a ruse to get rid of the paparazzi for a while? Don’t tell her she got up and ran all the way down here for nothing!

Lila let out a groan, slumping against the café. If XY or any of his lackeys bothered to answer their dang cell phones, none of this would’ve happened! Why would they even put out public numbers if they weren’t going to tend to them? It was really a jerk-ish thing to do.

Nevertheless, she still needed to find a way to contact him. XY was the only celebrity in Paris that might be willing to show up at Dupont per her request. Jagged Stone was a close second, but if she brought him to school, Lila was certain Adrien would ask about her stupid, kitten-saving story. Then, Jagged would get all confused and say that he never had a kitten, and Lila would have a lot more explaining to do. That was too much of a hassle for her to deal with. She needed someone she hadn’t lied much about, someone who could also quiet her whining, soul-sucking classmates. Ergo, she needed to find XY.

But where is he? Lila thought, scrolling through her phone for more recent posts. XY clearly wasn’t downtown, meaning he could be just about anywhere in Paris. He could even be outside of Paris. How was she supposed to find him when she had no special contacts to do so? It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

And yet.. Marinette managed to find and reign in every celebrity she needed while she was class president. On. Her. Own.

Lila scowled and shoved her phone back into her pocket. Curse that goody-little-two-shoes for making her job harder. Curse her for somehow being perfect at everything and forcing Lila to enhance her lies to compete. Curse her for leaving to another school and making Lila suffer the consequences for it. Why couldn't Marinette have been a normal class president, hm? Why did she have to constantly outdo herself with the grandest of gestures and the most important of people? Why did Lila have to be so stupid as to try and fill an impossible roll? She should have convinced Alya to run for president instead. At least then she wouldn’t be blamed for the sudden budget cuts or the mismatched class trips. She would be able to continue lying in peace and not have to worry about delivering on all of her false promises. In fact, if she weren’t so busy trying to keep up with Marinette’s ‘legacy’, along with her own big mouth, she might have been able to take care of Adrien by now.

Lila heaved a heavy sigh and massaged her temples as she stood up from the café wall. XY wasn’t going to be found anytime soon, so she might as well take a break and grab a coffee before moving forward. Perhaps the caffeine will spark her creativity for a few lies that Adrien can’t dig into should her plan to find XY fail.

She walked over to the café door and pushed it open. The bell attached to the door jingled, reminding her of that incorrigible bakery, but she ignored it and continued inside. A little music toy wasn’t going to get in the way of her espresso.

Her eyes grazed over the room, hoping to find an empty table.

What she found instead, however, made her stomach drop.

There, sitting at a table near the middle of the room, was Adrien Agreste himself, and sitting across from him was none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Lila yelped and ducked back outside, pressing herself firmly against the wall where they couldn’t see her. What were they doing there? What were they doing together?!

Carefully, she crept past the door and slid over to the large window at the front of the café, where she could watch the two from a safe distance. It probably looked suspicious to anyone passing, but she hardly cared at that point. If Adrien and Marinette were getting together like this, Lila was going to have much bigger things to worry about.

She peered through the glass, noting the near-empty plates on their table. They must be having lunch together. Did they do that often? Since when? What could they possibly be talking about?

A smirk tugged at the corner of Adrien’s lips, and Marinette snorted, putting a hand on her mouth to hide her laughter. Ugh, why did she look so cheery! She was supposed to be miserable!

Lila scoffed, digging her fingernails into the brick at the base of the window. What happened to the endless tears and the defeated, sagging posture? What happened to the shriveled up nothing that Lila watched leave the school? Was she really enjoying herself now that she wasn’t attending Dupont? More importantly, how long have Marinette and Adrien been meeting up like this? Was this the reason Adrien suddenly decided to fight back against her? Because he’d rekindled his friendship with Marinette? No wonder the man was out for blood! Marinette probably set him up to the task herself! She must have planned all of this from the very beginning!

No, Lila thought, digging her phone out of her pocket again. She refused to be made a fool of. If they thought they were going to pull one over on her this easily, they were gonna have another thing coming.

She snapped a photo of them together, making sure to get a moment where they were laughing hard, and tilted the angle of the camera to make it seem like she’d been passing by. Lila then got up and walked back into the café. A picture of Adrien having a grand time with Marinette should be enough of a set up for her to build him a bad reputation, but she needed to know what they were talking about specifically. The more she knew about this meet-up (and previous ones) the better, and if she were anything close to lucky, they would talk about their plans for her while she was there too. That would give her plenty of time to find a way to prepare.

Or, perhaps, strike first.

As casually as possible, Lila slipped into an empty seat near the pair, not too close, but not too far away that she couldn’t hear them. She then snatched the menu on her table and propped it up so her face couldn’t be seen while she listened.

“Okay, wait. So you’re telling me that they threw an entire Valentine’s Day party at the Mandarin Oriental by themselves?” She heard Adrien ask. He sounded immensely impressed. Who were they talking about?

“Yeah!” Marinette replied, the smile clear in her voice. “They’re parents paid for it, of course, but they arranged everything themselves, including the caterers and reservations. We actually made some of the decorations by hand too.”

“Wow, that sounds like a blast. I bet they all looked great.”

“They did! Especially when we finished the lights and stuff. Everyone loved it.”

Lila scrunched up her nose, equally confused and annoyed. Someone threw a party at the Mandarin Oriental for Valentine’s day? Who? Why was Marinette invited? And why did she get to personally help with the decorations? This wasn’t another one of her “chummy celebrity friends”, was it? It better not be.

Adrien chuckled. “If all of those rich kids at Rosemary enjoyed it, I’m sure it was something.”

Lila froze. Did he just say “all” of the rich kids? Meaning multiple? Why was Marinette hanging out with multiple rich kids? How was she hanging out with multiple rich kids? Were they inviting her to the parties they were throwing? Why? What did she have that was so freaking special?

Wait a minute.

Her raging thought finally caught up with the rest of Adrien’s comment, specifically the one about Rosemary. Wasn’t that the stuck-up school near the middle of Paris that was famously known for hosting either incredibly rich or incredibly gifted students? The one that barely let you breathe in their direction if you weren’t considered “worthy”? How did Marinette end up wandering around there long enough to catch some rich friends? No one’s allowed inside except for students or staff, and their policies are extremely strict. (she should know, considering she’s tried to weasel her way in there several times.) The only way she would be able to get inside was if-

Lila gasped, nearly dropping her menu in the process.

No.. No, no way Marinette got transferred from Dupont to Rosemary. That would just be absurd! She didn’t have any money! And she certainly didn’t have enough talent to be accepted despite that!

But as Lila listened to the conversation more and more, she had to endure the horrible realization that Marinette had, in fact, been transferred to Rosemary. Not only that, she was thriving there. She was making new friends who gave her rides in limos. She was going to fancy restaurants that cost more than Lila’s house for an afternoon snack. She was having slumber parties in mansions. Mansions! Entire estates that were apparently just as big- if not bigger! -than Adrien Agreste’s!

Lila had finally gotten rid of Marinette and won Dupont, only for Marinette to gain the new life that Lila had always dreamed of having! How was that fair? How was any of this fair!

Lila drew in a long, deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She couldn’t blow her top just yet. Marinette may be winning right now, but once Adrien is out of the way, Lila will make sure that Marinette suffers the way she deserves. Rosemary isn’t going to save her for long.

She pulled out her phone to unlock it and clicked on the messaging app, scrolling down until she found her favorite minion: Alya Cessaire.

~Hey, you’ll never guess what I just saw!!~

Lila smiled as she sent the text. With a message like that, Alya won’t be able to help her curiosity, and when Lila sends the picture of Adrien and Marinette together, the journalist will fall headfirst into a pool of rage.

In other words, that pampered little rich boy won’t know what hit him.

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

(Hey, everyone! This section isn’t quite part of the story, but it’s going to be part of the updates from now on. Two weeks ago, I visited a Bible camp, and the Lord really spoke to my heart through the messages. So, from now on, I want to make Him the center of my life and glorify Him in everything I do. At first, I thought of not writing anymore fics or chapters, since doing so would really take my focus away from Him, but instead, I decide to start writing little devotions at the end of each chapter I post. That way, you all won’t have to suffer through an incomplete story, and I get to share the wonderful gospel with you all!

The first devotion I want to post is the message of salvation and how you can know that you’re going to Heaven when you die. The Bible (King James Version) says in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” and the first part of Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death”. We have all had a moment in our lives where we know we’re not supposed to do something, but we do it anyway. That breaking of rules is called a sin, and because of that sin, God says that we are not fit to be in His presence, for He is a just and holy God. So, due to this, our souls are condemned to the fiery prison known as Hell, where it is pitch black around you, and the only thing you can hear is wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Your soul will be alight with fire, but your body will never actually burn, so you will be faced with that pain for the rest of eternity. Can you imagine that? Being in that kind of torment forever and ever and ever and knowing that it will never end? I can’t wrap my brain around that kind of pain, and I certainly don’t want any of you to have to endure it. So that’s why I’m telling you now that there is a bright side to all of this!

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” and the other part of Romans 6:23 says “but the gift of God is eternal life”. Do you realize what this means? It means we don’t have to go to Hell! God has provided a way of escape for us!

2,021 years ago, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, down to earth to die for us. He was a perfect man, with no sin about Him, but he became sin for us and sacrificed himself so that we could be saved. People beat him and mauled him to point beyond recognition, then they nailed him to a cross for him to die. The pain he had to endure was excruciating, but he did it for us, because he loves us.

Then, three days after the Son of God passed away, he arose from the grave with new life! and because of that, we now have a way to join Him in heaven! All we have to do is admit that we are a sinner, repent of our sins, and accept Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Lord and Savior. We must believe on Him, and believe that he died on the cross for us, then we won’t have to go to Hell! It’s that easy! And those who believe on the Lord Jesus not only don’t have to go to Hell, but they also find a new home in Heaven with the very person who created us and loves us so much to the point of sacrificing Himself for our benefit. It’s a win-win scenario!

I know this isn’t a normal thing to do for fics, but this is something extremely important that I need all of you to know. So please, if you read through this, I implore you to get saved and accept Jesus as your savior. What do you have to lose? If you don’t, you’ll be doomed to an eternity of pain and suffering that you can never escape, but if you do, you will be guaranteed a place in paradise, where Jesus will be waiting for you with open arms. Please trust Him with your life and your heart. You know he will keep it safe.

Thank you all for listening to this and I hope you have a wonderful day!)

Tag List: @sasstrashforlike5fandoms @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything @magnificentcrapposts @moonnette @nickristus-dreamer @vixen-uchiha @casual-darkness @luxmorningstarr @jjmjjktth @kaithehero @itsme1598 @theymakeupfairies @xjaccyx @miraculous-ninja @miraculouspenta @swiftie-miraculer13 @justafanwarrior @all-mights-asscheeks @ira-sairain @lookatthestars1 @dahjokester @blissful-passing @solangelo252 @canivialemonsquints07 @derbygracie @pleaseignorejustheretoread

#felinette #Marinette #Miraculous Ladybug #New Girl on the Block #Rosemary AU #Felix Culpa #Quantic Kids #miraculous #ladybug

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august-anon · 3 years

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Complete Masterpost (as of 7/30/2021)

Here is a complete rebloggable masterpost of all my works sorted by fandom. Beneath the fandoms, they are sorted in order of when I posted them (except for series, which are sorted together). You can also find these on ao3 under august_anon, or on the Masterpost Page on my blog (which is sorted better tbh). Thanks for reading my works!

Avatar: The Last Airbender

(’20) Tickletober Day 3 - Stocks - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Aang, Ler!Sokka, Katara, Toph, Zuko - What else is Aang supposed to do when he finds a set of stocks in an abandoned town? NOT see if he could fit in them? 1151 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 9 - Ganged Up On - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Zuko, Ler!Aang, Toph, Katara, Sokka - They’d been plotting all week, and it was driving Zuko insane. The actual reason turned out a lot more innocent than Zuko was worried about. 713 words

You’re Dead - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Zuko, Ler!Aang - Aang has a little fun at Zuko's expense. 131 words

Lullaby of Laughter - [ao3] - Suzukka - Lee!Sokka/Ler!Zuko/Suki - Sokka's a bit too restless to fall asleep, and unfortunately all his fidgeting is keeping Suki and Zuko awake. Suki decides to show Zuko just how she tires Sokka out enough to sleep. 2038 words

Boku No Hero Acadamia (My Hero Acadamia)

(’20) Tickletober Day 18 - Holding It In - [ao3] - EraserMic - Lee!Aizawa/Ler!Yamada - Hizashi demands Husband Cuddles on their day off, but Shouta is being difficult. Luckily, Hizashi knows how to get his way. 799 words

Unrestrained Revenge - [ao3] - EraserMic - Switch!Aizawa/Switch!Yamada - Hizashi decides to take advantage of Shouta getting a little tangled up in his capture weapon. Shouta, of course, can't let that go without revenge. 1872 words

Lounge Day - [ao3] - EraserMic - Lee!Aizawa/Ler!Yamada - Shouta had made it rather clear how he wanted the day to go, but what fun was that without a chase? 934 words

We Can Try - [ao3] - EraserMic - Lee!Yamada/Ler!Aizawa - Hizashi comes clean about something he's been craving for a long time, and Shouta is more than happy to assist. There's only one problem... Hizashi's convinced it won't work. 4347 words

Carry On/Simon Snow Series

On Love’s Light Wings - [ao3] - SnowBaz - Lee!Simon/Ler!Baz - Simon and Baz are having a quiet moment together under the stars, and Baz discovers something interesting about Simon's wings. 2888 words

Detroit: Become Human

(’20) Tickletober Day 16 - Massage - [ao3] - RK1000 - Lee!Connor/Ler!Markus - The new software patch has come through, and androids can now feel sensations a lot more similarly to humans. Markus plans to use this to treat his overworked boyfriend to a massage, but things don’t quite go as planned. 1770 words

Gravity Falls

(’20) Tickletober Day 1 - Unusual Spot - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Dipper, Ler!Mabel - Mabel not-so-accidentally reveals one of Dipper’s tickle spots. 610 words

Good Morning series

(’20) Tickletober Day 13 - Wake Up! - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Dipper, Mable, Ler!Stan - Stan may have difficulty recalling anything now, but at least he knows the kids will be a constant. 1691 words

Tickle Monster - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Ford, Stan, Dipper, Mabel - Dipper and Mabel complete their mission, distracting Great Uncle Ford, with flying colors. Unfortunately for them (and for Stan), Ford knows how to fight back. 1720 words

Miraculous Ladybug

(’20) Tickletober Day 15 - Stuck - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Adrien, Ler!Marinette - Thanks to a little yo-yo malfunction, Ladybug finds out something very interesting about her partner. 989 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 17 - Revenge - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Marinette, Switch!Adrien - In Marinette’s humble opinion, this was one of the most ridiculous scenarios she could imagine them finding out each other’s identities. 799 words

Sanders Sides(/Cartoon Therapy)

High School AU

Still Got It - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Virgil/Ler!Roman - Roman is frustrated that he’s never heard Virgil laugh. Logan presents a solution. Turns out, after all these years, Virgil is still ticklish. 2350 words

You Brought The Laughter Back - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Roman/Ler!Virgil - Virgil may not have the experience Roman has, but his fingers definitely work magic, if Roman’s reactions are anything to go by. 2170 words

I’m Not Ticklish - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Logan has had a thing for tickling as long as he could remember, and he’s rather good at hiding it. It only takes one slip-up for Roman to find out and make his fantasies come true. 5588 words

Calorie Counting - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Roman is struggling with his new system of trying to lose weight. Luckily, Patton is always there for him. 1496 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 1 - Feather - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Patton, Roman, Virgil - Someone’s been sneak-tickling Logan, and he’s determined to find out who. 727 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 2 - Fingers - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Patton - Logan is ever so rudely awoken from his nap. 278 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 3 - Unusual Spots - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman finds a rather unusual method of warming his hands, leading to the discovery of a rather unusual spot for Patton to be ticklish. 278 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 4 - Stocks - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - Roman agreed to help Logan with some of his “experiments.” He would never admit how much he loved it. 864 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 5 - Tools - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan - It’s Virgil’s turn to help with an experiment, and he’s getting a little impatient waiting for what he truly wants. 684 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 6 - Gang Tickling - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan, Roman, Patton - Virgil’s been in a certain kind of mood for a number of days, now. It’s a shame no one’s noticed enough to take advantage of it. 674 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 7 - Light Tickles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil -Logan isn’t sleeping. Again. Luckily, Virgil has a remedy. 461 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 8 - Hard Tickles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton really wants to be wrecked. Logan is happy to oblige. 455 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 9 - “I’m not ticklish” - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Roman/Ler!Virgil - Roman insists he’s not ticklish. Virgil insists that’s impossible. What else is there to do except test it out? 446 word

(’19) Tickletober Day 10 - Arms Up - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Virgil did ask for this, after all. Now all he needed to do was actually hold out. 218 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 11 - Sneak Attack - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton is really much more sneaky than anyone gives him credit for. They really should start expecting it by this point. 233 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 12 - Unusual Tool - [ao3] - Royality - Lee!Patton/Ler!Roman - A not-so-peaceful moment together of doing chores leads to the discovery of a new possible tool of torment for Roman and Patton. 269 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 13 - Feet - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Virgil - Virgil can finally get his revenge on Patton for all the tickling, with the help of a few little piggies. 289 words

(’19) Tickletober 14 - Favorite Spot - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman, Patton, Logan - It was no secret that everyone in the mindpalace had their favorite spots, whether to tickle or be tickled. The rare thing was that, for one specific side, the favorite for everyone was unanimous. 194 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 15 - Cuddles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil, Patton, Roman - Logan’s been overworking himself and refuses to relax, even when everyone forces him to take a break. Luckily, his fellow sides know just what to do. 661 words

Work of Art - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Roman just really wants to paint on his super attractive boyfriend. Logan, surprisingly (or not so surprisingly), is very willing. 1357 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 16 - Tickly Kiss - [ao3] - Moxiety - Lee!Patton/Ler!Virgil - Patton’s having one of his “bad for no reason” days. Luckily, Virgil always seems to know what to do. 578 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 17 - Tickle Fight - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman, Virgil, Patton - Virgil wasn’t sure how it started, but he was going to try his hardest not to lose. 211 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 18 - Chase - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton, Virgil, Logan - Roman may have wanted it, but he certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for them. 194 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 19 - Stuck - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Roman probably should’ve thought this through before he did it… 242 words

Hysterical series

(’19) Tickletober Day 20 - Hysterical - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - It’s Virgil’s turn to experiment. He wants to know what it takes to make Logan hysterical. 343 words

Broken Logic - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Logan had done enough ticklish “experiments” on the others to know that they would be ruthless in their revenge, but truly? He wasn’t complaining. And he certainly wasn’t complaining when he heard Virgil’s threat to absolutely break him. 2689 words

The Attack of the Garra Rufa - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman recently acquired a new spellbook and he is very excited to test out the new spells inside. 712 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 21 - Accidental - [ao3] - Logicality - Lee!Patton/Ler!Logan - Logan didn’t mean to brush against Patton’s side, but he definitely didn’t expect the reaction it produced. What did Patton expect him to do when he realized the mind palace’s tickle monster was ticklish? NOT tickle him? 642 words

(’19) Tickletober Day 22 - Tickly Massage - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Logan’s been overworking again, which was causing his back pain to flare up again. Roman comes by to make sure he has a break. 994 words

We’ll Be Here, Always - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan, Virgil, Roman - Patton can’t always be happy, as much as he loathed to admit it. Sometimes he had bad days. Sometimes, those bad days had no rhyme or reason or cause. Luckily, his family’s always there to support him. 5039 words

Could Use a Laugh - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Patton’s got his hands on Roman’s new spell book. He can’t wait to put it to use! His first target? A grumpy little side who could use a little more laughter in his life. 1063 words

The Prettiest Monster - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - All Roman wanted was to teach Patton makeup. He didn’t expect to be playfully attacked in response. 1054 words

Feathery Feet - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - Roman has decided it’s his turn to play with his new tickle spells on the mind palace’s favorite emo. 664 words

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Bright - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Logan knows that Patton is plotting on coming for him next with those silly new spells. He figures the best way to counter that is by getting him first. 892 words

It’s Christmas, Wake Up! - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Roman, Logan, Ler!Patton - Patton thinks his fellow sides are taking a little too long to wake up, and he’s ready to start the day’s festivities. Luckily, he has the perfect idea for getting them out of bed. 1224 words

Even Santa’s Elves Need Naps - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Patton’s been attempting to take on the monumental task of planning and setting up Christmas all on his own. Roman has decided he needs a break, and maybe a good laugh. 751 words

Dancing Around the Issue - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - They were supposed to be rehearsing. It wasn’t Roman’s fault he was so ticklish. 1665 words

The Featherswords series

Prince Feathersword - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan, Patton, Virgil, Ler!Roman - Roman’s been on a bit of a nostalgia binge, recently, and couldn’t help but remember a special sword a certain tickly pirate had… 3878 words

Professor Feathersword - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Roman/Ler!Logan - Roman didn’t expect revenge, but he wasn’t necessarily complaining. 2107 words

The Tickle Monster Always Wins - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Roman really shouldn’t have doubted Patton’s skills as a ruthless tickle monster. He was really in for it, now. 3220 words

Content (Valentickle) - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Switch!Virgil/Switch!Roman - It was meant to be some cuddling after a Valentines Day well-spent. Not that either of them were complaining with the playful turn things had taken. 1605 words

Kitten’s Got Claws - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Virgil’s suspicious of Logan’s motives now that he’s started using Roman’s tickle spellbook as well. He figures he might as well be proactive and get the nerd, first. 895 words

Giddy Kisses - [ao3] - Logince - Lee!Logan/Ler!Roman - Roman has a quite the sweet gift for Logan. It’s not his fault his boyfriend is so ticklish. 599 words

Scooch - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - The couch may be a comfortable place for a nap, but Virgil is sorely mistaken if he thinks he’ll be able to commandeer it for long. 401 words

Joyful Noise - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan, Roman, Patton - Virgil tiredly lets something slip on his Christmas list, but it doesn’t turn out as bad as he fears. 1222 words

Cold Fingers, Warm Laughter - [ao3] - LAMP - Switch!Virgil, Logan, Roman, Patton - Maybe Patton was right and Roman should’ve worn gloves during their snowball fight, but was that going to stop him from starting something? Absolutely not. 1109 words

Color By Tickles - [ao3] - Gen - Ler!Virgil, Lee!Roman - Virgil was feeling more confident with these spells, now. Meaning it was the perfect time for revenge on a certain Prince they all knew. 961 words

Connected - [ao3] - Gen - Ler!Logan, Lee!Virgil - What, did Virgil think that Logan wouldn’t get revenge? 596 words

Fluttery Feelings series

Fluttery Feelings - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Magic(?) - Roman had planned the perfect prank for movie night. He just really hadn’t anticipated it backfiring on him. 2229 words

Fluttery Feelings 2: Helpless Revenge - [ao3] - Gen, Lee!Virgil, Patton, Logan, Ler!Roman - Roman had the perfect prank planned for movie night. This time, he would make sure it didn't backfire. 419 words

Provoked - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton should have known to provoke Logan so far, but really, maybe that was exactly what he’d wanted all along. 967 words

TacTickle Advantage - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Virgil should know better than to accept a challenge from Patton when he has that devious grin on his face. 716 words

Distraction - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Emile, Ler!Remy - Emile slips up and gets a bruise. Remy has just the thing to distract him from the pain. 512 words

So Close - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Roman, Virgil, Patton - Logan was so close to winning the bet, all he had to do was not laugh for another five minutes and he would be in the clear. Of course, it was at that moment Patton had to drop the secret to one of his biggest weaknesses. 945 words

Asking for Attention - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Roman/Ler!Virgil - Roman’s been pulling pranks all day. Virgil knows what he’s really after. 509 words

Patty-Lee - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman, Virgil, Logan - Patton’s in a dangerous ler mood, but the others decide it’s high time he got a taste of his own medicine. 1137 words

Learn Your Lesson - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Virgil - Patton should’ve known better than to go after Virgil alone. Now he was really in for it. 1181 words

“Feared” Ler - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Patton, Logan, Ler!Virgil - When Virgil gave you that grin, you knew to submit yourself to your fate. 1660 words

Get Up - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Patton just wants to get up and have breakfast! Roman, unfortunately, is being a little stubborn. 1076 words

Changing Channels - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Logan, Switch!Virgil - Virgil’s sick of Logan’s documentary, but he’s not exactly keen on changing the channel. Needless to say, a playful little fight breaks out. 846 words

Dance if You Can - [ao3] - Prinxiety - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - Roman held the unofficial title of “Best Dancer” whenever their friend group played Just Dance. Virgil, the new addition, was about to show him how it’s done, but Roman was nothing if not competitive. 2975 words

Broken Rules - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Virgil knew the consequences if he broke the rules of the challenge, he really did. And yet, here Patton was, needing to give him his “punishment.” Maybe it wasn’t a punishment at all, based off Virgil’s reactions. 702 words

Helpful - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Logan’s neck has been hurting him. Virgil’s only trying to help. 551 words

Prince Gigglee - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil, Patton, Logan - Roman’s in a very giggly mood. Logan finally figures out why. 1021 words

Not So Fast - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan - Virgil isn’t quite as sneaky as he thinks he is, asking for something indirectly. 634 words

Let’s Hang Out - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Logan - If Roman was going to (albeit accidentally) ignore him, then Virgil was going to ignore Roman right back. He just didn’t expect the consequences that followed. 2085 words

Shark Attack - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Virgil, Switch!Logan - Logan and Virgil are together again for summer break, and Virgil decides he’d like to play one of their childhood games to reminisce. 1210 words

Countdown - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Logan, Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman has a favorite game he likes to play with the other Sides. While most of them would never admit it, they like playing it with him, too. 1085 words

Bedtime - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, LerLogan - Patton is refusing to go to bed, but Logan has a few tricks up his sleeves. 685 words

If You Do… - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - Roman had asked Virgil to do his makeup, but he hadn’t anticipated how much the makeup brushes would tickle. 536 words

Bonding Exercises - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Emile - Emile thinks that he and Virgil need to bond, and he has the perfect idea as to how. 699 words

Better Than Coffee - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - All Virgil had really been after was a hug. It wasn’t his fault Logan was so sensitive. 280 words

Losses and Laughter - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - Really, Logan should’ve known better than to make that bet. But was it really the worst way to lose? 332 words

Tricks and Teases - [ao3] - Analogical - Switch!Virgil/Switch!Logan - Logan had been planning to tickle his boyfriend silly. Not have it go the other way around. 548 words

Instincts - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - It wasn’t Patton’s fault he squirmed so much at even the threat of being tickled! 316 words

Delicious Laughter - [ao3] - Logicality - Lee!Patton/Ler!Logan - Patton had the perfect plan set out to get Logan to tickle him. Logan just happened to go a little off script. 425 words

Fall of the Fortress - [ao3] - Logicality - Switch!Patton/Switch!Logan - Really, all Patton had wanted to do was cuddle. But when a tickle war was started? He was not going to go down without a fight. 733 words

Bully - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - Logan’s been teasing Roman all day, and he really hopes there’s a laughter-filled payout after all this. 400 words

Begging For Lies - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Roman - Virgil should’ve known better than to provoke Roman, seeing how ruthless he could be. But maybe that was exactly what Virgil was counting on. 469 words

Cookie Monster - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Virgil - Virgil helps Patton pass the time until his cookies are done. 560 words

Dr. Monster, M.D. - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Roman - Well, if Logan thought his ideas were too fantastical and unrealistic, Roman would just have to use that against him, wouldn’t he? 458 words

Please? - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - Virgil isn’t normally so bold, but with Roman looking at him like that, how could he resist? 390 words

Noisy Giggles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - Patton had no idea that vocal cords could tickle someone so well. 503 words

Learn to Lie - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Virgil - Virgil just wants his makeup back. If only Roman would own up to his thievery. 425 words

It’s Okay to Laugh - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Virgil - During some late-night bonding, Virgil decides to help Logan loosen up a bit. 586 words

Cuddle Time - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Patton’s in the mood to cuddle. 202 words

Strange Spot - [ao3] - Remile - Lee!Remy/Ler!Emile - Emile makes a fun discovery about Remy. 265 words

Glittery Giggles - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - Logan thinks he deserves some payback after Roman’s latest prank. 522 words

Lazy Day by Law - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Roman’s made it his job to make sure Patton obey’s the laws of “Lazy Day.“ 425 words

Problem Solving - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Logan - After a long day of Roman being purposefully irritable, Logan finally finds out the reason. What kind of friend would he be if he didn’t help Roman out? 537 words

The Labyrinth - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Roman, Ler!Patton - When Roman finds himself in a certain kind of mood, he knows who to ask. 677 words

Bready or Not - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Roman - Logan should’ve known that Roman noticed his moods. At least he was willing to help out. 795 words

Anywhere? - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Logan, Ler!Patton - Logan’s managed to avoid Patton’s tickle-monster rampage for this long. Will he be able to hold out? 182 words

Cuteness Quota - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Virgil, Ler!Patton - Patton never missed an opportunity to make Virgil smile.133 words

As Long As We Need - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Logan - Patton really didn’t know what he was getting into when he agreed to help with one of Logan’s experiments. He found that he really didn’t mind. 247 words

Sugar Sweet - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Patton, Ler!Roman - Patton’s run out of ingredients for his cookies. Luckily, Roman has something even sweeter in mind. 206 words

Shadowhunters (TV)

Your Lips Create a Symphony - [ao3] - Malec - Lee!Alec/Ler!Magnus - Early on in their relationship, Magnus makes a little discovery while he and Alec are making out. He exploits this weakness to the fullest. 2236 words

Late Night Discoveries - [ao3] - Malec - Lee!Magnus/Ler!Alec - Alec makes a little discovery in his efforts to get Magnus to sleep. He takes full advantage of it in the morning. 1320 words

Star Trek: The Next Generation

(’20) Tickletober Day 5 - Drawn On - [ao3] - DaForge - Lee!Geordi/Ler!Data - Data had only wanted to experiment with a new form of art, Geordi couldn’t fault Data for his own sensitivity interrupting them. 674 words

Star Trek: The Original Series

(’20) Tickletober Day 14 - Light Tickles - [ao3] - Spirk - Lee!Spock/Ler!Jim - In a quiet moment, Jim discovers something new about Spock. 961 words

Energy Well-Spent - [ao3] - Spirk - Lee!Spock/Ler!Jim - Jim is determined to show Spock the perks of doing things the human way. 694 words

Liar, Liar - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Bones, Scotty - The tranquilizer's got Scotty and Bones feeling a bit silly. 602 words

Demonstration - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Uhura, Ler!Spock - Perhaps Uhura should know better than to tease Spock, but it's just too much fun. 685 words

Supernatural

(’20) Tickletober Day 12 - Hard Tickles - [ao3] - Destiel - Switch!Dean/Switch!Castiel - Dean should know better than to start a tickle fight with an angel. 349 words

The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

How to Ask - [ao3] - Danbrey - Lee!Aubrey/Ler!Dani - Aubrey's been craving some playful affection lately, but there's no way she can just ASK for it. No, this requires a plan. 1135 words

I’m Not Scared - [ao3] - Danbrey - Lee!Aubrey/Ler!Dani - Aubrey and Dani want to try something new, despite their nerves. Dani happens to make a new discovery in the process. 1305 words

The Adventure Zone: Balance

Touch - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Taako/Ler!Kravitz - Touch and Taako have always had an interesting relationship, but it was time he started figuring it out with this new world, since they seemed to be sticking around. 2349 words

Not-So-Silent Treatment - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - When Taako decides to give Magnus the silent treatment, he decides that that just won’t do. 324 words

Taaco Fight - [ao3] - Gen - Switch!Lup, Switch!Taako - Tickle fights aren’t exactly an uncommon occurrence between the twins. 346 words

Need Something? - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Lucretia - Taako is the type to annoy people until he gets what he wants. Lucretia isn’t the type to take that sort of behavior. 484 words

Attention and Affection - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - Magnus knows exactly how to deal with Taako when he’s looking for attention. 418 words

Don’t Stop - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - It wasn’t the response Magnus was expecting from Taako, but who was he to deny such a request? 301 words

Sore Loser - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Lup - Taako lost the bet, and now he had to deal with the consequences. 460 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 8 - Interrogation - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Magnus, Ler!Taako - Taako’s hat is missing and he’s going to find the culprit, no matter what it takes. 707 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 11 - Death Spot - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Kravitz/Ler!Taako - Kravitz had long know Taako’s death spot, having found it far too easily. Taako has to work a bit harder to find Kravitz’s. 1096 words

His Impatient Song - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Kravitz/Ler!Taako - Taako thought this was meant to be a romantic night, and so far Kravitz had done everything right. So why was he now fiddling with something in the corner, ignoring Taako entirely? 403 words

Dr. Magnus Will See You Now - [ao3] - Gen - Lee!Taako, Ler!Magnus - Taako's been hiding an injury, but Magnus is determined to convince Taako to get it healed. 683 words

Cold Hands, Warm Hearts - [ao3] - Taakitz - Lee!Taako/Ler!Kravitz - Taako would love nothing more than to cuddle close with his boyfriend. Unfortunately, the heat of the kitchen and the chill of Kravitz’s hands don’t quite mix. Kravitz doesn’t intend to give up so easily. 1736 words

Witcher

Like It series

You Like It - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - For a man who claims to know what tickling is “in theory,” Geralt certainly has a lot of questions. He might even require a demonstration. 2018 words

Maybe I Like It, Too - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Jaskier knew that everyone had to be at least a little ticklish somewhere, and he wasn’t going to give up until he had Geralt laughing underneath him. 3239 words

We Like It - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Geralt wants to test out a few things that Jaskier showed him the other day, and it just so happens that he's decided to make Jaskier his test subject. 1975 words

Just Let Go - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt would never admit it out loud, but he quite enjoys the touches that Jaskier blesses him with. And then Jaskier figures out that he’s sensitive to a different kind of touch. 1470 words

Fresh Discoveries - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Geralt, Switch!Jaskier - Jaskier makes a rather interesting discovery while helping Geralt during one of his baths. 617 words

Get His Attention - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Jaskier/Switch!Geralt - Jaskier was determined to get Geralt’s attention, no matter what it took. 905 words

Wake-Up Call - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Geralt is awake and ready to go, now the only issue is getting Jaskier up. 819 words

Beauty in Strength - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Jaskier’s found a new game: brushing against scars and asking after them. If only it wasn’t so ticklish when he did so. 2271 words

Snickers and Snorts - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - It was one of Jaskier’s favorite games to play, “How Long Until the Big Bad Witcher Admits He’s Ticklish.” As of yet, Jaskier hadn’t technically won, but that didn’t mean he was going to give up. 1119 words

Dissonance - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt thought that Jaskier should know better than to annoy him. Jaskier proved to him that Geralt should know better than to provoke him. 906 words

Does This Tickle? - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Jaskier insists that he’s not that ticklish. Geralt proves otherwise. 599 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 2 - Feathers - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/LerGeralt - Jaskier seems to have misplaced his quill. He finds himself in a rather ticklish position once Geralt finds it. 1663 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 4 - Spidering - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Geralt/Switch!Jaskier - Geralt is not nearly as amused with Jaskier’s Halloween decorations as Jaskier thinks he should be. 1216 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 6 - Kiss - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt’s a bit weird about having his neck touched. Turns out, it wasn’t for the reasons Jaskier thought. 1863 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 7 - Unusual Tool - [ao3] - Geraskier - Switch!Geralt/Switch!Jaskier - Jaskier’s impulse-buy leads to a rather giggly evening, in the Rivia-Pankratz household. 854 words

(’20) Tickletober Day 10 - Feet - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Jaskier’s complaining about the roughness of Geralt’s feet, so Geralt gives him something else to complain about. 317 words

Swearing Off Sewers - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - After a nasty fight with a zeugl, Jaskier tries to help Geralt wash the stench of the sewers off. Unfortunately, Geralt is a little too sensitive for that. 1693 words

Lazy Days and Late Mornings - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Jaskier wants to stay in bed. Geralt thinks it's time to get up. 788 words

Shut Up, Bard - [ao3] - Gen/Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier, Ler!Geralt, Lambert, Eskel - Jaskier causes a little too much annoyance, and the witchers decide it's about time they took him down a peg. 682 words

Habit - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Jaskier/Ler!Geralt - Jaskier has a little habit of tickling Geralt whenever the urge strikes. Geralt seems to have finally hit his breaking point, ready for revenge. 1657 words

Certain Sensitivities - [ao3] - Geraskier - Lee!Geralt/Ler!Jaskier - Geralt accidentally finds himself drenched in a very potent sensitivity potion. Unfortunately, attempts to neutralize the effects prove to be rather... ticklish. 809 words

#tickle fic #masterpost #atla tickling #bnha tickling #dbh tickling #carry on tickling #gravity falls tickling #miraculous ladybug tickling #shadowhunters tickling #sanders sides tickling #star trek tickling #taz tickling #the witcher tickling

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jinkicake · 3 years

Note

no thoughts just running away in a flowy gown through the streets of Italy from don giorno

((((anon... ANON... okay give me like ten minutes to post my other works and then Imma come back and just dump my entire BRAINROT that I have because of this post WAAIIITTT this is so good,,, you’re.... a genius))))

A/N: Okay..... this is so messy, so rough and I can’t believe I wrote 1.6k words in less than an hour BUT... here you are Anon~~~ a little something based off of your message hehehe it’s lowkey yandere :0 (Also... in part five theyre in naples right? LMFAO i can never remember) Anyway I have an early class tmr so I have to cut it short so this is not editied and -again- very messy,,, I will try to fix it later but for now~~~ here is my take on running away from Giorno LOL

Giorno x Reader

This has lowkey yandere themes...

WC- 1,637

All you want at this moment is to rip your constricting dress off. The thin, pale blue material is suffocating, every layer tightens around your skin and makes it that much harder to run. You’ll do anything to help you free yourself from Giorno’s clutches. And as of right now, you have your foot in the door.

At least, you think you do. Unbeknownst to you, the little ladybug necklace adorning your neck has other thoughts.

It was smart to leave (escape) in the early afternoon, right as your fiancé was in the midst of all of his meetings and when it was most crowded in the streets. You could easily blend in with all the other people, at least until nightfall.

It has become your mission to get as far away from Naples as you can before the moon starts to rise. You quickly found out that is easier said than done.

If only the streets weren’t filled with his men, if only every single person who makes eye contact with you wasn’t on his side.

You knew that the moment Giorno had found out about this, about your betrayal, that there would be dire consequences. Yet again, it was never your intention to allow him to ever find you again.

Given by your own personal estimation, you had about another five minutes before he was alert of your missing status. The guards stationed at your shared apartment change positions every twenty minutes to ensure that not one of them gets any special amount of time with you. The helicopter gaurds hovering over you were such a pain. Too bad you had already disposed of those on stand, it’ll be a quick affair once everyone notices your lack of presence.

“Fuck,” You murmur as your flat, clearly not made for running, catches on one of the cracks in the street. Your chest heaves up and down with each breath as you stare at the unfamiliar crowd trying to pick up on any familiar face. A wave of relief washes over you when you realize that you don’t recognize any of them.

You can do this, you can do this. Start over, somewhere new, somewhere like France or Switzerland. You can escape.

And you truly believed that, you kept running with all of your might and didn’t stop to look back once. After some time, the streets started to mesh together and it felt as if you had started running around in circles. You didn’t have time to worry about that, not as the sun was setting and the streets were starting to clear up. Any leverage, any chance of escape that you had, would be lost if you did not make it out of Naples.

Maybe you could find a bus that would take you up to Rome, then up and the hell away from Italy. Maybe a boat would be quicker, a motorcycle?

All at once, your senses start to close in as you realize that you did not take advantage of your situation. You did not think this through, you saw a chance and you took it. You’ll fight until your last breathe, until Giorno finds you again. There is no way in hell you’re going to let this golden opportunity go to waste.

But, God, had you fucked up. You fucked up, really bad, but deep in your heart you know it was worth every single second.

It doesn’t matter how far or how fast you run now.

The abandoned alleyways tell you everything you need to know, it’s now completely dark outside and late into the night. The streets are cleared, silent, except for the telltale sounds of your shoes lighting pounding into the pavement.

You tightly bunch your hands up in the sides of your dress before pulling the fabric up and running with all of your might. You should have ditched the dress earlier, it was only ever holding you back but it’s not like you had another change of clothes.

Giorno always liked you dressed up.

Almost as if you were his little doll.

A black car stops suddenly at the end of the street, blocking off the entire road and cutting through the silence with a loud screech of its tires. It’s not enough to intimidate you, you still refuse to give up.

Almost too quickly you swiftly turn around, hot on your heels ready to run away, right into a broad chest.

The black suit fills your vision before you can actually see the figure, but you can still feel their presence right away. You’re done for, you’re done for.

“You ruined your pretty dress,” Giorno’s soft face portrays a frown as his eyebrows furrow in disinterest. His light eyes still hold concern only for you. He reaches his hand up to brush the stray strands of hair from your cheeks and you immediately flinch, taking a step back only to bump into something else.

This time you’re almost too scared to turn around, you would much rather face Giorno than the other figure. An unpleasant huff causes you to shakily glance over your shoulder and face Golden Experience Requiem. It’s staring down at you with betrayal deep in its eyes, hands twitching next to your own.

You couldn’t take the stand on even if you wanted to.

You try to move, step away, but the stand is much quicker and grabs your biceps to hold you still. Its pants rest heavily in your ears and you don’t even dare to look up at Giorno who has started pacing in front of you.

You feel so stupid, oh so stupid, the dress is filthy and dirty. Everything is torn at the seams, your shoes are worn down, your hair is flung all over your face, you’re a complete and utter mess.

It only gets worse when you hear the robotic sounds behind you. Still gutted with betrayal, Golden Experience Requiem utters a single word in his polite tone that matches his user’s.

“Why?”

Your eyes slightly widen at this and as a result, the grip on your biceps grows tighter.

“Why? Why?” The mechanic voice demands and you’re nearly shaking beneath its grip. Now, you know why Giorno is so silent. He never loses his composure in front of you, he is always calm and ahead, always one step in front of you. With his stand, however, he can’t help but express all his feelings as he desires.

An apology feels heavy on your tongue because you’re not sorry, you have nothing to apologize for.

“I wanted to go home.” You daringly lift your gaze to look straight at your fiancé, glaring at him as if it could make him disappear.

“Then let’s, we can discuss the matters of this evening there,” Giorno takes a step toward you, and he is beside you, resting his hand on your shoulder as he waits for you to turn around and follow him.

Your stubborn eyes, filled with tears, nearly makes him sigh.

“Please don’t be difficult,” He tries to cup your face but his own stand pulls you tighter into its chest. Golden Experience Requiem has always been so possessive over you and never afraid to show it. Giorno knows that he couldn’t call his stand back even if he tried, not until you were safely in the car.

“I want to go home.” You repeat, too calmly for your current panicked state. A long, cold arm drapes over your chest and you feel your feet start to rise against the hard road beneath you.

The stand is literally dragging you back to the car with no remorse.

And stupidly, you make another mistake.

“Not with you,” At this point, you’re sure you won’t make it out of this experience alive. You keep making it worse and worse for yourself as if you can’t help it.

Giorno stills, and the slight clench of his jaw is enough to have you sprinting back into his car.

“Then with who?” He asks through his teeth, glaring harshly at the side of your face as you continue to look away from him. It’s not enough for him and he tightly grabs your jaw with his hand to force you to look at him. His fingers dig into your cheeks when you still refuse to look at him. “With who, darling?”

No air is flowing through your system. You can’t concentrate on anything, not on the stand behind you tugging on your body possessively or your fiancé holding you just as angrily.

“Myself,” You finally tell him honestly and look up at him, Giorno physically calms down at the sight.

“I can take you there if it means you will stop acting out,” The offer, the bargain, falls short on your ears and a new frown takes up your face.

Giorno is taunting you, teasing you.

You know there is no chance in hell he would let you go home, let you visit the place you miss the most. He knows he’ll never get you back if he does. Giorno is just using this to get you back in the car.

He’s done it once before, and this certainly won’t be the last time he does it either.

“I will bring you there, (Y/N).” He restates and you stubbornly hold your place. “You don’t want to go anymore?” His jaw ticks and you can hear the irritation filling his voice. “It’s so hard to please you,” The tightening grip on your biceps shows his frustration even if he doesn’t physically face you with it. Golden Experience Requiem has you under lock and key, hugging you so tightly that you’re almost gasping for air. “One last chance.”

One last chance to take him up on his pseudo offer, to entertain his twisted fantasy.

This is your split road, lick your fiancé’s wounds or let the gash grow bigger and bigger.

Either way, you’ll end up back at his estate, now all that matters is the punishment waiting back for you.

You can’t find it in yourself to move your legs.

#giorno x reader #jjba x reader #jjba x y/n #jjba x you

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sturchling · 4 years

Note

If my other prompt is too mean here's this Mari resigns class rep Lila takes over chaos ensures gets pressured everyone ask her for everything no matter her excuses act ungrateful 2 her demands Mari's help Mari say screw you like a savage and Lila snaps and lashes out to the point she runs away like a lunatic

Ok, so I am slowly coming back into writing fanfiction. I did find a job and am getting settled into the new routine. I am still going to be slow posting, but I will be writing again.

Also, about that personal writing project, I have more details to share now. I am trying to write my own novel now. It will be a fantasy novel, and I will publish through kindle direct publishing. I hope to have it done by the end of the year or early next year. If any of you want details, I would be happy to chat with you about it.

Without further ado, here is the story, I hope you like it! Let me know what you think.

Things in the akuma class had taken a turn for the worse. Lila’s plan had worked perfectly. She had slowly chipped away at the class’ confidence in Marinette until they all thought she was the worst person in the school. Marinette had tried to stop Lila at first. She had gone to her friends about what Lila had threatened her with, but not many believed her.

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

The only people who still believe her are Kim and Nino. They had known her almost their whole lives, and knew Marinette wouldn’t make something like this up. They also knew Marinette well enough to know that she would never do the things Lila accused her of. Adrien also knew that Marinette was innocent, but he couldn’t say anything to the class.

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

He had tried at first, but Lila had been able to twist everything to her advantage again. Then she had gone to Adrien’s father. Mr. Agreste had told Adrien that he had to ‘maintain good relations with Miss Rossi, for the good of the brand’ and threatened to pull him out of school again if he failed to do so. He may not be able to help Marinette directly, but he has tried to warn her of some of Lila’s more heinous lies.

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

The rest of the class had become incredibly cruel towards Marinette. All they ever did anymore was glare at her and call her cruel names. Lila had succeeded, the class had all turned against Marinette. The only time they really spoke to her was to ask her to make things for them or to plan trips and events for the class.

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

It eventually became too much and Marinette had had enough. She resigned as class rep one Friday afternoon, and immediately stopped doing favors for the class. The class was furious that she wouldn’t make them things anymore, but was happy that they could get a new class rep now. One that wasn’t a bully to the sweetest girl in class. In fact, they decided that the sweetest girl in class should be the new class rep.

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

The Monday after Marinette resigned, the class elected Lila to be the new class rep. At first Lila was thrilled to be elected. She felt this meant that she was officially the queen of the class. But then the reality of the situation set in. She realized all of the work that the position entailed. She tried to give the work to Alya as her deputy. Alya said that she would do the paper work, but Lila would be able to set up much cooler events and trips than Alya with all her connections.

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

Of course, Lila couldn’t use her connections to create all these opportunities for the class. She had no connections to use. What is worse, Lila didn’t realize all of the extra things the class would ask for. Everything they used to ask Marinette for, they started asking Lila. She tried using any excuse she could come up with. She couldn’t make that banner they wanted because she was busy helping Prince Ali with his new charity. She couldn’t help make stuff for the bake sale because she was helping her mother with a new proposal at work. But nothing worked, they still demanded that she do all of this additional work for them.

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

And they got angry when Lila couldn’t deliver. The class quickly devolved into chaos. All the fundraisers didn’t meet their goal, and trips didn’t actually happen. Guests would cancel their appearances for the class last minute. The class began to act more and more ungrateful to Lila as she continued to fail as class rep. Lila saw her position in the class slipping with each passing day.

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

She even resorted to actually working, to try and win the class back. She started to apply herself to the class rep job and really try to get everything under control. But it was impossible to do the job on its own, let alone with the class asking for all of these additional favors. Lila didn’t understand how Marinette did it. She must have had outside help, there is no way she could have done all this work on her own, she must have cheated the system somehow.

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

Lila started to get angrier and angrier at Marinette. Marinette could have told her how hard this would be, and told her how she had cheated the system and made this so easy. When Lila saw Marinette go into the restroom alone, she made her move. She cornered Marinette in the restroom again and demanded she help Lila with the work. “You were the one who resigned and got me into this mess. You obviously had help, no one can do this job on their own. Since you caused all this, and you didn’t tell me who helped you when you were class rep, you are going to help me now. You will help me and make me look good to the class again, or you will regret it.” Marinette just looked at Lila with a blank stare. “How will you make me regret it? You already took the class from me. You don’t have any leverage here.” Lila got a smirk on her face, thinking she had the perfect plan. “Simple. I’ll make your parents turn against you. I did it with the class, I can do it again. If you don’t help me, I’ll go tell them how awful you have been to me and how their daughter is a bullying liar. Those are your options, so what is it going to be?”

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

Marinette just rolled her eyes, which shocked Lila. “Lila, my parents already know about you being a liar. After you got me expelled, I told them everything you have said to me. The threats, the lies, everything. They won’t believe you at all. You have no power over me anymore. Good luck as class rep. It was such a demanding position I never had any free time; I am glad it isn’t my job anymore. See you in class Lila, and I am looking forward to hearing your plan for the end of the year trip at the presentation later today. I am sure you have something amazing planned with all your connections. For your sake, I hope your plans actually work this time. Not sure how the class would handle another let down.”

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

Lila was shocked at what Marinette just said. While Lila stood in shock, Marinette walked around her and out of the restroom. Lila panicked as she realized Marinette was right, the class wasn’t going to keep letting these failures go. Lila went back to the classroom and was immediately bombarded by the class. Normally she would welcome the attention, but that was when the class was just fawning over her. Now, they were demanding more and more favors from her.

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

Lila quickly became overwhelmed by everything and snapped. She shoved everyone away, yelling, “That’s it! I’m done! This isn’t worth it! I quit being class rep! I only wanted the stupid job to take it from Marinette, but this is ridiculous. You guys can’t do anything for yourselves! You keep demanding all of these crazy trips and events that just can’t be done, I can’t organize those kinds of things!” The class is shocked by Lila’s outburst. Alya reaches out to the girl she considers her best friend, “What are you talking about Lila? You don’t sound like yourself. I am sorry if we put too much pressure on you, but you could organize these cool events. For a girl with your connections, it should be easy.”

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

Lila pulled away from Alya, looking completely deranged. “No, I can’t do it. I don’t have all these awesome connections. I lied. About everything. I just wanted to be the queen of this school, so I told you idiots what you wanted to hear. I never thought being class rep would be so much work. So, I’m done. My mom’s assignment here is done anyway, so we are going back to Italy. Have a good life, losers.”

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The class looked on in shock as Lila fled from the class and out of the school. Lila got home and convinced her mother to end her time in France early. She told her mom that she was getting scared it was too dangerous to stay because of Hawkmoth and her mother agreed. Lila hated that she hadn’t had the opportunity to help Hawkmoth defeat Ladybug, but she had to get out of Paris.

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The class was in shambles after that. Everyone tried to apologize to Marinette and get her to be class rep again, but the girl refused the position and made it clear that they weren’t friends again just because they said sorry. Mrs. Bustier’s class never fully recovered from the betrayal of Lila. Things did get better between the class and Marinette. They were civil to each other, but Marinette was still not ready to be friends again. Mrs. Bustier’s class was left to wonder how Lila had tricked them, and how they had let themselves be tricked. And they wondered most of all how they had let Marinette, the best friend they had ever had, get away.

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kasienda · 3 years

Text

The Five Minute Adventures of Snake Noir: Ch 8 - Confrontation

Chapter 1: I Want It To Be You

Chapter 2: Best Friends

Chapter 3: Best Laid Plans

Chapter 4: A Thank You

Chapter 5: Unwanted Revelations

Chapter 6: Miraculous Abuse

Chapter 7: Five Minute Adventures of Ananta

Chapter 8: Confrontation

Adrien started at the sudden thud on his bedroom floor. He looked up. Ananta was breathing heavily and his expression was solemn. His best friend definitely didn’t look like he was just there to continue his day of goofing off and having a ridiculous time.

“What’s wrong?” Adrien asked.

“Your old man is a serious piece of work!”

“Did you punch him?” Adrien asked.

Nino threw his hands up. “No! And I definitely should have! I have serious regrets! He fucking shattered my knee cap and tried to take the snake!“

Adrien dropped his stylus, and turned his full attention towards his guest. “Umm… maybe you should start from the beginning.”

Read on Ao3

Nino sighed, and let himself flop backwards onto Adrien’s bed.

“I was just continuing to live out my reckless fantasies. I just confronted him! I yelled at him about how awful of a father he was, and the bastard barely reacted!” Nino complained. “Then I told him you were Chat Noir, and it was like he flipped a switch.”

“You told him I was Chat Noir?” Adrien asked, his voice small.

“It never happened now! You don’t need to worry.”

Adrien shook his head. “I wasn’t… Uh… I mean, how did he react?” Adrien asked softly, his throat had dropped into his gut.

Nino wasn’t even looking at him - his friend was staring at the ceiling, fidgeting in clear agitation. “He went scary silent! He called Nathalie in. Apparently, they’ve suspected you were Chat Noir before, and thought they had ruled it out during Gorizilla.”

“Did he say anything else?” Adrien asked.

“Umm… he said barely anything the whole time I was there. I was the one talking. I told him how amazing you are, and how much of a jerk he is, but he didn’t react.”

“He said nothing else?” Adrien asked again, gripping the side of his chair, trying to disguise the urgency with which he needed to know.

“He mostly just said his parenting choices were none of my business. But… he did say something melodramatic like, ‘my own son, this entire time,’” Nino said, dropping his voice into his lower register in a mock impersonation of Adrien’s father. “Like you being a superhero was a personal affront to him!”

“He was disappointed then?” Adrien asked.

Nino bolted into a sitting position, his expression horrified as he finally caught Adrien’s train of thought. “Dude! I’m sorry! I didn’t think! I didn’t even consider that! Of course it would matter to you what he thought of your dual identity. I definitely didn’t mean to hit you with all this like a train. I’m so sorry!”

“It’s…” Adrien trailed off. It wasn’t exactly okay, but Adrien wanted it to be okay. He definitely knew Nino hadn’t been trying to hurt him, but Nino had also known that Adrien was avoiding talking to his father with the snake. “It doesn’t matter,” Adrien said instead. “Just… tell me what he thought of the whole thing.”

“I… I don’t know, dude. He was definitely super creepy. But… I think he was holding back everything he was thinking. I don’t know what he thinks. Do you want me to go in there and try and find out?”

Adrien shook his head rapidly. “No… it’s better if we keep your knees intact, and make sure he doesn’t have access to the snake. Maybe, you shouldn’t be here at all.”

“Dude, are you okay?”

“He really attacked you?”

Nino nodded. “When my miraculous beeped its first warning, he looked right at it and then lunged forward. And dude! He was super capable! He knew exactly how and where to strike to incapacitate me.”

“Did he know who you were?” Adrien asked softly.

Nino winced. “Yeah, he figured it out. It probably wasn’t hard based on what I was screaming at him.”

Adrien wilted.

“It’s okay!” Nino insisted. “I reset. I’m fine.”

Adrien disagreed. It wasn’t okay that his father was willing to attack a miraculous holder, but especially wasn’t okay that his father was willing to attack his friends.

What would motivate him to do that?

“He actually tried to take your miraculous?”

“Dude! He almost nabbed it. If it hadn’t been for yesterday where I had so much practice hitting that reset without thought, he might’ve been successful.”

Adrien fell quiet, but his mind was whirling, and he wasn’t happy with where it was going, but he couldn’t not consider it.

“Dude, what are you thinking?”

“Nino, what if my father is Hawkmoth?” Adrien was amazed at how steady his voice was. Maybe it was because he had heard it before. Or maybe, it was just starting to make too much sense.

“Dude! That’s a big leap. The guy is awful and honestly, I wouldn’t be that surprised, but surely there are other explanations for him being a jerk and a good fighter?”

“Ladybug suspected him once before. She had actual evidence.”

Nino’s eyes widened. “Shit.”

“Yeah,” Adrien said on an exhale.

“What was the evidence?” Nino asked quietly.

Adrien shook his head. “I don’t know. I got really defensive and snapped at her. And then he was akumatized, and she crossed him off the suspect list. I never thought about it. I didn’t want to think about it.”

Nino nodded. “Understandable. But what does he get out of being Hawkmoth? He already has pretty much everything!”

“To bring back maman.”

And it fit. The second the words were out of his mouth, Adrien wanted to throw up. He could see it. His father was used to getting what he wanted either through intimidation or money, but bringing back his mother was something he was denied. Instead of accepting that, grieving and moving on like a normal person, would his father have turned to magic?

“Nathalie would have to be in on it,” he thought out loud. Maybe that’s why she had been so horrified by his identity and insistent that she and his father couldn’t know his.

“I’m going to need the snake back, Nino,” Adrien announced, his voice monotone, but steady.

“What are you going to do?” Nino asked.

“I’m going to find out for sure if my father is Hawkmoth,” Adrien said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Will you be okay, alone? Shouldn’t we call Ladybug, maybe bring in some reinforcements?”

Adrien shook his head. “Time loops are easier when you don’t have to explain everything you’ve learned to a team...” he trailed off, considering. “And honestly, I… I would prefer to know first. If we’re right, I will tell her. But I’ll set the time loop outside the mansion. If he makes any kind of move, I will reset immediately. It’ll be fine.”

“But… will you be? If it turns out that he is?”

“I… I don’t know. But it’s like you said, Nino. I have to know.��

“I’ll be here.”

“No,” Adrien disagreed.

“No? Dude! If you’re right about all of this, I don’t want you here in this mansion alone!”

Adrien shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t want to face this alone either, but… if Ladybug has taught me anything, it’s that we have to be smart about this. If you almost lost the snake… I might lose it, too. I might get captured or incapicated or worse. I need someone to know, who’s not here! If you don’t see me by tomorrow, you go straight to Alya with our suspicions, okay?”

Nino looked so torn, but in the end he nodded. “Okay. But can I give you the snake back after I’ve gone back home?”

“What? You don’t want to be carried over the threshold bridal style by your superhero crush?” Adrien teased, but if Nino’s somber face was anything to go by, the joke fell flat.

“I don’t want you to be tired right before you go and confront your father.”

…

Adrien took one slow deep breath with his eyes closed. Then he activated the snake and launched himself through the open window in his father’s office.

“You are trespassing on private property. I demand that you leave,” Gabriel barked instantly, rising to his feet at Snake Noir’s intrusion.

“Is that anyway to greet your friendly neighborhood superhero?” Snake Noir joked the way Adrien Agreste never would.

“You are a teenager in possession of a power you do not understand. Using a miraculous that you just randomly found is hardly an accomplishment worthy of respect. Especially if you are using it to break into private residences.”

“I would think not having lost once to Hawkmoth, and having personally saved you on two separate occasions would be its own resume,” Adrien countered.

“Or perhaps, if you had given it up to him in that very first encounter, the city would already be free of his influence and I never would have needed rescue.”

“Are you seriously suggesting I should have handed over the power of destruction to a terrorist.”

“Yes.”

“You’re a real piece of work,” Adrien snapped.

Gabriel picked up his phone. No doubt to call the authorities.

Adrien reset with a sigh.

“You are trespassing on private property. I demand that you leave.”

“Actually, I happen to live here.”

Gabriel froze, his grey eyes rising to Snake Noir’s masked eyes.

“Adrien?”

“I realize you likely don’t approve.”

“Of my son gallivanting around the city in that ridiculous cat suit while putting his life in mortal peril?” Gabriel barked. “No, I don’t approve.”

“And here I was hoping that some part of you would be proud of me,” Adrien admitted softly.

“Adrien, I forbid you from continuing as a superhero. It is far too dangerous.”

“You’re not going to remember this conversation in three minutes, father. You’re not in a position to make demands.”

Gabriel held out his hand. “Give me your ring and I will take care of it.”

Adrien backed away, knowing if what Nino had said was true, his father was more than capable of an effective strike. “I’m not going to give you my miraculous. Not either of them.”

“Then what did you want to tell me?”

“I’ve come to ask if you’re Hawkmoth.”

“You would accuse me? Your own father? Of being a domestic terrorist?”

“Would you cut it out and just answer the question?”

“Watch your tone!”

“You’re worried about my tone?!”

“I see no reason to entertain your insolence and disrespect with a response.”

Adrien’s gut twisted. It wasn’t a denial. But it wasn’t a confirmation either. His father was not acting like an innocent man. And while Adrien was more convinced than ever that he was onto something, he wasn’t leaving until he was absolutely sure one way or the other.

“Father, I’m sorry.” He wasn’t actually sorry, but Adrien knew that an apology was often one of the only tools he had to calm his raging father. “I just… Ladybug suspected you. And I had to prove her wrong. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

His father’s face gave away nothing. There was no change in his expression or posture.

“I’m just worried about you, Adrien,” his father said. “You’re a child. You shouldn’t be risking yourself. This isn’t your fight. Nor your responsibility.”

“It’s not that big of a risk,” Adrien countered. “Ladybug always brings me back.” Adrien watched his father’s face carefully.

And sure enough, his lips pressed together into a thin line.

“You don’t have a say,” Adrien pressed further.

“I’m your father!” Gabriel insisted.

“That doesn’t mean you get to make every decision about my life!” Adrien shouted back. He knew that he’d never have had the gall to say that if his father was going to remember his defiance, but it felt freeing to say. Maybe Nino had been right and he should have confronted his father with the snake weeks ago.

“You are still a child! Until you’re an adult, it is my right to see to your safety and affairs.”

Adrien bristled at his father’s choice of words. His right?! Didn’t he mean responsibility?

But that was just it. His father probably didn’t see caring for him as a responsibility. Nathalie saw to his affairs, and his bodyguard saw to his safety. What did his father ever do other than try to control him?

“I haven’t been a child since mother left! And I think I finally understand why she did! To get away from you controlling every part of her life!”

“How dare you?!”

“How dare I?” Adrien repeated. “You’re the one that drove her away!”

Gabriel shoved his computer monitor off his desk. It fell to the ground with a shattered crash. Then Gabriel flipped the desk itself.

Adrien took a step back, every muscle tense and ready to spring into retreat. He had never seen his father lose control like this.

Gabriel stalked forward, over the debris, his breath suddenly heaving in his chest.

“Get out of my house!” he screamed, spit droplets flying from his mouth.

Adrien didn’t need to be told twice. He reset.

He stood once again on the mansion’s tiled roof. The sun was shining, the sky a perfect blue. Birds chirped in the garden and a car drove past the outer gates.

There was no evidence that he and his father had been screaming at each other seconds prior.

Because they hadn’t been.

He drew in a shaky breath and sat down, burying his head in his hands and knees. The event now only existed as a figment in Adrien’s memory.

His father hadn’t just lost control. He hadn’t just kicked Adrien out of his childhood home.

And yet his hands were trembling and his heartbeat was roaring in his ears.

Adrien was more convinced than ever that his father was the villain Ladybug had suspected he was. But what would get his father to come clean? Just asking hadn’t worked. Challenging his authority always made things worse. As apparently did direct confrontations.

Adrien stood up.

He knew what he had to say.

He reset, and then dove back down into his father’s office for the fourth time.

“You are trespassing on private property. I demand that you leave.”

“Hello father,” Adrien greeted formally.

Gabriel’s eyes widened, focused on his transformed suit. “Adrien?”

“I’ve come to apologize to you. I’ve been fighting as Chat Noir this entire time to protect Paris. But that was before I realized what Hawkmoth was fighting for.”

Adrien could already see the anticipation gleaming in his father’s eyes as he leaned eagerly forward.

“And what is Shadowmoth fighting for?” Gabriel asked.

Did he seriously just correct the villain’s name to Shadowmoth?

“You’re fighting to bring back mom,” Adrien told him. “And I want to help you. Ladybug…” and he had beat back a sob for even uttering these words. “Ladybug… she trusts me. I can… I can get you the miraculous of creation and I already have destruction,” he said, holding up his hand putting the ring on display.

“And you are willing to support Shadowmoth against the partner you’ve fought beside and defended for two years?”

“Family should come first, don’t you think?” Adrien said.

His father was silent, considering him stoically.

“I would do anything for Maman,” Adrien whispered. “To hear her voice again? To see her smile? Wouldn’t you?” It was what his father would have said to him had the identity reveal had played out in the reverse direction.

Gabriel smiled as he rose to his feet. “I should have trusted you with this ages ago, Adrien. I am sorry. I doubted you. I wasn’t certain that you had the stomach to do what needed to be done. To think, you were the key to victory the entire time. I should have had more faith.”

Adrien’s whole world shattered at the unequivocal confirmation. And yet, he remained standing, his eyes were dry, and his hands remained steady. Some part of him wondered at his ability to take the revelation without flinching. He knew if he had learned this a year ago, he would be a puddle on the floor balling, barely able to function.

But a lot had changed in the last year. A lot had changed in just the last few weeks. Adrien suddenly had a lot of practice at dealing with world-ending revelations and the accompanying grief. A lot of practice at saying good-bye to people that he loved.

“I miss her so much,” Adrien said, his voice cracking. And this time he did nothing to suppress the tears that wanted to fall. Because in this much, he was being honest. He missed her.

So much.

His father came around the desk, and swept Adrien up in a hug. For one weak moment, Adrien allowed himself to melt into the awkward embrace.

And then, the snake miraculous beeped, and his father jerked away violently, his eyes blazing with unbridled rage.

“You’re in a time loop?!” his father roared.

Adrien didn’t give him another second to react.

He reset. And he was back on the mansion’s rooftop. He dropped like a lead weight to the roof tiles.

He had just done something he had never done before.

He had earned his father’s admiration and respect.

His love.

The tears came fast and hard, and Adrien just let himself heave and sob because he knew he couldn’t keep his father’s love.

It came at a price Adrien was unwilling to pay.

And now, given what he knew he had to do, he knew without any doubt he would never have his father’s love.

Not for the rest of his life.

…

It only took two more loops to stop crying. And then his experience as a superhero who always had to act, to strike, to make decisions in life or death situations took over. Because he was a professional with a job to do.

But before that, he would give his father a chance to surrender. Adrien knew that his father wouldn’t take it, but he had to try anyway if only for his own peace of mind years from this moment.

“You are trespassing on private property. I demand that you leave.”

God, Adrien was really getting sick of that line.

“Gabriel Agreste, hand over the butterfly and peacock miraculouses without a fight, and I won’t tell a soul who you are.”

Adrien held out his hand, hoping with every fiber of his being that his father would just surrender.

Gabriel glared at him, but didn’t say anything for several seconds. Was his father considering his escape options? Or was he actually considering surrendering the miraculouses?

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he eventually said stoically.

Snake Noir snorted. “This is my ninth loop. I’ve already confirmed you’re Hawkmoth. If you give it up, you can continue to live your life of privilege with your family. The city never need know who you are.”

“That’s quite the generous offer coming from you,” Gabriel said.

Gabriel was wrong. It was a selfish offer. Please father, please just take it.

Snake Noir glanced at the portrait of his mother that hung behind Gabriel “You’re not the only one who has lost someone you know.”

Gabriel launched to his feet, snarling. “What do you know of loss?”

“I lost my mother about three years ago, and I think I’m about to lose my father,” Adrien confessed calmly.

His father froze, his eyes widened. “Adrien?”

“Please father, give it up,” Adrien entreated. “Give it up and we can be a family.”

“Adrien, we can be a family. A whole and complete family with your mother here with us again. Please, just help me. With Chat Noir on our side, our victory is certain.”

Adrien squeezed his eyes shut against his father’s pleas.

“I will forgive all the years you fought against me. Join me now, and we can bring her back.”

“We can’t,” Adrien sobbed.

“We can,” his father insisted. “The ladybug and black cat will grant any wish.”

“The cost is too high.”

Gabriel snarled at him. “How can you be against me?! I did this all for you!”

“For me?! Are you serious, right now?! This was always for yourself!”

“For both of us!”

Adrien shook his head in agitation.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Adrien,” his father said, his voice contained an actual note of desperation.

Adrien’s eyes shot to his father’s and considered him.

His father might now want to hurt him. But he would. If that’s what it took.

Hot tears spilled down his face.

“So be it, father.”

“Adrien!”

Adrien didn’t give him the chance to say anything else.

…

On his next loop, he came through the front doors rather than through the window. His focus was on Nathalie.

If his father deserved a chance, so did she. And he was far less certain what she would choose.

Nathalie jumped to her feet instantly at his unexpected presence.

“Don’t stand on my account,” he told her. “I know you still haven’t been feeling well.”

“What can I do for you, M. Noir?” she said with as much dignity and professionalism as ever. Like his presence wasn’t abnormal at all.

“Where does he keep it, Nathalie?” he asked.

“Where does who keep what?” she asked, but it was clear to him that she was stalling when she glanced toward the doors to his father’s office.

“My father?” he clarified, following her gaze. “Where does he keep the butterfly miraculous?”

She stared at him, her expression almost unchanged except her pupils had dilated. It was good to know some things were capable of throwing Nathalie off her unshakeable foundation - that she was human.

She pushed the glasses up her nose. “I wouldn’t presume to know who your father is.”

“Nathalie, you’ve already figured out that I’m Adrien, and you’ve clearly known about him for far longer if you were using the peacock.”

She flinched.

He walked right up to her, his eyes looking down at her.

When had he grown taller than Nathalie?

“I’m not going to tell you anything,” she said.

His chest tightened painfully. He knew he had no claim to Nathalie’s affections, but he didn’t want to lose her, too. “Nathalie, please. Help me end this somewhat peacefully before one of us winds up killing the other. Please!”

“He’s doing this to bring your mother back,” she confessed.

He nodded. “Yeah, I got that. But I think maman might’ve had a good reason to leave. He has no right to force her back to a life she clearly didn’t want.”

Nathalie shook her head. “She didn’t leave. She’s still here. She’s just in a magically induced coma.”

He lost the ability to breathe.

His mother was here? The whole time? They had let him believe she was gone, that she had left him? Or that she had died? When she was here the whole time?!

His grip tightened around his baton, and his eyes burned.

“Did either of you ever consider telling me?” he choked out.

“He tried once, but you gave him your blessing to move on, and he decided you weren’t dedicated enough.”

He shook his head. Of course he did. “I gave him my blessing to move on with you,” he snapped back.

She glanced past him and adjusted her glasses. “Be that as it may,” she said softly.

“I don’t understand you. You’re willing to die for him?”

She turned back to him, her eyes suddenly intense. “For all of you! To heal your family!”

He took a step back. He wasn’t certain he wanted to be a part of this family.

“So you won’t help me?” he concluded.

“I won’t betray your father, Adrien. I can’t. I hate that it was you that we were fighting. And I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too, Nathalie.”

He reset the snake.

…

It only took thirteen loops to figure out how to get to the super secret supervillain lair underneath the mansion.

And there she was, preserved perfectly. She was exactly as he remembered - beautiful and soft. She could have just been sleeping if she hadn’t been lying in a glass coffin like some fairy tale princess waiting for a kiss of true love.

“Hi maman,” he whispered, his claws tracing out the curve of her face on the glass. “It’s… good to see you,” he managed before his throat lodged itself closed. He leaned his forehead against the smooth surface and he shook as silent sobs overtook him.

He fought to gain his breath back under control. He had so much he wanted to say to her. “So much has changed since you left us,” he whispered. “I wish I could tell you about all of it.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he sobbed.

“How did you get down here?!”

Adrien whirled, and found himself face to face with Shadowmoth.

“It wasn’t hard,” Snake Noir said, before pointing to the window. “That’s a very big window.”

“What are you doing down here?” the villain demanded.

“Saying good-bye to my mother,” Adrien said.

Whatever his father had expected him to say that was not it. He literally stopped in his tracks, his eyes going wide as if Adrien had just struck him. Which in a way, he supposed he had. “Adrien?”

“Yes father?”

THe older man smiled. He actually smiled. “This is perfect.”

Adrien had never disagreed with his father more in his life. This was about as far from perfect as they could get.

“You can help me,” he was saying. “Help your mother. You have what we need! And I’m sure if Ladybug knows it’s for your mother, she’ll be willing to help as well.”

Snake Noir shook his head, tears trailing over his mask. “We can’t revive her,” he whispered.

“We can!”

“The price is too high.”

“I will pay any price!” his father screamed.

“And that’s exactly why you can’t revive her! Did you know there was another timeline out there? One where you akumatized me! And the whole fucking world was destroyed! Is that a price you’re willing to pay?”

“If you help me, there would be no reason to akumatize you.”

“I can’t believe you! There’s no way I can convince you to give it up, is there?”

Gabriel ignored him, stalking closer. “Give me your miraculous!”

“I won’t!”

“This isn’t your battle to fight!” Gabriel snarled. “You are a child!”

“I stopped being a child the day mother disappeared! Because you disappeared the same day she did! I thought…” Adrien broke off momentarily overwhelmed with his tears. “I thought you were grieving! Turns out you were terrorizing the whole city!”

“For you!”

“That’s a load of bull shit!” Adrien screamed back.

Shadowmoth surged forward, snarling. And Adrien had run out of walkway. “Is your mother not worth it? You would betray me? Betray your own mother? For what? Some girl you barely even know?”

Adrien laughed bitterly. At this point he knew Marinette far better than either of his parents. If only she knew that.

“You would make me choose between two women that I love?!” Adrien countered.

“It shouldn’t be that hard. There are millions of women for you to fall in love with. You only have one mother.”

“I could say the same to you,” Adrien said. “You could fall in love again. You only have one son.”

Shadowmoth lunged forward, striking with his cane. Adrien parried the blow with his staff, and dodged to the side. “Maman wouldn’t want you to do this!” he yelled.

His father laughed. “This was her plan!”

Adrien stumbled, and lost his form. Shadowmoth struck again through the lapse in his defenses.

Snake Noir took the strike to the shoulder, and fell backwards. “Then she doesn’t deserve to be revived!”

Gabriel sneered. “I failed in raising you.”

“You didn’t raise me at all! And I’m likely better for it!”

Shadowmoth struck downwards, but Adrien just flicked the snake miraculous before the cane could make contact again, and he was back on the mansion’s tiled roof overlooking his mother’s gardens.

“Sass, scales rest.” The snake slipped away, but he was still Chat Noir. He vaulted blindly away needing to be anywhere else.

Once he had put half a mile between himself and his former home, he collapsed to the ground, and pulled open the communicator.

“M’lady, I figured out who Shadowmoth is. And I took the liberty of doing some reconnaissance with the snake.” He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “And I-I… have a plan. Let’s meet on your balcony; I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Please invite Rena and Carapace. And don’t worry about costumes. I already know who all of you are and I think both the others know who you are, too. See you soon, princess.”

He ended the call, buried his head into his knees, curled up, and cried.

…

Chapter 9: Family

#miraculous ladybug fanfiction #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #confrontation #lots of yelling #manipulation #TW: child abuse #adrien is resilient #adrien cries a lot #he needs more hugs #he will get them next chapter #not this one #this one just hurts #time loops #identity reveal #the five minute adventures of snake noir #my own content #write just the fun part project #happy reading

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capesandshapes · 3 years

Text

Yours (Ladynoir)

Summary:

Marinette is crushed when Lila shows up to lunch with a matebite of her own, insisting that it's from Adrien. The shock finally leads her to make a decision, one which her kitty is hesitant to agree to.

“You’re an alpha,” she said, voice shaking as she crawled closer, admitting the facts that they’d long ignored. “I’m an omega.” “I know,” he replied miserably. “You need to start pulling away, you’re starting to warm up and I can almost scent you.” "Bite me."

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Cold.

She wasn’t sure if it was her or the slow breezes rolling through Paris that night, lifting stray strands of hair and depositing them in her eyes when she needed them the least. She brushed them away, securing the hair behind her ears as she pulled herself daringly closer to the edge of the rooftop she sat upon, eyes glimpsing momentarily out to the city before her arms wrapped around her knees, pulling them in so that her chin could rest upon them.

Inwardly, she cursed the effects of biology, hot tears biting at the corners of her eyes that likely wouldn’t exist if DNA had assigned her any other role. Alpha or Beta, she could have lived with those, she could have fought through this if it were one of them-- but Omega? Of course she had to be born like this, of course she had to have that building sensation gnawing at her stomach that made actual rational thoughts a haze.

And of course Lila freakin’ Rossi had to claim to receive his mate mark, the telltale purple ring of teeth marks making it undeniable. Adrien wore scent maskers for his own sake, but it made sense that the overwhelming smell of Adrien branded cologne would have been crafted from him.

What was supposed to be another normal lunch date with Alya had quickly devolved into her walking away alone, Lila repeatedly reassuring Alya that she gets it because, you know, Omegas are just so emotional sometimes ! Lila might have been a Beta, but she was also a Cancer and that made her extra empathetic.

Marinette was not a fan of astrology… or Lila. Or, as of half an hour ago, Adrien Agreste.

How could he mate her ? Out of all the people, why Lila?

Was Marinette really that blind?

And now she was the last one! Everyone else had already gone around biting each other-- and even if her parents said that things don’t always happen quite as early, Marinette was sick of it! Sick of being alone, sick of shivering in her nest with nothing to hold and no one to hold her-- of waiting again and again for someone to see her--

Of sitting in black and red alone on rooftops alone, because that was the only way she could even hope to escape the pinkened haze that overcame her. At least when she was Ladybug, she could think. At least when she was Ladybug no one gave her pitying looks, smelling the oncoming wave of heat approaching her and noting the perfectly pale and unmarked skin on her neck. At least when she was Ladybug, she was never really alone.

“Hey bug,” a voice from behind greeted her as if on cue. His body easily slid into the space beside her as his arm ran around the small of her back in greeting, head falling against her shoulder as he very clearly took in her miserable expression.

She didn’t speak. There was nothing really left to say, not in this situation. Instead, she let her head slump on top of his, hand finally relinquishing the grip on her knees if only to respond to him.

She was expecting him, though she wouldn’t say it. She always expected him at moments like this. She wouldn’t tell him that, or even admit it to herself but, that was the reason that she came out there half the time.

She knew, and he must have been aware as well, exactly what her partner was. She knew it from the way that one touch never felt enough, the way that he always knew the exact moments she needed him the most, and that desire that kept coming in waves over and over again to just have something-- just a little bit of him-- to keep as her own.

Chat was an Alpha and she was another blushing Omega trying to fight the tides of nature.

“You want to talk about it?” he asked, thumb drawing long, gentle strokes just below her ribs.

“No,” she lied, the hint of a sob immediately betraying her. God she was pathetic, crying over the matebite of a boy that she never had any claim to to begin with.

“Mhm.”

His disbelief was evident, coaxing out of her, as it always did, the truth of her misery. She tried to bite it back, but it came tumbling out as usual, every little thought that she didn’t want anyone to know. “Do you ever feel like we’re falling behind? Like everyone else is onto something and they’re moving on, and you’re just dragging on behind them. Everyone has someone, absolutely everyone now, and here I am just struggling to get by.” Her eyes drifted to his neck, momentarily eyeing the pale, unmarked skin there, “well not everyone, but--”

“You feel alone,” he summarized, voice sounding like he knew about being alone in the seemingly endless ways that she did.

“Very alone,” she confirmed, allowing her knees to fall to the side and her body to slump further into his with a sigh of defeat. “Someday you’re going to have an omega and I’m not going to have this anymore, and I’m going to have to learn to get by. You’re going to be in love and I’ll be happy for you, but miserable at the same time.”

“I’m not going to have an omega,” he laughed, pulling his head out from under hers with a grin. He leaned further into her vision, exaggeratedly rolling his eyes at her. “How would I get the time? I told you, I’m a college student and I plan to be a college student for many years more. There’s no way I can balance that, being a superhero, friends, and work all at the same time. By the second week she’d be wearing turtleneck sweaters around me in case the thought so much as crossed my mind.”

“You say that now…”

“I say that every single time you bring up that ridiculous idea,” Chat shook his head, settling back in beside her. “Besides, I told you, I have a lot to get over before I can so much as think of meeting someone new,” he said pointedly, eyes trained on the city but a hint of a smirk still on his lips.

Right.

“What if it was me,” she began. It was normally a hypothetical statement, one which he responded to with grandiose visions of moonlight nights, well-padded nests, and an insistence that he would wear the mark on his neck as if one of honor. She loved when he responded like that, when he gave her all those fantasies to fixate on later in the night. That night it didn’t feel so hypothetical.

“You’ve gone delirious from heat,” Chat said, his eyes dropping back down to his lap.

“I’ve not,” she said, though her heart had begun to beat like she was already gone. Too much excitement, too much want. Chat, chat, chat, chat-- how could she ever imagine Adrien at her side when Chat was the one who was always there?

Mating didn’t have to be about love-- but could she deny that she loved him just a little bit?

“Ladybug,” he warned.

She wouldn’t listen to him, wouldn’t let herself be swayed by things such as logic and reason. “Ladybug and Chat Noir, we’re two halves of a whole! It makes sense!” She insisted, grabbing his hands as he began to pull away, hoping that the clarity in her eyes would convince him of how overwhelmingly present she was at that moment. “Chat, I--”

“What about the other guy?” He interrupted, pulling back.

“He has someone,” she replied, the immediately flinched at the way that his eyes widened. Before he could pull away, she lunged forward, face just inches from his as she tried to keep his gaze. “It’s not like that, we’re not like that. I mean maybe I realized because of that but you’re--” She exhaled, hands tightening around his as an overwhelming need to pull closer gnawed at her. No doubt he saw her pupils grow as she looked at him, really looked at him.

It was biology, plain and simple. They’d been sidestepping the boundaries of desire through suits and determination, now she was really looking at him and she couldn’t fight back the blood of an omega loudly begging for more.

“You’re an alpha,” she said, voice shaking as she crawled closer, admitting the facts that they’d long ignored. “I’m an omega.”

“I know,” he replied miserably. “You need to start pulling away, you’re starting to warm up and I can almost scent you.”

She was, wasn’t she? She was starting to feel miserably warm, miserably close to the edge of the cliff known as heat-- a place where logical thoughts and awareness went to die. She didn’t want to drop it, to lose herself to desire and have him write it off as a onetime moment of insanity. More than that, she didn’t want him to give in and the moment to be lost to her in the haze of need. “Bite me,” she half commanded, half begged him. A part of her was terrified that he wouldn’t agree, that she was so terrible an omega that he no longer wanted her.

His eyes clenched shut, hands desperately clenching down onto hers as he tried to inhale and gather enough air to hold his breath. Unfortunately, there was too much of her lingering in the air for him not to recognize.

His eyes snapped open, body jerking back as the scent of vanilla and cinnamon lingered in the air, her wettened eyes staring back at him. She knew from that motion alone, a hint of a sob escaping her as doubt, the kind bred by those awful hormones, began to overtake her. He knew, he knew exactly who she was now.

His hands pulled away from hers and a sob racked her body, the fear of rejection overcoming her. It wouldn’t be because she was Marinette, Chat liked Marinette for who she was, it would be because she’d waited too long. It would be because he’d actually already done the moving on thing, he’d just lied to placate her.

His body turned to face her wholly and it was worse, so much worse than knowing Adrien had chosen Lila. It was worse than sitting alone, worse than looking at the mark on Alya’s throat and being reassured that it would happen someday, worse than every single time he vanished at an Akuma’s hands and she had to worry whether he would come back or not.

No, with this he would change it all. They’d still work together but there wouldn’t be moments like this. He would pull away, he would--

His lips gently touched the tip of her nose, bringing her back to reality.

“Do you hear me, Marinette?” he said, checking that it was still here, that she was not lost yet. His face was close, far too close, and her lips fell open in awe at the way the gold of his hair caught the moonlight. “I said yes,” he explained, thumb brushing a stray tear from underneath her eye. “Only if you’re here, but yes.” A beautiful smile crossed his lips at her ragged exhale, his forehead brushing against hers. The smell of apple, cheese, and that little bit of sweetness was overwhelming, so much better than the expensive cologne she’d once inhaled. “I need to hear you say it, I’m not going to mark you if you’re gone.”

“I love you,” not at all the words she meant to say but looking at the deep green in front of her, she couldn’t say anything else. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know who was under the mask, or that someday she’d have to explain the mark to someone else. It most certainly did not matter that Lila had Adrien’s mark because, looking at the man in front of her she knew; it was Chat, it was always Chat.

And to him, it was always Marinette.

One bite, and that was all it ever would be.

There was nothing comparable to his responding smile, she was almost disappointed by how suddenly it was taken away when his lips brushed against hers, pressing a tender kiss to the corner of her mouth. Her eyes closed as he moved to her neck, exposing that juncture between throat and shoulder to her so easily. One inhale, the pressure rising in her chest and…

“I love you too, Marinette.”

The world flashed as teeth collided with flesh.

#adrienette #ladynoir #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug #love square #ml fanfic #my fanfic #fanfiction #omegaverse #I GOT TOO EXCITED ANYWAY #QUEEN OF TRASH CAPESANDSHAPES #original content

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miraculousluvbug · 3 years

Text

WINGLESS | Ch. 7

***New to Wingless? Start at Chapter 1!

CH. SUMMARY: After Chat learns Ladybug told Rena her identity, Plagg's solution is simple: tell someone he's Chat Noir so they're even! Duh.

Unbeknownst to the three wicked stooges, Paris’s favorite cat boy sat perched upon a rooftop adjacent to the mansion, ogling the interaction between his father, his trusted assistant, and his absolute least favorite person in the entire world.

Next to Hawk Moth, of course.

As they tittered and conspired in the darkness, Chat Noir narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t help but find the whole thing . . .

Shady.

“Claws in.”

Plagg whizzed out of the ring and looked up at his holder with sad kitten eyes. Adrien avoided making eye contact, practically drilling a hole into the ground with the intensity of his glare. He hugged his knees to his chest and picked at his shoelaces.

“That was pretty rough, kid.”

Adrien sniffled and roughly smeared away his tears with the back of his hand.

“I was hoping her explanation would make me feel better, Plagg.”

Adrien hugged his knees tighter.

“But it made me feel so much worse.”

“Oh, Adrien,” Plagg crooned, shoulders drooping. He hesitated for only a second before flying to Adrien’s shoulder and nuzzling his holder’s neck.

“She doesn’t want to know me, Plagg. Am I really that bad?”

“Not at all. I already told you that no other Chat Noir could be you. I meant it. You’re the best Chat Noir I’ve ever had.”

Adrien’s sniffles quieted, but the tears persisted. He had no idea how to stop them now that they had started. With gut-wrenching envy, Adrien watched the person he hated most engage in chit-chat with his father as if it was the most casual occurrence. The man even went as far as sharing whatever was on his tablet, a feat Adrien had been trying to accomplish since before he could remember. His father always claimed to be private, unwilling to share any kind of imperfect designs with his own son.

But there Lila was. Conversing with his father more than he himself had in the past week.

And Ladybug had given her most sacred secret to Rena Rouge.

Was he invisible?

He felt so small.

Lost at sea.

A blip in the turbulent waters that no one knew was missing.

He was a boy overboard with no life raft. And no one knew to look for him.

His soul was cold and his heart felt numb.

“You know what?” chirped Plagg suddenly, snapping Adrien out of his spiral. “Ladybug is the new Guardian, right?”

Adrien nodded hesitantly. Where was he going with this?

“What’s her only rule?”

“We can’t know each other’s identities.”

Plagg hovered in front of Adrien’s eyes and flipped onto his back, making a show of nonchalance. If this was gonna work, Plagg had to make the kid think it was kind of his own idea. “Who can’t know each other’s identities?”

Adrien was unamused. To him, Plagg was beating a dead horse.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Plagg popped open one eye. He didn’t need to open both for Adrien to see the blatant impishness in them.

“So Ladybug and Chat Noir can’t know each other’s identities. What about . . . other people?”

The blonde ball of despair perked up, hair bouncing into his eyes, though they immediately narrowed at his Kwami’s scheming.

“But Master Fu--”

Plagg interjected, “--who isn’t the guardian anymore.”

Adrien blinked.

Kwamis, Plagg was so close to convincing his kid to be selfish for once. He just needed a push! A hefty, premeditated shove off the Fu-forsaken cliff!

“It’s like I’ve always said. Beg for forgiveness, not for permission.” Plagg folded his little paws across his chest, floating right up to Adrien’s nose. Adrien went cross-eyed trying to maintain eye contact. “Ladybug told Rena. So the question is: who’s Chat Noir going to tell?”

“It’s--” Adrien spluttered. “It’s risky, Plagg!”

“And so is being depressed,” Plagg snarled back, surprising Adrien. “Any other person gets minorly inconvenienced and akumatized, who saves them? You--” the Kwami jabbed a paw into Adrien’s nose “--and the bug. But you or Ladybug get akumatized, who saves you?”

Plagg saw the cogs turning in Adrien’s head. He briefly speculated who his kid might choose. Nino would be the obvious choice. He wasn’t as close to Kagami any more, but telling her the secret that had broken them apart would certainly be one hell of an apology. It could even, say, potentially repair what the secret had fractured.

There was also the off chance Adrien might choose Pigtails, who coincidentally doubled as Ladybug. Plagg would have to raid the Agreste kitchen for popcorn if that happened.

“If . . .” Adrien began.

Yes? Plagg internally coaxed.

“If I were to choose someone . . .”

Come on, Adrien.

“I think it would be . . . Nino.”

Yahtzee.

Plagg clapped his paws together over and over, rousing Adrien from his feet like a drill sergeant. “All right, then! Let’s go, let’s go! Hustle, bell boy. We’ve got places to be!”

Adrien reached into his pocket and pulled out a squishy triangle, letting loose the most intoxicating aroma Plagg ever did smell. It circled the pair and made Plagg salivate. “Don’t you want this first?”

Did I really forget about camembert? Plagg wondered incredulously.

“I--” Plagg scrambled for an excuse to atone for the touchy-feelies interfering with his one true love, but he came up short. “Of course I want that!”

Adrien smiled fondly at his Kwami and threw the camembert into the air. Not one to miss a beat, Plagg zipped and caught the cheese in his mouth, devouring the thing in one fell swoop.

“Now we can go!” said Plagg, belching remorselessly. Naturally.

Adrien chuckled. When he opened his mouth to say the transformation phrase, however, he faltered. Was he really going to do this? It . . . It felt disobedient, like he was betraying Ladybug. But could she really hold it against him, if she had needed to do the same?

Would his partner reveal herself to be a hypocrite?

The budding consequences of revealing himself to Nino weighed so heavily on his shoulders that he wasn’t sure how he would manage batoning into the air once transformed. The aptitude for disappointment just felt so tangible to him, as if it were physically chaining him to the rooftop, a meaty claw so solidly wound ’round his ankles it threatened to pierce his skin.

The thought that Nino might hate him for keeping the secret in the first place made home in Adrien’s cerebral cortex, further immobilizing him. It pulled up a chair and opened the morning newspaper like it was meant to be there, meant to remind him that not everything was just simple. Straightforward. Without fallout.

A tender paw touched his cheek, wiping away a runaway tear.

“Kid,” whispered Plagg. His eyes were misty.

Is that . . . because of me? Because he cares about me?

Holding his gaze a moment longer, Adrien uttered the words that once changed his life forever and seemed to be forever following him with new and improved ways to spice up his routine.

“Claws out.”

The energy washed over him like a cold shower, springing him into action. The need to move, to run, to fly nipped at his heels and before he knew it, he was vaulting to his best buddy’s.

If Adrien was honest, telling Marinette, his dearest friend, was his first instinct. He gripped that realization like it would fly away at a moment’s notice, at the slightest spook (he was on the precipice of truly understanding what his good friend Marinette really meant to him). But he had heard from Nino that Alya and Marinette were holed in for a “girls’ night,” so . . . Nino was the next best thing.

Nino was far from second place, however. Sharing the burden of his greatest secret with the guy who got mad at Gabriel Agreste on Adrien’s behalf was like a breath of fresh air. More than that, it was like Adrien would finally be able to steady his head above the tide.

(Telling Marinette would have been like sprouting gills and uncovering the mystery of the sea up close and personal, but Adrien didn’t want to unpack that particular conclusion yet.)

Wasting no time, Chat Noir landed nimbly on Nino’s apartment balcony and tucked his baton back into place. Giving himself just one more moment before life as he knew it was spun upside down--for better or for worse was yet to be determined--he raised a gloved claw to the sliding glass door and timidly knocked.

Nino’s balcony wasn’t decorated like Marinette’s. A few bikes of various sizes loitered against the railing, collecting dust. A few helmets hung limply from their handlebars, occasionally shifting to and fro in the passive wind. Chat could discern by the light-up training wheels which bike belonged to Nino’s little brother, Chris. The bike--which Chat realized must be new since his last visit--sported black spots against its red frame.

Chat shook his head fondly.

Someone obviously developed an appreciation for the bug after their last akumatization. But as the evening breeze softly twisted the helmet, the vision before him melted him into a puddle of endearment. Nino’s kid brother apparently also had a thing for Chat Noir.

The evidence?

A black helmet topped with an acid green paw print and two plastic cat ears to boot.

Un-fur-tunately, as much as the sight was incredibly thera-paw-tic, it also made his heart throb. His body ached for a larger family, from head to toe and down to his bones.

Adrien didn’t dream often in his sleep, but when he did . . . Oh, when he did, he was blessed with visions of him entering a cozy one-story home (his) and immediately being greeted by giggling and the blinding smiles of three faceless children (also his).

While his hopelessly romantic heart yearned for Ladybug to be his other half in that tender fantasy, lately his subconscious had a habit of inserting a particular blue-haired classmate. It baffled him at first, but he figured seeing her family photo that one time during Animan in addition to experiencing the Dupain-Chengs’ bolstering hospitality personally as both Adrien and Chat Noir made Marinette a safe space for his lonely imagination.

Whoever she married would be one lucky bastard, that was for sure.

The curtains behind the glass door swept dramatically to the side, revealing a bewildered Nino in Rena Rouge-themed pajamas.

“Chat Noir?!” he exclaimed. The glass between them muffled his voice.

A quick scan beyond Nino told Chat that his friend was home alone, but he knew he needed to be certain. “Are you home alone?”

Nino paled before realizing that a superhero asking that question wasn’t as bad as some random adult looking for an easy target. He exhaled, chuckling nervously. “My family went to the ice rink, but skating’s so not my jam.”

So he stayed behind. Good. This was gonna be a piece of cake! Adrien pointed at the door handle and raised his eyebrows in question.

“Oh, right. Sorry, dude!”

Nino clambered to unlock the door and wrenched it open. The smell of broth and herbs hit Adrien square in the nose. His stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since lunch. “What brings you here? An akuma?”

Stepping over the threshold, Chat tried to make sense of Nino’s question. Why would he come to a civilian if there was an akuma? “No, no akuma, Nino.”

“Oh, good, ’cause I-- Dude, how did you know where my room is?”

If Chat weren’t there to reveal his identity, he might have had a heart attack over accidentally bee-lining to Nino’s room like he’d been there before. He probably would have said something fishy like “In a house like this, it’s a given!” But he didn’t have to make up some ridiculous excuse. He wouldn’t ever have to lie to his best friend.

Never again.

“Because . . .”

Nino eyed Chat expectantly. His room was a mess. He really wasn’t expecting any visitors and his laptop was still open, his music and film ideas scrawled onto random pieces of notebook paper and scattered across his desk like a madman. Or an artist. Was there really a difference?

“Because . . .” Chat began once more.

Oh, gosh. This was it. He was going to do it. He was going to do the thing! He was alone at sea and no one from the boat had noticed him falling overboard. But maybe, just maybe Nino was the Coast Guard. Maybe Nino would throw him a buoy.

“Because claws in.”

Nino’s entire body went rigid. Crap, crap, crap!

“No, wait--!” Nino shouted, closing his eyes instinctually and reaching for Chat Noir. He had to pull him away from his laptop’s camera field! Had to get him out of sight! Why did he choose now to share Paris’s most coveted secret?!

But . . . he was too late.

The light had already dimmed behind his eyelids by the time his hands were closed around--

“Adrien?” Nino whispered, peering up at his best friend. The duckling he had sworn to protect and teach the ways of life was standing where Chat Noir should be.

Adrien smiled and opened his mouth to respond, but a high-pitched laughter rang out and the joy he felt was quickly replaced with sheer terror.

Nino grinned sheepishly.

“Uh haha, you remember my girlfriend Alya who I sometimes Skype with while working on scripts?” Clumsily, Nino rubbed comforting circles into Adrien’s arms as if he could rub away the embarrassment.

“You said you were home alone.”

“Actually, I said my family went to the ice rink.”

Adrien’s eye twitched.

Plagg, who couldn’t have foreseen this turn of events, hovered off to the side and figured if he didn’t move, he could pretend he was invisible.

Sure enough, Adrien craned his head to find an unhinged Alya screeching like a fox (he had seen a video of them laughing once on YouTube; they were so adorable!) from Nino’s computer screen. Behind Alya was a familiar cork board of friends and, well, lots of himself. The walls were pink. She was at Marinette’s like Nino said she would be.

Adrien had expected gasps. Finger pointing. A million questions. What he hadn’t expected was Alya laughing like he was the butt of a joke.

After a good minute of cackling and awkward waiting from the boys, Alya sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. Then she spoke, a dazed smile on her lips.

“I cannot wait to strangle that Hawaiian-shirt-loving Master of Unnecessary Manipulation.” Her words were completely contrasted by the amusement in her voice.

Adrien tried not to faint.

-----

We're now caught up with AO3 here on Tumblr (AO3 is where I first started posting this). Yay! :D Also, was anyone expecting Rena to be there? 😌I wasn't. 😳 Follow me for updates and check out my Instagram where I post art!

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amberwild420 · 3 years

Text

one step back, two steps forward (pt. 29)

masterlist

this was never a game.

The night was silent. It was so quiet that it felt like a dream that just a few hours ago there was an akuma on lose. Everyone slept in the cozy warm bed unaware of the events that might happen sometimes later.

Many shadows ran across the rooftops. There wasn’t a single word exchanged between them. The tension was running high in the team.

Today was the day.

Today, they will strip the black cat of its power. They are getting the miraculous of destruction back.

Just as they were closing in the Eiffel tower they all separated. Luna’s illusion magic covered all of their tracks, from their shadows to their very presence.

Honeybee and Luna were the closest to the meeting spot. They were going to take action against black cat if he dares to retaliate. Ryu and Python were further than the others, ready to come out if need arise.

Just as ladybug landed, chat also landed. In his hands was a big bouquet of red roses. It was clear what was going in his head and how far off from the real reason he was.

His ear twitched as if trying to see the rest of the team was there or not. He seemed quite pleased when he couldn’t hear them. Not like he could top the extra layer of magic over them.

Alright bugaboo, you don’t have to say anything! I just know how much you love me. I mean it was just a matter of time.

Chat rambled as he waved his hands around. He wasn’t even giving her a chance to speak. The frown on ladybug’s face deepen as she kept listening.

Was it always like this?

Sighing, she cleared her throat effectively stopped chat from rambling any further. Chat stilled for a moment before smiling waiting. Ladybug sighed before put her hand out, looking at him expectedly.

Chat’s face lit up as he tried to kiss her hand but ladybug pulled it away before he could.

I’m asking for your miraculous.

Are you saying we’re going to tell our identities to each other!?

Chat asked excitedly, still not thinking about what could go wrong. He was just forcing his fantasies once again. Ladybug gritted her teeth, her patience was getting thin. She was so done with everything. Having people walk all over her or being a better person or being a good example or even still trying to see better in every person despite being hurt by them again and again.

Chat, return your miraculous. The guardian has decided to strip of your power.

There was silence. Chat tried to process what he heard. She must be joking, right?

I think I heard you wrong. I swear I hallucinated when you said that I have to return the miraculous.

No chat. Ladybug looked at him with cold eyes. You heard right. Return the miraculous.

His eyes widen before he hid the ring in his other hand while walking back. Ladybug took a step towards him.

n-no! This can’t be happening! You need a cat to stay active! You can’t get my miraculous back!

It seems like you know. Fine then. The Guardian has decided since you haven’t been a true black cat, they decided to renounce your miraculous.

There.

She said it.

Even though she winced inside, she didn’t show it on her face. Chat who was hiding his ring, started to put his guard up. He looked around as soon as realization dawned on him. Ladybug threw her yoyo but his reflex were faster as he hit it back with his baton.

It was like he still had his instinct. Throwing her yoyo one more time ladybug fought chat to get his miraculous. He fought back, no wanting to return the miraculous. The only freedom he had.

How could you betray me?!

Betray you?! Do you think acting like all of this is a game and leaving me to fight akuma on my own while you threw a childish tantrum, isn’t it a bigger betrayal?!

You know it you love me too! Why can’t you just say it? Stop throwing a tantrum and admit it!

I never said that I loved you! All of that are your own fantasies! How many times I told you that I don’t like you!? If I wasn’t worried about getting my identity compromised I would have complained for sexual harassment.

They were now on top of another rooftop. They had fought, trying their best what they thought was right. But now ladybug was angry. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Hawkmoth had sent an akuma by now.

Sexual harassment? Not once have you said anything about my flirting! Now you want to just throw me away!

Not once?! How about when I said NO!? OR WHEN I SAIDSTOP IT! WAS IT NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU TO GET IT THAT I DON’T LIKE IT!?

Chat looked at her in dark eyes. He was not going to give up his miraculous. Not if he can help it.

A familiar energy formed on his hand making ladybug gasp.

Cataclysm!

His hand inched closer. The crazy look in his eyes was something she wasn’t used to. Her eyes were blown away. He was ready to get rid of her. How could have this escalated this much?

Just as it looked like she was going to turn into dust, something wrapped around her waist. A sense of Deja vu came over her, before she was pulled away. A pair of familiar arms caught her.

Looking up, her eyes met yellow glowing ones. Her body slumped in relief. She wasn’t alone. She was never alone. Looking at chat, she saw him frozen. Honeybee had used her venom on him. Now Ryu and Python were turning off his cataclysm.

Python used a paper and touched it with the destructive energy. As soon as he did, the paper turned to ashes. Ladybug and Luna joined in as well. They were going to pull the ring off his finger.

Ladybug pulled off the miraculous and the transformation was gone. Honeybee gasped as she saw who was beneath the mask. Adrien Agreste was under the mask.

Gritting her teeth, ladybug looked down on the blonde in distaste. To think she actually had a crush on him.

Adrian Agreste, as the guardian of miraculous, I renounce your miraculous. From now on you will not be able to use any miraculous or share anything about miraculous with any other soul. That also include telling your former identity. Let this be a lesson for you.

Putting a hand on his chest, she poured her guardian magic. A Chinese character formed on his chest making him groan in pain. As soon as she was done, Adrian looked broken.

y-you can’t do that. I won’t have any more freedom. I would be caged in my own house. Please ladybug! Please! I need to speak to Plagg! He will listen to me! I need to see him!

Despite other members frowning and hopping she would stop wasting her time on this lost cause, ladybug put on the ring and the Kwami of destruction came out.

Plagg! Plagg! Tell them! Tell them you still want me as your cat!

Plagg looked sorrowful, but said nothing. He was disappointed. He liked Adrian but he was tired. He tried. Really. But now, he was just tired.

Plagg?

The betrayal was clear in his eyes. He was alone. Luna walked behind him before knocking him out.

Let’s get him home and leave. I’ll take ladybug back.

Hearing that, they looked at their ladybug. True, she looked like she needs rest urgently. They waved at each other. Python and Ryu decided to get Adrian home.

Luna kneeled in front of her. Apparently she was giving ladybug a piggyback.

I’m oka- just get on.

Not wanting to argue, she quietly get on, letting Luna run on the roof towards her home.

Was it wrong of me to take his miraculous?

No. you did the right thing. He would have been a liability in the future.

I..... I just thought maybe I was mad at him and I just snapped. I could have dealt with it better.

Anyone in your place would have done the same. It’s just different when they would have reacted.

Ladybug stayed quiet, enjoying the cold wind. Luna was so strong. She had been supporting her as soon as she met her.

She wanted to be just as strong.

Just so you know. I would have killed him the first chance I had if I were in your place.

A laugh spilled out of her mouth before it echoed in the quiet city.

Bonus:

Ladybug landed next to Honeybee on the roof of Le Grand Paris. Calling off her transformation Chloe said goodbye to pollen promising to see each other again in the future.

Just as Chloe return the miraculous, ladybug pushed it back to her.

Keep it. You’ll need it tonight.

Wait tonight?

....we’re taking chat’s miraculous.

.......

Chloe was silent before sighing in relief.

Thank heaven! I was hoping you would get rid of that mangly cat. He was so ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

Ladybug sighed before waving goodbye to Chloe and swing away.

Extra Bonus:

I was so pissed at Adrian that I completely forgot about akuma. I’m so glad there was no akuma.

Marinette fell on the deck chair. Tikki flew around getting a macaroon to eat. Kaylan still in her costume, waited for her to get inside.

But she decided to sit out for now.

Whoever is out there, thank you for not sending akuma!

............

About that.........

Luna brought out a few jars. The jars were specifically made to capture akuma with miraculous magic coated on it.

Marinette looked at the jars blankly. Luna gave a crooked smile, making the bluenette scream in horror.

#One Step Back #two steps forward #ml ladybug #Miraculous Team #Miraculous Friends #renounced miraculous #Adrian salt #ml salt #plagg is disappointed #adrain loses his miraculous

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spartanxhunterx · 4 years

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Ok, I swear I posted this before but I can't find it so I'm just gonna recreate it from memory.

So half class salt/ Class redemption idea starting from Volpina.

So when Lila come to school she lies it up like she does, attracting attention to herself and getting people to flock to her. When she goes off to meet Adrien in the park the rest of the class get together to talk about throwing a welcome party to formally greet her.

Except, now that everyone's talking about all that she's done... It seems a little too much to be true. They had some famous people but none of them were THAT connected.

So the class assumes that just maybe Lila is feeling a little insecure about being there, maybe she feels over shadowed by her classmates.

Made sense when they had the mayor's daughter, Creator of the ladyblog, kitty selection, the daughter of Paris' best bakers who was also Jagged stones go-to designer and a literal model. It was easy to feel overshadowed or outclassed.

But, surely she's not malicious right? No. She can't be.

So they decide to indulge her, let her live out her fantasies until she felt confident enough to tell them the truth and be her real self.

They create a group Chat to be able to talk about everything Lila tells them, so they don't accidentally come off as accusing or point out contradictions or plot holes.

They would have added Adrien but they knew the boy would just spill the beans to Lila. What none of them knew was that they forgot to add Marinette too.

So when Lila doesn't show up for a long while, only video calling a few times, they all remember to not point out her lies but Marinette isn't following 'the script'.

At first they want to point out to why what she should do but they quickly realize that the entire class 100% believing everything she says would be sketchy so they let her, playing along to make it seem like they disagree with the Bluenette.

When Lila comes back they greet her warmly and listen to her stories, no-one believed her but a little validation never hurt anyone right?

What none of them know is that Lila threatened Mari in the bathroom, what none of them known is that Lila Won't stop lying.

So all the while they're playing to their script, letting Lila believe she's winning them over and they are abandoning their class rep, only Maritte and Adrien believe it's all true.

on one emotional day, Marinette had tried to ring Alya to vent her frustrations, only not realising it was actually Adrien who she had called, she hadn't known it was him until she was finally done taking it out and he revealed it was him and not Alya.

it was awkward but the two managed to spend more time together when their 'friends ' would bail on Marinette. Adrien does all he can to keep Marinette's spirits up, becoming a good friend to her and even visiting as Chat Noir to double down on the positivity.

ironically, Her crush on him actually dies as she learns more about him, not because something is wrong with Adrien but that Marinette realised she had placed Adrien on a high pedestal without really knowing him and had fixated on her minds view of him.

damn boy was a bigger nerd then Chat Noir.

So as the classes 'bullying ' increases, Adrien begins to worry more and more about Marinette, to the point he just stops flirting with Ladybug, stops goofing off during battles and just wants it to END so he can get back to Marinette faster.

Suddenly Akuma attacks take half the usual time.I

Then Ladybug happens, then when Marinette is kicked out the entire class is stunned, speechless. There's no way Marinette would do any of those things but it's too late to fix things now.

What and Lila done that? That wasn't supposed to happen. So while they're dealing with that Adrien goes and makes his 'deal' with Lila before going to Marinette's to tell her the good news.

expect now she doesn't want to return, why would she?

as much as Adrien tries to convince her to return, to give the class ONE chance, she doesn't budge not even after he admits to making the deal with Lila, a deal she won't be able to uphold even if she tried.

Instead he just gives her some new school recommendations before leaving, then the next day at school, even when things go back to ' normal ' people notice that Adrien is distant and that Marinette hasn't returned. Adrien rebels against the photo shoots until his father will get rid of Lila, he doesn't want to work with her and will every last ounce of repressed teenage rebellion to do so.

Its not till later that day that the class fill him in on what was happening and that act.

except, he tells them, Marinette was never acting, never playing along and Lila has no intention of stopping until all of them were away from him. Not only that but he leaves the class to stew on the info that Marinette IS changing schools and nothing can be done against it.

So the class realises that they were just feeding Lila the attention she wanted while dragging Mari across the floor and just... Destroy her towers of lies the next day with the months of research they had done into all her lies so they could talk about it without making Lila back herself into a corner on accident.

fortunately Lila's 'interviews' were private to only the class and were artificially inflated to seem popular, thus giving Alya credibility that she did indeed post them.

after that the class tries again and again to talk to Marinette, who is now avoiding them, to explain but they can't. Even Adrien ignored them until he transfers to the same school as Marinette.

From here you can write about each classmate trying and failing to set things straight and explain and eventually make things up if you want a sugar/ redemption ending or just end it on the bittersweet note that the classes actions made them lose the two sunshine children over a liar.

#lila is exposed #ML salt idea #miraculous salt #Class salt #Class sugar #Class redemption #Adrinette friendship #Marinette deserves better

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aalissy · 3 years

Text

Forbidden Love

Day 2 is doneee!! And it’s all about post-relationship, pre-reveal haha!! I hope you enjoy this chapter bc it does contain Ladrien kisses <3. Forbidden love suits these two sooo wellll <3. Ladrien angst is my fave so lemme know what you think :)

AO3

“We can’t keep doing this,” Ladybug murmured even as her fingers tangled in Adrien’s hair, pulling him to her in another sweet, passionate kiss.

“I know,” he spoke breathily after pulling away for a few, deep breaths of air.

She nibbled on her bottom lip as she peered up at him from beneath her lashes. His chest was heaving with every bit of air he sucked in. His clothes were ruffled and his emerald green eyes had darkened considerably as he stared at her almost desperately. His lips were swollen with her kisses and when his tongue slowly peeked out to wet them, Ladybug groaned before capturing him in another kiss.

She really shouldn’t keep doing this. If Hawkmoth ever found out that she was engaged in a relationship with a civilian he could hurt Adrien and everyone he loved. She just couldn’t let that happen. But it wasn’t fair! She and Adrien were in love! Why should she have to give that all up in favor of an evil supervillain?

With a small sigh, Ladybug pulled away from him and his tempting lips once again. His eyes had fluttered closed during their makeout session but they slowly opened again as he met her gaze. She felt her heart thump wildly in her chest as her whole body ached to connect their lips once again. Forcing herself to fight the temptation, she clenched her fists tightly on his white couch.

“I-I’m sorry,” Adrien stuttered out in a quiet murmur, glancing away from her as he scratched the back of his neck. “That was my fault.”

Ladybug chuckled bitterly, shaking her head as she gave him a sad look. “No, Adrien. That was all me. I should be the one apologizing. You’re just so tempting.”

He turned back to stare at her with a pair of wide, surprised eyes. This time, she whipped her head away as he gave her an eager smile. Shutting her eyes tight, she refused to look at him this time. He always looked so cute, boyish, and eager that it pained her not to pull him into another kiss. She needed to resist! She couldn’t risk Adrien getting hurt. He was too important to her.

“Wait, but if you like kissing me and I like kissing you... what’s the problem?” Adrien asked earnestly. Ladybug was certain that if she connected their gazes again, his eyes would be sparkling. How could one boy be so cute?

Heaving another quiet sigh, she steeled herself before opening her eyes. Her resolve weakened slightly as she saw his adorable smile. Feeling slightly weak and jittery, she shook her head slowly, sucking in a deep breath. “Because I can’t keep doing this, Adrien. I could be putting you in danger. What if Hawkmoth finds out? You could be his next target and I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt.”

He placed his hand over hers, squeezing it gently and Ladybug blinked down at it in shock. A smile was clear in his voice as he spoke to her next, “But what if Hawkmoth never finds out? What if we can just keep it a secret from everyone?”

Ladybug scoffed lightly, shaking her head. “When has that ever worked, Adrien? I practically sneak into your bedroom every night. What happens if Nathalie or even worse your father barges in one day? Don’t you think it’d be a little odd if they saw you kissing the superhero of Paris?”

Adrien’s cheeks turned pink as he ducked his head down even as a small grin appeared on his lips. Realizing her own words, Ladybug flushed as well, wondering when and how she had gotten so brave with him? It was probably because of all the kissing they had been doing lately. It was sort of hard to stutter and stammer when she knew his lips almost as well as her own.

“Okay,” he finally nodded his head, seemingly making up his own mind. “What if we didn’t stay here, then? What if you come pick me up and then take me somewhere else?”

Adrien gestured out his window and she blinked a pair of startled blue eyes at him. God, was she tempted to take him up on his offer. Thoughts and images swirled around her head with the idea. Fantasies of yanking Adrien away and spending hours up on the top of the Eiffel Tower just talking with him filled her mind. Of course, they would share a few kisses which would just make everything even more perfect.

With a small whimper, Ladybug shook her head firmly once again. Forcing herself to stand up, she clenched onto her yo-yo tightly. “We can’t, Adrien, I’m so sorry. What if someone catches us and rumors start spreading? It’s just too risky. I never should have started this. It’s my fault.”

“Hey,” Adrien spoke decisively, pushing himself up as well as he held onto her hands once again. He forced her gaze back up to him as he said, “This is just as much my fault. We started this together, LB, and we both knew what we were doing. I wanted this just as much as you did.”

Ladybug gaped over at him, her eyes softer than they had ever been before. He was so perfect. How did he know just what to say to make her feel better? Smiling gently, she couldn’t stop herself from whispering, “Find me.”

“W-what?” Adrien blinked at her in confusion, his head tilting to one side adorably.

“Find me,” she said again, more determinedly this time. “If you can find me as a civilian... without all the danger and worries... then we can be together. For real.”

She must be going crazy. For one, there was no way Adrien would ever be able to figure out who she was. And, also, she never should have asked him to do this. It could be just as dangerous.

She was about to open her mouth to backtrack when Adrien cut her off, “B-but what if I find someone who isn’t you?”

Ladybug relaxed slightly even as her heart twisted at the idea of Adrien falling in love with anyone but her. Still, if it was left up to him and he did find someone else, perhaps she should just let them stay together. It would be easier than convincing herself to stay away from him completely. Slowly nodding her head, she squeezed his hand back this time. “That’s up to you, Adrien. I won’t tell you if you get it wrong or right. That could just put us in even more danger.”

“Can you at least give me a hint?” He searched her eyes rather desperately.

Humming lightly, she removed one of her hands to tap her chin thoughtfully. Deciding on something that wouldn’t give her away too badly, she eventually murmured, “I’m closer than you think.”

Quickly, Ladybug brushed one last kiss against his cheek before bolting away, yo-yo spinning in her hand. Her flaming cheeks were cooled by the night wind as she weighed whether or not she wanted Adrien to figure out who she was or not. She let herself swing back home, deciding that it was time to let fate take the wheel.

#ladrienjune2021 #ladrienjune #ladrien #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #miraculous fic #post relationship #pre reveal #post relationship pre reveal #forbidden love

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the-lightning-strikes-again · 3 years

Note

Lotor seems to have a lot in common with Chloe Bourgeois from Miraculous Ladybug since they both seem to have great potential of getting redeemed, but the writers decided to screw them over and make them all the sudden villan for no reason even though both shows main protagonists have done far more questionable things than them, heck both shows even romantasize the protagonists creepy stalking behavior

Hi, anon. Thanks for the note! I’ve never watched Miraculous Ladybug, so I’m afraid I don’t know too much about a Lotor vs. Chloe comparison? I’m sorry, though, if that show triggered some unhappy memories about VLD!

In terms of protagonists being worse than the villains, I personally struggle with that statement for Voltron? VLD is complicated because the show starts by treating war/battle as a fantasy violence video game. Like, the Galrans are mostly robots or one-dimensional soldiers who are torturing, killing and conquering. So our protagonists are already light-years ahead of that incredibly low baseline. And it’s easy to cheer Team Voltron on when you know they’re just blowing up robots or a pure-evil villain. It’s that whole fantasy violence thing without accountability. Then, the show gets increasingly more complex in terms of the politics, and the costs of war (with Ulaz’s death, for example), and the humanization of the enemy. But in this environment, our protagonists are still a bunch of ill-prepared teenagers running with scissors. Like, the original paladins of Voltron were leaders and rulers with a history of navigating wars and alliances. These paladins? They grew some over the show, yes, but they still had to go from playing a video game and screwing up flight simulators (or living a royal life in peace-time), to handling actual death and collateral damage in an active combat theater. I doubt Galaxy Garrison had training in their curriculum for how 17-year-olds should handle that. And all of the other older authority figures around Team Voltron and Lotor just totally and utterly failed them.

So I think my frustration with Team Voltron has cooled a lot over the years. From an in-show perspective, they were surrounded by supposedly competent advisors and intelligence officers who should have been able to at least question certain decisions or behaviors. But they did nothing constructive to prepare the paladins for war besides training them to kill.

And in the case of s5-s6, all of these experts and allied civilizations gave Team Voltron the green light on an official alliance with an empire they had seen brutally torture/experiment, enslave, and colonize. Actual weeks had passed between s5-s6. And yet, we never saw Kolivan warning the team that this was a really bad compromise for the Voltron Coalition to make; we never saw the paladins having to handle upset questions from their vast allies, who no doubt had recent memories of trauma at the hands of Galran military officers. But the instant Lotor is revealed to have also been a quintessence vampire in some way, like every other Galran officer with a body count they’d allied with, that’s the uncrossable line for Krolia, Coran, Kolivan watching this all go down—? Like?

When Shiro linked the Voltron Coalition to Galran military intelligence, what the heck did they think all of these soldier reports included? Military commanders happily sipping cocktails with locals on a beach? So I don’t think it quite hit the paladins yet that they weren’t working with uwu morally unproblematic people with easily forgivable pasts or a clear record of trying to make up for that past. And Team Voltron had zero guidance for how to navigate pursuing justice/reparations while also not leading to another war or worse outcome. Ultimately, even all of these concerned authority figures forgot about the show’s most plot-important victims that they were fine with dissolving the alliance over.

(RIP Patrulius in the harvesting pod, did you ever get out??).

The incompetency of elder authority figures also feeds into my frustration about Lance’s character, and how it was once again Coran in s8 who pushed him into this weird 1950s dating construct where Allura isn’t an agent over her own body. Like, Lance is still pretty young here, mimicking all the toxic masculinity he’s picked up on, and Coran’s behavior is supposed to be…better. Like, even Lance himself was uncomfortable in that scene, and that was wild to watch.)

And speaking of the ongoing failures of authority in the story, I still can’t believe that Coran didn’t cut in on Lotor in season 5, even, to warn him that exposure to the rift was known to make people lose control over their darkest thoughts. I could plausibly believe Allura didn’t think to question this because she was doe-eyed over Lotor and desperate for anything that could secure peace. But it’s not like Coran, who is supposed to be a king’s advisor, didn’t see this happen with Zarkon and Honerva. He could have questioned Lotor’s plans, and that actually would have been fascinating. Because if Coran, being a king’s advisor, had employed that kind of logical foresight, we might have seen something unsettling in Lotor that could more clearly foreshadow a fatal flaw he wasn’t working on (you know, like that classic Icarus Syndrome). But this show just didn’t question itself or self-reflect, lol.

So I don’t think anything Team Voltron did was them necessarily intending to be cruel where they wanted trillions to die in the name of justice, but their ignorance and the blatant inaction/silence or questionable guidance from anyone with higher credentials or experience resulted in some very uneasy outcomes.

But those outcomes were what this show wanted to keep the drama rolling.

I can’t speak for Chloe’s arc and the reason for why she misses the mark, but Lotor’s fall resulted in another several episodes of big robot battles and extended drama to meet a predetermined 78-episode directive. And given that the production team complained about having no breaks at all through the development of this show, I doubt they had time to weigh the cost of every decision they made to keep drama going. (I mean, we saw several other haphazard, concerning things happen since the beginning of the show; the colony twist wasn’t an isolated incident of plot over-complication and questionable handling of topics a;sdjfasf.)

I do think it’s easy to stay bitter about things and to let that poison everything, including even other shows. And I don’t think that’s a mentally healthy place for me to be—even though, clearly, I do still have frustrations with the art of story construction, lol. So I guess... canon is someone else’s story, but I do have control over how I respond and how I might try to tackle hard topics in my own works. And I’ve got to work with that.

I hope for what it’s worth that you can still find things worth enjoying in your other show, and that you can explore the characters and the stories in ways that are meaningful and feel right to you. It might help as well to look for shows and media that explicitly do have redemption arcs for a main antagonist or villain, or that handle traumatized or abused characters well.

#voltron #vld #lotor #oh god I relapsed and had a vld salt moment #tw salt #but yeah I do think at least VLD had a purpose for making Lotor go crazy but it was a tactical plot-driven reason #as opposed to a character-driven reason #because yeah a lot of characters got really OOC in that a;lsdjfasd

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purplerose244 · 3 years

Text

Lighten up

Here’s my fic for the @mlsecretsanta! So happy I joined in this year too, it’s one of my favorite events!! 😍 Hi @xlexicx! ❤ I’m your secret santa! Here’s my present for you, I hope you like it! Merry Christmas!! 😊😊

Summary: Take the high road, do not intervene. That was what Adrien said, to his friend and to himself. Then again, Chat Noir said none of that. And he really didn't like seeing Marinette sad.

Also on AO3

How to make the worst Christmas Eve, by Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Ingredients.

Seven days filled with plenty of akuma attacks, as fresh as possible, dripping with exhaustion. A couple of extremely busy hours to finish the dress to bring to the party, whipped consistently with stress and pressure considering all the important figures that were going to see it. And a big handful of disappointment, because while trying her best to ignore how out of place she was feeling during such an event – at least without wearing her special pois suit –, Marinette had almost forgotten the golden boy to add to the situation, or to be precise it was Adrien himself that hadn’t been able to come. Because that was what gave this terrible night its distinct disappointing taste.

“I can tell you all about him, he’s even more charming when he’s not into his suit!” A whistle in his ear. Lila was marching in the middle of the ballroom, waving around her black dress, the feathers on the hair pin over her head, and her long innocent eyelashes, followed by some of Marinette’s most precious friends. “He said he got in like a breeze even without getting recognized, I guess this party could only be that exclusive since even Marinette could get the tickets! Oh, but I’m still grateful!” She waved at her, grinning widely.

Right, she forgot one important part of this disgraceful recipe, an extremely generous sprinkle of lies all over. Better of hypocritical origins. She clenched her hand around her glass, the drink raised up a little. She was starting to wish he got the Cat Miraculous.

Just for the sake of a good old Cataclysm.

Marinette forced her grimace into a smile, for the sake of Alya, Rose, Nino and Juleka all orbiting around the star of the night. Yeah, of course she was. Even though it was the stylist who got the tickets from Jagged as a little Christmas present, it was all about that liar once again. She didn’t even know why she was surprised anymore.

“You’re welcome…” More unique was, the latest idea the brunette had come up with to grab attention. And that one was even more out of the line than her usual.

“You guys, I’m really thirsty, and I saw Chat pretty tired too. I’m gonna take a little break, have something to drink.” Lila snapped at her friends one of those insanely studied, absurdly accurate, innocent smiles. “I would never want my date to get tired, especially since he’s a superhero in disguise! Oh, sorry, I raised my voice but remember that this stays between us, right?” She did her bat of eyelashes, she did her little wave of her hair that was meant to be annoying only to those who knew her – ergo, only this everyday Ladybug at the moment –, and leaving her excited friends behind she headed straight towards the drink station.

Right where Marinette was. Oh no, not another war declaration. When she had decided to come to this party despite knowing her sixth ticket would had gone to her, she had promised herself not to cause an argument and to stay as far away as possibly from her. Something that Lila had deliberately decided to ignore considering how she was pondering on what to drink while giving her the smuggest look, like she had just discovered Hawk Moth’s identity and wanted her to beg for it.

Hawk Moth had to be busy today. With all the evil intentions that the stylist was feeling right now, she could had become three different akumas. Then, her phone vibrated from her purse. She read the name, and all darkness dissipated immediately. Her heart was melting way before reading.

“Getting to my rescue, my prince?” She whispered, checking the new notifications.

Adrien had sent her Nino’s video first, that alone brought a smile to her face. The DJ had been absolutely adamant that he made at least a little film about the party, to show the blonde that they were all hoping he was going to recover soon. For once that he would had been allowed to attempt to an event that had happened to include a few friends of his, he had to faint a day after the end of school for Christmas break. Exhaustion. If it hadn’t made so much sense she would had been so much angrier. And she was fuming. She was mad, and furious, and sad, and all of the sudden Christmas felt so unfair. Like after being unfairly negated so many things in life, Adrien had to be stopped by a cold.

More messages followed.

Adrien: I’m glad everyone’s having fun.

Adrien: I hope the night gets better for you, you look tense.

Adrien: See you soon :)

Of course, she had made quite a face, since Lila had started to talk about her supposed relationship with her partner. Also of course, complete goo heart. Along with a deep sadness.

An angel. Even now, while forced under the cover of his bed – with those lovely cheeks all red and lucid gorgeous eyes and perfect lips and dang Mari stop it –, like he hadn’t been stuck into his own room enough to last him for a lifetime, even now he had taken the time to worry about her. He was worried about her. What a wonderful, sweet, caring, so lovable, unbelievably kind-

“Well hello Marinette, grabbing something to drink too?” Awful, hypocritical, incredibly annoying liar that had dared to interrupt her mental praises towards her beloved Adrien. Lila put herself right next, grabbing a glass herself, wearing that smirk on top of her lips. “I am too, I’m so tired, you have no idea! I didn’t know admitting my relationship with Chat Noir was going to cause all of this fuss! I guess these people really drink whatever you tell them…” It had to bring some kind of relief to her, not having to lie to Marinette since she was perfectly aware how little integrity the brunette had in her. Then again, who knew if even this manipulative face wasn’t another lie. If it turned out under all those veils there was absolutely nothing underneath, the stylist would had believed it.

She knew engaging her was a bad idea. Take the high road, like Adrien said.

But then she noticed a little necklace hanging over the black dress. With a round bell on it. And it was enough. She put the glass down to not crush it out of frustration.

“What do you want to get out of this?”

“I’m so glad you asked, you know what feels even better than seeing you hopelessly trying to prove to everyone that I’m wrong?” Yep, good call on the glass. “Thinking of that pathetic pois superhero discovering on the Ladyblog, because let’s be real Alya can’t keep her big mouth shut even for a second, that her beloved partner is going out with the girl she hates so much.” Lila hummed with satisfaction, sipping her drink, sighing delightfully. “Two birds with one stone, bella! She won’t be able to prove it wrong either, because the stupid doesn’t even know Chat Noir’s real identity!”

Marinette had always thought that her normal life and her superhero life were separated by one giant wall in between. Then this girl had come along, managing to get all the hate from the both of sides, making her feel like double herself, and double the need for vengeance.

She tightened her fists, glaring at her.

“This is dangerous, Lila! Their identities are important, their lives are! It’s one thing messing with me or our classmates, but they’re the heroes that save us every day!”

“So glad to hear your opinion, the one I don’t care about. Well then, I think I’ll go meet with my date, Chat Noir.” Lila giggled, pointing at a random guy. “Could it be him? Or maybe him? I’m the only one who knows, after all!” She laughed, Marinette grunted. “Maybe him? How about him?”

Not her kitty. Not her partner. Not her l-

“I might have a good guess.” One cheerful, sassy, unmistakable voice erupted between them. “But please keep going, don’t let me stop you. After all, when the cat’s away, the mice will play!” Chat Noir winked at Marinette, most likely hinting at that short time of her as Multimouse. Which would had been very annoying yet kinda witty, if she hadn’t been this shocked to see him.

To see him… like this.

The mask was there as usual, the ruffled hair and the pulsing eyes too. But that wasn’t his usual costume, at least not completely. He was rocking a full black suit tailored like it had been made just for him, yet the gentle shine over the cloth and the clawed gloves still present gave it away that it was still part of his normal superhero attire. He had a bright green tie with a minuscule fantasy that looked like many tiny Cataclysms one next to each other, and his usual reinforced shoes looked less rough and more refined.

He looked good. Something about Chat Noir’s confident attitude and that certain egomaniac tendency gave it away how in a proper suit he would had looked pretty great, but this was real. This was actually happening, and Marinette found herself catching her breath.

Luckily – for once in her life and only this once –, Lila was there as well.

“Chat Noir?!?” Oh, that horrified, overwhelmed face made the stylist’s night. That perfect satisfied face cracked violently, and she was frozen on the spot.

“Oh my, it is him!!” Unluckily, for once for Lila, Alya had a special filter in her ear for scoops and even from the other side of the room she managed to hear – also the brunette had erupted into a pretty impressive and delightfully scared squeak. “You actually showed up in your costume, what happened to the secrecy? Don’t worry, I know about yours and Lila’s situation, and I promise it’s between very close friends!” She had the recorder out already, pointed out like a weapon, looking oh so hopeful.

Chat Noir grinned, flashing a wink at the phone Nino was holding up to record the scene.

“You know I’m always up for a special interview for the Ladyblog, Alya.” The holder of the fox Miraculous brightened. “But I’m gonna need a heads up, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.” And just as fast the glimmer died down, turning into a frown. She put a hand over her hip, her peach-colored dress wrapped tight around her torso.

“Come on, do you really have to make it difficult? I don’t actually know your identity, although I did have a look around knowing you were somewhere.” A snort.

“Yeah I was somewhere, somewhere else. You do realize I just arrived, right?”

“Of coooouuurse, you just arriiiiived.” Alya winked at him. The cat superhero stared at her blankly, taking his time to fill a glass and empty it pretty quickly. He did look pretty tired now, like he did quite the run. “… you were here as a civilian, right? You even sent those little notes to Lila, saying how beautiful she was and all the rest!” The journalist held the recorder with one hand and picked up something from her pocket. A little green note saying ‘love the feathers, you look like a queen. CN.’. And wow, Marinette could at least compliment how shameless the brunette had been.

Chat Noir peaked over it, frowning.

“… Alya I signed stuff for you, you know that’s not my handwriting.” The journalist hummed uncertainly, like she did have that thought. “Besides, as I said, I wasn’t here. I arrived now.”

“Oh you don’t have to lie Chat Noir!” At last Lila came back from whatever world she had been stuck on, pulling off that obnoxiously wide smile right towards her kitty, huh, this kitt- the kitty! “But I understand that you’re not ready, so don’t make too much of it, forget about it and enjoy the night!” Of course she couldn’t give up, it was never that easy with her.

The cat superhero simply smirked, filling his glass again.

“Thank you Lila, a very warm welcome. How about you give the same to Officer Roger and Mr. Ramier over there?” Next to the mayor, chatting happily, where the two named that had in fact appeared only in that moment. Sabrina was greeting her father with a big hug. “We had a pretty tough moment back there, they got into another argument over pigeons and laws, luckily we managed to arrive to a compromise before things escalated. Bet Hawk Moth bite his Miraculous over this one!” He snickered, emptying another cup with a satisfied sigh.

Trying to solve a conflict through words and a plan instead of destroying everything, that sounded like the Ladybug way. And there he was, her – the – kitty, looking all happy about it like he was thinking of her proud owner petting his head.

A smile came on its own, Marinette couldn’t help it, and maybe didn’t want to.

“Great job, Chat Noir.” The superhero beamed at her. Adrien’s eyes were pure and breathtaking, but the unnatural beauty of these was impressive too. So very pretty.

Alya looked like she had half the forehead from how hard she was frowning.

“But Lila said you’ve talked all night together…”

“We did! He’s just covering it up!!” Lila’s voice raised of one octave at least, judging from how hard Chat Noir had winced being right next to her. The brunette smiled at him, batting her deer-like eyelashes. “Chat, I know what’s going on, you still feel like you own something to Ladybug. But you got hurt so much by her already, and this is not fair! Don’t you think you deserve better?” She scooted closer, raising a hand over him. “Come here, come to someone that can give you what you want.” Okay was Marinette really the only one who thought this was getting weird?

Apparently not, from how promptly the cat superhero had dodged the touch. He was suddenly extremely tense, a very wary smile on his face, hands raised like he was surrendering. Somehow his usual goofiness looked almost charming today…

Or that was the suit. Yeah, definitely the suit.

“Now there, I know I’m irresistible, but I really don’t think you should get any closer.”

“Why would you get away? Do you hate me? Prove me you don’t and get over here!” Lila tried to grab him again, but it was too easy for him. “Ladybug doesn’t even love you, why all this fuss??”

“Lila, I’m telling you, it’s better for you to stay awa-”

“I said get back here!!”

“Nope, no way!”

What a weird scene, an angry fox chasing a cat in the middle of the ballroom of the most luxurious hotel of Paris, surrounded by guests now very aware of the commotion happening. Their friends, guests, celebrities, even the mayor was starting to get worried. Marinette spotted Rose and Juleka, with the former all saddened by the fight between two people that she knew and probably wanted to get along – predictable –, and Luka along with Chloe and Kagami, with the rich girl absolutely living through this – predictable and relatable.

As a fairly common scene, Chat managed at the end to step on his own tail and struggle to stay up, right as Lila finally managed to land onto his chest with a grin.

“See everyone? It was simply a little fight between sweethearts, nothing to-”

Marinette could confidently say that, in her life, she had witnessed plenty of extremely satisfying moments. Saving her city every day along with her trusty partner while helping the people she loved? Awesome. Stepping up as her own person thanks to the confidence given from being Ladybug and getting to leave a mark into her life? Incredible. Spending occasional but so precious time with the love of her life knowing that with every single moment spent together, the chance of becoming something more became at least somehow possible? Priceless.

But this one, this very specific moment when Chat Noir scowled visibly and then sneezed, loudly and very grossly, right into Lila’s face, this one could take the cake. She had never seen such a perfect sequence of moments happening in her life.

The brunette screamed, panting in pure shock, as the hero wiped his nose.

“I tried to warn you, achoo!” He took two steps back, waving his hand at her. “I’m super allergic to feathers, and you’re wearing a hair pin full of it! I couldn’t stay near you if I wanted to!” It had some weird effect, this suited up Chat sniffing with his head up in desperate search for a tissue. Both extremely him and endearing, to the point Marinette cracked a laugh when the research was fruitful and the superhero blew loudly into a paper towel.

With the white feathers on her head, the nasty green of her eyes and the absolute flushed face of her, Lila looked one with the flag of her country. For a second. One extremely Italian second.

Then, of course, the waterfalls arrived.

“That was so mean of you, you should’ve at least warned me!” Chat Noir’s simple retort was a large grimace that said ‘I tried to’ quite clearly, but the brunette was into her part now. “I thought you were kind and special, but you’re just a jerk! You wanna make me look bad! I should’ve known! Right Alya?” She turned around to get her friend’s support.

Only to meet with something that for luck of fate, when she had first transferred in their school, Lila Rossi hadn’t managed to encounter: Alya Cesaire’s inquisitory glare.

“Wait a second.” She lowered her recorder without switching it off, stepping forward with one foot. “If he’s allergic there’s no way he talked to you or even got close to you tonight! All along you told me you were chatting with him… Lila… were you lying?”

Marinette could hardly believe it. She stared, agape, but never as much as the actual liar.

“I wasn’t! Of course not, he’s making that up to make me look bad! I don’t know why he’s pulling up all of this act, he’s probably getting manipulated by Ladybug to make me look bad! And here I thought she was a friend! Besides, I bet he’s pretending the allergy!”

“Excuse me, miss.” Completely out of nowhere none other than Mr. Ramier appeared, along with Roger and Sabrina, with the latter immediately running towards Chloe – with eyes sparkling like stars at the sight of her best friend’s two chaperones. “But if I may interject, there’s no way Chat Noir is lying about his allergy. I would know, since I get akumatized quite often and he’s forced to endure my pidgeons all the time. Very sorry about it by the way.” The gentleman looked at the cat hero, who got another tissue kindly offered by Rose and simply waved his hand like it was not a big deal. Which was fair, Mr. Pidgeon wasn’t nearly the most menacing threat ever – a bit of routine in the mess that was their lives was actually nice sometimes.

That same sweet blonde and helpful girl with the pink dress gasped all of the sudden, tears shining in her eyes. Actual, genuine drops, unlike someone else’s.

“You said the feathers were artificial, that your grandma was running a charity association that wanted to erase everything made by animals in the fashion world!!” Her lip covered in peach gloss quivered vividly. “I can’t believe you would lie about that, Marinette was right!” She turned to the stylist, who couldn’t believe this was actually happening. “I’m so sorry Marinette, I should’ve known!” Juleka from behind her nodded, looking sorry.

Lila gasped, again in her overly dramatic way, shaking her head.

“How could you say that? You know I would never lie, you know me! I… I…” Marinette should had seen it coming, as soon as those vengeful eyes got stuck on her. “It’s all Marinette’s fault!” Crocodile tears once again, the stylist didn’t even have it in her to be annoyed. “She wants to make me look bad, she did ever since I came here! I don’t know why she hates me so much!” There was such a long list into her diary, but the stylist felt like it wasn’t necessary. Her friends looked doubtful. Like they were on her side again. “And you’re trying to make me feel bad, I could get akumatized! How could you?”

“You do realize I’m right here, right?” Chat Noir grinned at her, getting closer to Marinette. “I could easily take care of you while Ladybug gets here, no problem. So go along, get crazy.” Wow, Ladybug would had not approved that. Good thing she wasn’t here.

“Did Marinette drag you into this?? She is the worst!!”

“No way, Marinette’s the best! She made these awesome shades of mine!” Out of nowhere Jagged Stone interjected, cocking a wink to her favorite designer who couldn’t help the little giggle – the frequency he showed those glasses reminded her of her dad whenever she accomplished anything. “Girl the way you’re talking to her is totally not rock and roll, who do you think you are??” The Rockstar glared. And so did Fang behind him, showing all of his teeth.

All colors drained from Lila’s face, as she pointed at the rockstar.

“What- Why- He isn’t supposed to…!”

“Oh yeah, didn’t I tell you?” Chat Noir seemed to be trying his best to contain his smug aura. “Another reason I got here this late, I thought of inviting Jagged and prince Ali! Isn’t it great? They’re usually super busy and not really into random celebrations, but it turns out they’re more than happy to participate knowing one of their heroes is here. What do you know?”

Lila was at loss, going with startled eyes from the celebrity in front of her, to the royalty not too far, to the people staring judgily at her. She opened her mouth to speak, try more covers, but Alya’s lips smack interrupt her. The journalist looked like she finally had enough, turning to Jagged.

“A question. You don’t know Lila, do you?”

“This girl? Definitely not.”

“So you never wrote her a song because she saved your cat?”

“Pff, a cat? I’m allergic to cats, and I hate them, they’re so unfriendly! Well, most of them, Chat Noir is pretty cool.” Another wink was thrown at the superhero, who cocked finger guns at the superstar. It looked oddly appropriate between these two.

Alya grabbed her head between her hands, groaning loudly.

“I can’t believe it, I… I’m so stupid. Marinette.” Her eyes were so gloomy, so different from her usual self. It made them trustworthy, despite everything. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve believed you right away. I promise I’ll make up for all I did. In the meantime…” With a quick gesture, as quick as Rena Rouge would had done it, Alya grabbed Lila’s arm and dragged her forward. “We’re gonna make sure you don’t know prince Ali too, and find out where in the world where you during your vacation since, you know, it looks like you missed school without a reason! And all of my interviews on the Ladyblog, ooooh, you’re in big trouble girl!!”

“No!! Let me go!! Marinette’s lying!!” The image of the perfect girl crumbled right away, as Lila started to pull such a tantrum that Manon would had felt embarrassed for her. “It’s all Ladybug’s fault! Or Marinette’s! Or both!! And Chat Noir’s!! It’s their fault, not mine, they’re the liars! I’m not a liar! I’M NOT A LIAR!!” And like that she was dragged away without mercy, like a criminal finally getting brought to justice.

People followed the scene, Rose and Juleka still looking sorry, Nino as well while making sure his girlfriend wasn’t going to straight up murder Lila. And Marinette stayed where she was, looking at them as the prince turned around, and another tantrum was born from the exposed liar.

After five full seconds of silence, Chat Noir blew his nose into the tissue once again, so loudly nearby guests gave him weirded out looks.

But not Marinette, no. She burst into laughter.

“Oh my gosh, it actually happened! Karma happened! A Christmas miracle!” She had to wipe a tear, more relieved than happy in reality. “If this is a dream please don’t wake me up, I wanna live in this world forever!” And in that precise moment the music changed, a slow rhythm that made her smile incredulously. “Wow, really? This night everything is meant to go just right, huh.” She giggled again, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. She turned towards the hero, her actual hero, finding him staring at her. The mask covered most of his face, but was that a blush?

“… then it would be a pity going against the flow, right?” Chat Noir smirked, bowing in front of her and extending a gloved hand. “May I have this dance?”

Marinette gaped at him.

“Me?”

“This superhero has every intention to dance with the prettiest girl of the night, yeah.” Curse this flirtatious little kitty, looking like he had everything under control after pulling such a stunt against that liar. Curse herself for letting it work, as she was led in the middle of the dance floor.

The lights got softer, the song too. Even with the confrontation happening not that far in the room, Marinette found it extremely easy to simply live in this moment. Especially given that her – the… alright her – kitty turned out to be quite the dancer, pulling her along gently, a hand over her hip and the other clenched around her hand. It felt like her goofy partner was miles away from this elegant person, but at the same time something told her that this made sense. For some reason him being so kind and sophisticated made her feel like it was perfectly normal.

Marinette smiled softly, moving slowly. Savoring this instant.

“I didn’t think it was going to end up like this.” Chat Noir hummed questioning. “Dancing with a superhero after the defeat of a villain without akuma, that’s something.”

“You got pretty lucky, huh? Especially on the first part.” And there he was, ruining the mood, pulling her along as he laughed. Maybe a little too much? “… oh! Sorry!” He straightened up, snickering nervously. Looking dizzy. “I’m a little out of it tonight.”

The stylist frowned in worry.

“If you weren’t feeling good you shouldn’t have come.”

“Bet Ladybug would tell me something similar, along with the scolding of my life for getting involved into civilian stuff.” She was pondering about it. Mm, maybe she could let this one go. “I understand it, I do, and I usually would’ve been on my own without interacting with anyone, but I couldn’t keep it shut anymore… not after seeing how sad you looked.” And suddenly his eyes were serious, focused. Like there was actually a guy underneath all the jokes.

It was supposed to be a shock. It felt more like a surprise to her. A little push in an unknown right direction, unexpected yet somehow helpful.

“You did it for me?”

“I think Lila getting busted helps everyone, but yes, mostly for you.” Again with the red on his cheeks, this time it was undeniable. “I thought I could let it go, but I saw how it got on your nerves, and after a while it got on my nerves because it got on your nerves, and I guess I couldn’t get my paws out of this one huh? I thought that fox needed a little less- Oh.” Huh, apparently this kitty did have an off button. And Marinette actually grinned while holding him, her cheek over his solid chest, hands around his neck. Feeling comfortable, happy.

… familiarly happy? She frowned a little.

“How did you know I wasn’t okay? You said you just arrived.” She could feel him swallow from this close, after finally putting his hands over her back. And again that warm lightning shocked her over the skin, a pinch in the middle of her brain. Like this was a dream that had happened before.

Chat Noir snorted softly.

“Let’s say a friend told me.”

“Let’s say I don’t believe you.”

“I would never lie to you. I… I really don’t want you to be sad, ever. You’re so amazing, you deserve all the happiness you can get.” And with that he let himself go with the movement, less shy, more him as he led her through the dance.

The music was lovely, Chat was lovely, and one by one other people were joining the dance floor like they were all part of the same fairy tale. She could spot Juleka and Rose holding each other, Kagami pulling forward the arm of a very flushed Chloe with a giggling Luka following behind, Alya clearly satisfied of the dealt situation with Lila dragging her boyfriend in, who looked way too into it to say anything, putting quickly his phone in his pocket.

His phone… the video… everything.

Marinette gasped, her mind finally unlocking that everything.

The film of the party that only one person had managed to see besides the DJ. The same allergy to feathers. The same golden hair, the same gorgeous green eyes. The confidence in his ways, the poor health of tonight – he was here while he should had been recovering, this dumb reckless kitty, she so wanted to slap him and smooch him. And this emotion, this undeniable feeling of belonging that came whenever she was between his arms, dancing like they had at Chloe’s party when he had made all of her dreams coming true with one single moment.

It was so obvious. The more she thought about it, the more she felt stupid and unbelieving and so, so incredibly happy. So much it was making her tear up, so much it was burning her heart violently. So much she wanted to scream it, tell all of Paris, tell the entire the world that it was happening.

“It’s you.” It came with a whisper, without her realizing.

“Mhm? You’re kinda shivering.” She untangled herself from him, missing the warmth, melting into his big, confused eyes. “Are you okay?”

There really was no one else.

“… could you come to my house tomorrow night?” Marinette tried her best to hold her voice together, tightening her hands onto him. She could see his smile. She could see him, under the mask or with it. “I’ll have a Christmas present for you. As a thank you gift.” And just like every time with every single akuma she had met, a specific plan formed into her head, with Chat Noir by her side.

Only this time, it was a complete solo mission. The most important one.

***

How to make the best Christmas night, by Adrien Agreste.

Ingredients.

Seven days filled with plenty of akuma attacks, as fresh as possible, dripping with exhaustion. One or two – two – very generous pinches of scolding from father because of ineptitude at being absolutely flawless. And kwami, possibly cat kwami, fallen asleep on his pillow with his cheesy smelly breath directed towards him all night. Let it all fall onto the ground because of exhaustion, making him miss the Christmas Eve party where he was supposed to meet with his friends and have a great night – black cat, bad luck, har har.

Then… pick up the bowl and start over. Add an abundant thirst of revenge after watching one blue-haired girl all gloomy – and pretty, that dress wow, she really was unbelievably talented –, a fulfilled vendetta that hopefully wasn’t going to generate more troubling problems than the major one that got solved, and an invitation from said blue-haired girl for Christmas.

An actual, proper Christmas.

Chat Noir grinned widely, jumping right into the freezing air, way less fatigued than yesterday. He slept all day, regaining the strength, getting constant smug eyes from Plagg for some reasons. His father had even checked on him, maybe even sad that this year they hadn’t had Christmas at all. So he brought dinner to his bed, and they had it together. It had been somehow unsettling and nice at the same time. Last Christmas, his escape had caused a major problem, yet the solution to everything. Adrien really hoped it was going to be the same, especially for his feelings.

He stopped over a building. He could see the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery from there, and a sudden surge of worry caught him off guard. What was he expecting from this? Marinette was incredible, being invited felt like an honor alone. Was that why he was out of breath? What else was coming? His heart was for Ladybug, then why did it not doubt about helping Marinette?

A breeze caught his right under his neck, making him shiver. Ah, he was here in any case. And he was pretty sure his social skills still weren’t developed enough to let him come to a conclusion.

He jumped over the railing and landed on the small terrace at the top of the bakery, feeling his entire being immediately burst into amazement: it was beautifully decorated with Christmas lights and plants, little Christmas balls, stars, bows and little angels all over. A little table was settled with two chairs, with plenty of sweet goodness like bonbon, macarons, brownies and one wonderful Bouche de Noel. It had stopped snowing this morning, so the night was as clear as ever, shining of stars and wonder.

This was too much. It was so much that Adrien felt himself coming out of the costume in form of little tears, that Chat Noir quickly rubbed away. He faced a bully for a girl the other night, and now he was getting emotional because this precious little corner felt so comfortable he wasn’t used to it? He had to pull himself together before-

The door of the terrace opened. He took a deep breath. Play it cool, thank her, enjoy the moment. So he turned towards the sound with the widest smile Chat Noir had.

“I have to admit, this is pretty paw-some, Mari-” His voice got stuck into his throat.

This was a dream. This was the most vivid and lifelike dream he had ever had. Ladybug was stepping up from the door, eyes glimmering under the mask, wearing a majestic red dress covered in black dots. Long black gloves covered her elegant arms, her blue hair fell gracefully over her shoulders, and her pink lips were curved in the sweetest smile possible. With her flushed cheeks and the lights framing her figure, she looked like a queen.

And she stepped forward, her highness, looking pleased and even endeared by the kitty’s reaction, that still couldn’t move a single muscle.

“I’m glad you like it, I know you have a bit of a sweet tooth. And you seemed to really dig dad’s vol-au-vent that time we had Sunday brunch, so I asked him to make some. Without telling him why of course.” Dad…? Before…? “Ah, but you’re here for this, aren’t you?” Hadn’t he been completely out of himself from the daze of this apparition, maybe he would had noticed the little box into her soft hands. It was covered in a green wrapping paper, with a black bow on it.

Chat Noir blinked. Adrien blinked, because his brain was returning to him incredibly slowly but he could still hear the echo of what was happening. And he didn’t know if he was going to be able to take it. So without looking at it he grabbed the present, lips shivering.

“L… Ladybug?” And she dared to blush, like she didn’t look breathtaking already.

“J-just open it, okay?” And she dared to ask him to do something, alluring to the possibility to move or think or act – honestly it was asking a little too much from his little feline brain.

Nonetheless, after what felt like an eternity, Chat managed to trace the wrapping of the present with his claw, gently cutting the paper in the process. He grabbed an edge and discovered another box, black with a red cover. It was already perfect. But shivers caught him as he was pulling up the top, because Ladybug looking at him so intensely, so incredibly involved with him, that every movement felt meaningful. And when he finally peaked inside, his poor heart thought it was going to stop right there, just for the sake of passing away this happy.

A green branch, tender leaves, and white berries. A little mistletoe plush was waiting for him inside the box, soft looking and well made, like only one person he knew could had done with such care and dedication. So there was no stopping the gears inside his head anymore, not when everything was making this much sense all of the sudden, not while Ladybug was stepping close, putting her hands on his over the box.

Those hardworking hands, those hair as dark as night, those pretty bluebell eyes – blindness, thy name Adrien Agreste – that desire to get her closer and more comfortable with him. That feeling of ease that he thought was only meant for the closest of friends.

Ladybug smiled. Marinette smiled.

“Tikki, spots off.” In the cold night of Christmas, a red glimmering light manifested over the girl of his dreams, revealing the one he had been looking for all along. And through her lucid eyes, her goofy smile, her flushed cheeks, he could still see all of her. Because this was her. Beautifully her. “I-I thought this was the best present I could give you, after what you did yesterday and always did for me.” She laughed when Tikki flew over the present and picked it up, right over their heads. He loved that kwami. “I hope it’s good enough…?”

Her eyes fell, the slightest fear shaking the hands that were still covering his.

And Adrien felt appalled, so outraged, looking at her straight into her beautiful eyes, smiling so much he probably looked silly. But she didn’t seem to care.

“Plagg, claws in.” She knew, he didn’t know how, but she knew. Perhaps he was going to ask later. Right now, while Plagg reappeared and gave his fellow kwami a hand, still showcasing that same irritating smirk, all Adrien wanted was to take this miracle and hold on to it as long as he could. “It’s the best present of my entire life.” He let the box fall, gently grabbing her hands.

She laughed, and all of Paris felt envious of such beauty.

“Silly cat.” Marinette beamed at him. She then leaned forward, shy, glowing. And Adrien did the same, meeting her in the middle, finally kissing the girl of his dreams, feeling the glimmering joy inside of his heart outshining every single light of Christmas.

#mlb secret Santa #miraculous ladybug #marichat #adrienette #ml fanfic #fanfiction #fic #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #lila rossi

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