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sasuhinasno1fan · 3 years

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Proof of your sunny smile -Adrien AUG-reste Day 12

As my last submission for @adrienaugust and to celebrate the @lukadrienvault discord reopening, I wrote a fic on one of the AUs we came up with Yu-Gi-Oh au, with King of Games!Luka and CEO!Adrien, except he’s only like Kaiba with people he doesn’t repect. Anyway, this was this random headcannon I came up with turned story, so I hope you enjoy. Photographs

Adrien yawned. He was beyond tired. Trying to create a Duel Disk and plan a duelling tournament, one that way more elaborate than Duellist Kingdom, not to mention the dreams he’d been having took so much out of him. Adrien wasn’t the type to just hear an order and go follow it. He’d raise an eyebrow and ask the person if they wanted to try that statement again. But after seeing that Miraculous on TV while they talked about the new Egyptian display at the Louver, Adrien had to find them. with a new card and instructions, Adrien snapped to it, working to find the other holders of these God cards. Also realising that skilled Duellist has Miraculous with them, it made sense to invite the top duellist to participate. He hadn’t thought about how much work went into it though. His other tournaments were never this hard to pull off.

He’d been close to falling asleep at his desk when Luka called. Well, Sass actually. The spirit of the Snake Miraculous always spoke with a lower register in Luka’s voice. He’d asked if they could meet and it wasn’t until they hung up, Adrien realised he hadn’t told any of the other holders about this strange person and the God card he now had. He knew he should of. The hieroglyphic picture had Plagg and two others on it, two others who had to be Sass and Tikki. With Sass’ limited memory, they were all looking for answers.

So here he was, sitting in the back of one of his cars, waiting for Sass to show up. He wondered what Luka thought about Sass borrowing his body for the day as he pulled his overcoat off his shoulders. He’d put his usually white trench coat to the side for today after Rose insisted on dressing him. He probably should have said no to the sleeveless black shirt with ankh on it, since it was small and tended to ride up, but with him winning the fight for white slacks and black dress shoes, Rose hadn’t given up. He was sure Sass would enjoy it. Plagg hadn’t given him any comment, which was odd. It wasn’t like him to be so silent.

“Sir.” His driver called. “he’s arrived.”

Looking out the window, he saw Sass pull up on Luka’s bike. Or maybe that was Luka, he was so protective of his bike. While Adrien felt uncomfortable with his stomach on show, Luka clearly didn’t mind with his asymmetrically ripped shirt. The leather jacket was different from his normal one he wore when not chilling in his school uniform, but it looked innocent when compared to the cross garter traveling up one leg. Adrien wasn’t afraid to admit Luka was good-looking. Even though he wore enough leather and dark colours for people to consider him a goth, he was still one of the kindest people Adrien ever met. The green bracelet shone brightly against the black wristbands on his outfit.

“I’ll call you when we’re done.” He said, climbing out of the car, phone in one hand, his coat in the other. As he climbed up the steps, he realised that Luka or Sass seemed to be arguing with the other. Luka’s eyes were their normal blue – they were usually teal green when Sass was in charge – and he seemed annoyed, even taking to speak directly to the Snake Miraculous. “Everything ok?”

“Adrien?” Luka sounded confused at the sight of him.

“Hey.”

“Sass called you last night?”

Nodding his head and surprised that Sass had kept Luka in the dark about it – as far as he knew, they only ever did that against Myura – Adrien replied, “He called me last night and asked if we could meet up. I take it you didn’t know?”

“No, he just asked if he could have control for a little while, bugged me for advice for dressing up and then drove my bike over here. Though, that explains why he asked me to check something in his Soul Room last night by myself. He doesn’t like me doing that with all the traps he has.”

“Oh.” That was odd. Sass wasn’t devious by nature. “Um, well I guess this works out. I need to tell you about something. Have been for a while but I’ve been really busy.”

“So Rose says.” At his raised eyebrow, Luka explained. “Your sister came by the hospital to hang out with Juleka and she mentioned you’ve been really busy. Making a Duelling Disk? Don’t you already have one?”

“This one is better and will actually be for sale. No more only having four cards out and using and extra device to make the holograms. Well sorta, this device will place the hologram makers out for you and you’re not limited to the 5 cards and having to hide behind the cards. Since I made that to deal with Myura, I took it out so you hold your cards in the hand with the Disk and play with the other. It also gets rid of the extra rules made by the prototype and works like a normal duelling field. It’ll shuffle your cards for you, the attacks of duel monsters look more real. And I’ve also made it compatible for duelling arenas and-” Adrien cut himself off when he realised, he was rambling and Luka was smiling at him. “What?”

“Nothing. Sounds like you’ve been busy. Why the sudden urge to work though? I thought you said after that virtual reality event, you’d take it easy.”

“I was gonna, but then a news report changed everything.”

After Luka let him sit on his bike, leaning against it as well, Adrien explained everything, about meeting the Cesear person, who had a Miraculous, the things in the new Egyptian exhibit that had Sass, Plagg and Tikki featured front and centre and the God card he’d been given, how it nearly overloaded the system when played. As if more powerful than just life points. How he was told that others had these God cards and Adrien’s own hypothesis about strong duellist having a Miraculous.

“So you’ve been planning this whole event?”

“Basically we get the God cards in one place and then we can find out more about Sass’ past. It’s a long shot and placing a lot on one thing, but if these cards, if these people are connected, how can I not? Maybe if we go to the museum, we can find them.” he thought out loud, mind already going a mile a minute.

“Adrien, have you gotten much sleep lately?” Luka asked randomly.

“Sort of. A lot of late nights, but I’m used to that.”

“Ok, off.” Luke ordered, pulling his extra helmet out. “Put this on. We’re going down to the arcades.”

“Arcades? Why? I thought we were going to the museum.”

“Because now I know why Sass planned this. Adrien, you’ve been over working yourself. I want to find out more about Sass too but not at this expense. So we’re going to the arcade so you can easily beat the games, maybe duel a couple of kids and you’re going to relax. Then maybe, we can go to the museum.”

Adrien opened his mouth to argue, but Luka gave him that look at told him to try arguing. He gave that look to Juleka and his friends and even though Adrien was used to giving that look to Rose, he was not enjoying being on the receiving end of it. God knows Luka had more than enough practise with it.

“Fine.”

“Good. Now put your helmet on. I like your shirt by the way. Very fitting.”

“You can thank Rose. She thought Sass might like it.”

Luka’s lip twitched. “He does.”

____________________

Adrien probably should feel bad about the crying kid in front of him, but seeing how they insulted him for the duration of the duel plus 10 minutes before, since Adrien didn’t love being insulted without reason, he didn’t feel too bad. Plus Luka seemed to be hiding his laughter, so he felt justified.

“How long was that? 20 minutes?” Adrien asked, scooping up his cards.

“17 but close enough. I’m surprised you didn’t insult him back when you played Chat Noir.”

“Please, could have beaten him without Chat Noir.” Adrien said, looking at his ace card and checking to see if it been bent when he threw it down, ready to end the duel. “God, I hope the duellist at Battle City are better than this.”

“So you’ll be competing? That mean I get a chance to go up against you?”

“As long as you’re willing to part with your Viperion. I’ll have nothing to risk so I won’t be pulling any tricks like last time.”

He didn’t love that he’d threatened Luka with falling off that ledge the last time the duelled, but he needed to get inside the castle to get his sister and nothing would stop him.

“Looking forward to it. Maybe Rose can stay with Juleka. Her surgery is coming up soon.”

“I planned on having Rose on security but I’m sure she’ll leave a few times to check up on her. What are looking forward to most after her surgery?” Adrien asked as he put his cards away and they strolled through the arcade.

“I guess knowing she’s not going blind is one thing. taking pictures for another. She has this thing against being photographed. Said she didn’t want to see herself when she was gonna forget what she looked like soon enough. I’ve had to stop myself from just filling her room with all the pictures of us, scared she’d forget what I looked like if she didn’t get the surgery. Now all I want to do is take tons of pictures so she can see herself getting better.”

The blonde CEO smiled to himself at all the plans the King of Games had for his sister when he saw a photobooth and thought of an idea.

“How about we take some now?” he asked, pointing to the photobooth. He let out a squeak when Luka grabbed his arm and pulled him towards it. “Didn’t know you’d be so excited.”

“I feel like I’ve never seen you smile in pictures. All those interview pics you have make you seem so serious. Rose has like one photo on her phone of you smiling.”

“I smile all the time.”

“But now I’ll have proof of it.”

Adrien rolled his eye but didn’t say anything as he sat on the bench and let Luka choose the boarder.

“Ok,” Luka said, tossing his arm over Adrien’s shoulder, “now give us a big smile!” he asked, pinching Adrien’s cheek.

The flash went off before Adrien could pull his hand off, though he got him back by messing with his hair in the next picture. They came to a truce by the third picture and for the fourth, they both gave the camera big smiles.

Adrien enjoyed writing King of Games over Luka’s head in each picture while the said King painted cat ears over his blonde hair.

“Can’t let everyone forget your ace card.”

“I don’t think they possibly could, seeing how I bought rights to it from Myura to be able to use it in pretty much all my advertising.” Adrien said, picking up the printed pictures and handing it to Luka to cut the copies apart. “I hope you don’t use all those pictures for Juleka.”

“I don’t know, I like the last one. I might keep it for myself.”

Adrien shook his head, leading them to leave the arcade. “Thanks by the way. It feels like my mind has been going a mile a minute. The idea that we can actually get more information is exciting but I’m really starting to question if doing all this is worth it. I mean, what are we having to prove to get answers?”

“I don’t know why they want you to do this, but you’ve got me and the rest of the group to do whatever it takes to get answers. He’s being annoyingly silent right now, but I know Sass appreciates what you’re doing. How about we head to museum and see if we can’t work that Agreste snark on them?”

“Sounds good.”

#adrien augrest #yugioh au

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alyasgf · 3 years

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Chat Café || Marichat May

All || Previous || Next

Day 4- Café

Summary- Weredad rewrite where instead of brunch, Marinette takes Chat out to a cat café, where they end up bonding. Maybe Marinette does see him as something more.

Notes- Marichat May Day 4- Café! Let’s ignore the fact that Marinette would never canonically agree to go out in public with Chat Noir for identity reasons and appreciate some Marichat bonding.

Word Count- 1570

AO3

Begin

Marinette wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, one minute she was de-transforming behind the pillar on her roof, and the next she was professing her love to Chat Noir.

And of course, just her luck that her dad would come out and see all of it.

“Oh! Well perfect timing. I have to go and bring him back to his mother!” Chat Noir said, in a rush to leave the increasingly awkward situation.

“Wait! Why don’t you come have Sunday brunch with us tomorrow?” Tom suggested placing a hand in Chat’s shoulder.

“No!” Marinette shouted. Both Tom and Chat Noir looked at her with wide eyes. “I-I mean, I’m sure Chat Noir has better things to do than have brunch with us!”

“Oh I see.” Tom gave a smirk that Marinette took as him not understanding at all. “You’d probably want to get to know each other alone. Marinette, why don’t you take him to that new cat café?”

“Sounds good! Now if you’ll excuse me, I really have to be going. See you then Marinette!”

———————————

Marinette groaned as she threw herself into bed.

“This is a total disaster!”

“You shouldn’t have lied about your feelings, Marinette.” Tikki scolded.

“He was about to figure out I’m Ladybug!” She loved Tikki, but sometimes her suggestions were either unhelpful or way too late.

“Now everyone thinks youre in love with him!”

Marinette covered her face in her pillow and screamed.

—————————

The next morning Marinette was less than ecstatic. She pushed herself out of bed and got ready for her ‘date.’

As she headed downstairs to wait for Chat, Tom handed her a box of heart shaped macaroons.

Marinette knew her father was prone to overexcitement, looking over to her Mom she got a face that simply said go along with it.

Marinette sighed. “I’m gonna go look out for Chat Noir on the roof.”

“Okay sweetie!” Tom practically sang.

As Marinette looked out from her terrace, she sighed in relief seeing now signs of the hero.

“No way he’s coming.” She said to Tikki, looking out over Paris’ rooftops. “He’s in love with Ladybug. No way he’d actually indulge me over one little love confession.” Marinette smirked.

“Well I’d rethink that.” Tikki replied.

Marinette turned to look in shock. Sure enough, she could see Chat’s pole disappearing and reappearing over the horizon.

Tikki giggled as Marinette rambled to herself in panic.

—————————

As Tom pushed her to open the door, Marinette began catastoihpsing in her head.

She opened the door to find Chat awkwardly standing with a single pale pink rose.

Marinette took it with a blush.

“Oh it’s a pink rose! Marinette loves pink! He knows you so well already!” Tom gushed.

Marinette practically yanked Chat Noir back outside the door.

“Okay well we better get going! I’d hate to waste too much of his time. We’ll be back soon!” Marinette hurried out. ‘Hopefully really soon.’ She mumbled to herself.

She closed the door and sighed before remembering this was only the beginning of her troubles.

Her eyes shot open to meet Chat’s.

“Uh Marinette?” Chat called in a nervous voice. “Before we go, there’s something I need to confess.”

‘Oh god,’ Marinette thought. ‘Please don’t let him say he’s in love with me.’

“I can’t be in love with you.” He sighed. Marinette’s jaw dropped. “I’m already in love with Ladybug. I wanted to tell you in person, hopefully that made it hurt less.” Chat looked down at her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re an amazing girl Marinette. I can understand why you’d fall in love with me. I mean I’m Chat Noir.” Marinette rolled her eyes at this. “Still I hope we can be friends?”

Despite her annoyance, he was still her partner and she was so happy she didn’t have to deal with that situation anymore.

She handed the box of macaroons to him.

“It’s okay Chat, of course we can still be friends. Do you still want to go to the café? I hear it’s the cat’s meow.” Marinette inwardly cringed at her joke, but she could see turning her down wasn’t easy for Chat so she was trying to lighten the mood.

Chat instantly brightened and let out a genuine laugh. “I’d love to Marinette.”

She returned his smile.

“What do you say we travel a faster way?” Chat held a hand out to her. She blushed and took it.

He pulled her close and she let out a little gasp. He chuckled.

“Hold on tight Mari, this will either be the best or worst thing you’ve ever experienced.”

‘Nothing new though.’ She said to herself before Chat lifted her bridal style and took off.

Still, she yelp. It felt so different being outside the suit. The air swirled around her as Chat held her. It was terrifying to not be in control, but she trusted Chat with her life.

She tried not to think about how warm he felt against her, nor how nice it felt for him to hold her.

By the time he let her down in front of the café, it felt all too soon.

She stood on wobbly legs. Chat grabbed her arm to steady her.

“Sorry, I know all that jumping must have made you dizzy.” He laughed.

Marinette steadied herself before hitting his shoulder softly.

“Don’t laugh at my expense!” This made him laugh a little harder, making Marinette smile fondly.

“Okay c’mon we look like idiots sitting out here.” She said, dragging him inside.

She could hear him gasp when she opened the door. There were at least 20 cats just roaming around.

“Marinette they’re so cute!” He whisper yelled into her ear. She giggled.

“Have you never had a cat before?” She asked as they took a seat near the window.

“No, my dad would never allow it. Unless you count Plagg, I’ve never really had a pet.” Chat sighed looking longingly at the cats.

Marinette suddenly felt a strong distaste for whoever didn’t give this boy anything he could ever dream of.

A cat walked over to them and Chat practically squealed with delight as one rubbed against his legs.

The childlike wonder in his eyes at such simple things made Marinette’s heart flutter, which she did everything to ignore.

They ordered drinks, Chat ordered a cafe creme, unsurprisingly.

As they drank their drinks they discussed the cats, among other things.

They went around and gave the cats different names and made up little stories about them.

“Okay what about that one?” Marinette asked Chat, pointing to a black cat with orange splotches.

“Hm, that’s General Fluffington.” Marinette held back a laugh. “Shame Marinette, you can’t just go around laughing at Generals!” This time Marinette let out the laugh.

“Okay and what else should I know about the General?” She asked, indulging him.

Said cat was currently getting tangled in yarn a few feet from them.

“Milk. He hates it, hates the stereotype.”

Marinette nodded, putting in a serious expression. “As he plays into said stereotype with yarn.”

Now it was Chat’s turn to lose his composure. As soon as he began laughing, Marinette couldn’t help but break character to join in.

By the time they left, the sun was getting lower in the sky.

“I had a lot of fun today Marinette. Possibly more fun than I’ve had in a long time.” Chat said as they walked back.

Marinette’s stomach was sore after laughing for what seemed like all day, even if it had been only a few hours.

“Me too. I’m glad we did this.” She sighed contently.

“You aren’t hurt from today right? I hope I didn’t make your feelings feel invalid.” Marinette turned to see Chat looking at her with concerned eyes.

She gave him a smile.

“No need to be. Besides who cares when I have such a pretty flower.” She waved the pink rose between them.

“I mean, if we’re comparing gifts I think I won. I’ll probably be eating this for the next month.” Chat replied gesturing at the box of macaroons he held under her arm.

“I’d say to thank my Dad but I’m not sure you want to be around too long after you drop me off.” Chat gave her a confused look, so she elaborated.

“He was a little overzealous about our date so he might not be too happy about you not returning my feelings. He’ll get over it when he sees I’m fine though.” She said with a supportive smile directed at Chat.

He seemed a little more anxious, but still had his glow from the day.

“Well I hope so. You have a really amazing family, Marinette.”

“Yeah, even though he might get ahead of himself, I’m glad he’s there for me.”

They arrived at her door too soon for Marinette’s liking.

“Thanks for today, Chat. I enjoyed spending time with you.” She turned to him in her doorstep. He leaned forward and her heart quickened.

He kissed her on the cheek.

“Me too, Marinette. See you soon.” He replied softly, before jumping off into the night.

Marinette sighed before walking in, where she was immediately bombarded with questions from her father.

———————

The next day as school Marinette could've sworn she saw Adrien popping small red pastries into his mouth with a lovesick expression. She didn’t know why, but something about it made her feel like she should be connecting something.

@marichatmay

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starshine583 · 4 years

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Crossing a Line (20)

(Hey! I just want to thank everyone for their continued support of this fic!! i’m glad you all have enjoyed it so much and I hope that you find the ending satisfactory!)

Part 1 / Part 19 / Epilogue

Adrien’s eyes fluttered open, the room around him blurring into view. The mansion’s ceiling lay above him, white and tall, and he could vaguely sense the way his body was sprawled out across the floor. Why was he on the floor? When did he come downstairs from the bedroom?

“No!”

Adrien flinched at the scream and sat up, ignoring the light headedness from doing so.

Father was on the floor a few feet in front of him, scowling and writhing to escape the yo-yo that was tied around him. Adrien followed the string to its holder, half expecting to see Ladybug. Instead, he saw a boy with pale blonde hair that was slicked back and dyed red at the tips.

“You can’t do this!” His father continued, regaining Adrien’s attention. “This is betrayal, Felix! You’ll be disowned from our family! Your mother will never trust or love you once I’m gone!”

Adrien’s eyes widened. Why was Felix wearing the Ladybug miraculous? And where was Ladybug?

“My Lady?”

“Would I lie to you, Adrien?”

“Chat Noir, get back!”

“I’m sorry.”

Memories hit Adrien like a truck as the fog in his mind cleared, and he winced, his hands shooting to his head. Had he seen all of that right? Was Father really Hawkmoth? Has he been Hawkmoth this entire time? How did Adrien not notice? Wasn’t he supposed to be a hero?

“Adrien!”

His spiraling thoughts were briefly shattered when Marinette threw herself around him in a hug.

“Oh, Minou, I’m so sorry! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” She asked frantically. How long had she been there? Did she get caught in the fight or hide before it happened?

Wait, did she just call me-

Adrien looked down at her, and she pulled back to check him for injuries, grief and worry plastered across her expression.

“.. Ladybug?”

Marinette paused, offering him a sheepish smile. “Hey, kitty.”

“You’re Ladybug?” He asked again, his jaw dropping to the floor. Looking back at it now, Marinette being Ladybug made perfect sense, but still! First his father, now Marinette- was he just blind to everything?

“Is he alright?”

Adrien’s gaze flicked back to the new Ladybug holder, who still had their foot firmly on Gabriel’s back. Ah, yes. Let’s not forget my brother’s part in this.

“Yes, he’s fine.” Marinette answered, before turning back to Adrien. “You are fine, right?”

Adrien nodded, though he wouldn’t exactly describe himself as ‘fine’. He just discovered that both of his family members are super-villains, for Pete’s sake. What was going to happen to them now?

“Marinette..” He began, not taking his eyes off of Felix. “Is he really..?”

“Is he really Le Paon?”

Marinette followed his gaze and sighed. “..Yes.”

“How long have you known?” Because at this point, how could she not have known? She had to have gotten Felix’s peacock miraculous at some point, and Adrien doubted it was anytime after they arrived at the mansion.

“Only two days.” She admitted. “I’m sorry. I was going to tell you, I just couldn’t find the right time.”

“No, it’s okay.” Adrien assured, a hint of irritation rising in his voice. “It looks like everyone else has been keeping secrets from me, anyway.”

He didn’t mean to make the biting remark, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been running around as Chat Noir thinking that he was on top of things and that his lady shared everything with him. He thought they had an unbreakable bond built on mutual trust and respect, but obviously, that was wrong. He thought that he knew everything about his brother, but obviously, that was wrong. He thought that, although his father could be cold, he would never be the type of person to hurt others so recklessly, but obviously, all of that was wrong! Everything he thought he knew was a lie!

Adrien clenched his fists. You know what? He didn’t even care about Father being a terrorist! What he did care about, was the fact that he trusted Felix with that fact and not him. Why? Was Adrien not good enough? After everything he’d done to please him? Why didn’t Felix tell Adrien about the peacock miraculous as soon as he had it? Weren’t they supposed to be close? Why was it that no one seemed to find him worthy of dependence? Was he that unreliable?

A part of him understood. Marinette didn’t want to compromise Felix, and Felix probably didn’t want to drag Adrien into the mess he’d gotten himself into. That didn’t stop the feeling of betrayal or grief or guilt from twisting into his heart and eating away at him from the inside out. Even if they didn’t trust him, he should have known. He should have figured out that Felix was Le Paon from the very beginning. If he had, maybe he could have stopped him before it got out of hand..

Tears burned in the corner of his eyes. All he’d wanted was to live a normal life, with supportive friends and a loving family. Why did this have to be the reality? What could he have possibly done to warrant such a harsh punishment?

Adrien wiped away a tear and forced himself to his feet. As furious as he was with himself and everyone else, now was not the time to sulk. They had Hawkmoth and Le Paon, and he needed to focus.

He walked over to Felix, who was still holding a writhing Gabriel to the floor. Felix looked up in a silent acknowledgement towards his presence. It was hard to detect behind the red and black mask, but Adrien noticed a flicker of shame and guilt reflecting in Felix’s eyes as well.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Felix asked after a moment.

Adrien shrugged. “As alright as I can be.. What about you?”

Felix glanced down at Gabriel. “I’ve got a few scrapes and bruises, but it’s nothing I don’t deserve.”

Something about that comment struck Adrien. Maybe it was the way Felix said it so softly, or how he avoided Adrien’s eyes, but it made Adrien realize that he wasn’t the only victim in this situation. Felix has gone through a lot too. It couldn’t have been easy putting others in danger for the sake of their mother, and he obviously regretted it.

Adrien put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We all make mistakes, right?”

In the end, Felix was only trying to do what any normal person would have done. He was trying to save someone precious. Adrien couldn’t fault him for that.

Felix met Adrien’s eyes, clearly surprised. He hadn’t expected to be forgiven.

“You two have a lot to talk about.” Marinette spoke up.

Felix glanced at Marinette, his expression immediately softening. Adrien smiled at the sight. He couldn’t wait for them to finally get together.

“This is madness!” Gabriel spat, regaining their attention. “You’ll all pay for this!”

“Save it.” Felix growled, pushing the man down with his foot. “I think we’ve heard enough from you.”

“What do you guys want to do with him?” Marinette asked, shooting Gabriel a glare. “It’s your decision.”

Adrien frowned. That was a good question. What did they want to do with him? Father didn’t appear to be regretful towards his actions. If they let him go now, he would probably keep coming after their miraculous. So what should they do?

“Call the police.” Felix said.

“What?!” Gabriel blanched.

“Felix, are you sure?” Marinette asked.

Felix nodded. “If he’s not convicted about hurting others, then he’s dangerous. We need to turn him in.”

“Adrien?”

Adrien sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “..I agree with Felix. We can’t trust him.”

“This is outrageous!” Gabriel protested. “You can’t put your own father behind bars!”

“You stopped being our father a long time ago.” Felix snapped. “Now you’ll pay for your actions.”

“I’ll go get the phone.” Adrien announced, spinning on his heel to head for the office. Turning his own father into the police felt like knives sinking into his chest, but it had to be done. For the safety of Paris and for the safety of Marinette and Felix. Hopefully one day, Father will understand.

~~~~~~

Felix watched the police officers drag Gabriel into the cop car. He was screaming and spitting curses the whole way, with Nathalie not far behind him. She’d been knocked out cold on the floor from their previous fight, but as soon as she woke up, she attempted to help Gabriel escape, ultimately making herself an accomplice.

A part of Felix felt guilty for not stepping forward as well. He’d fought beside Gabriel for months, after all. Shouldn’t he take the blame? Was it right to be relieved of all consequences for his treacherous actions?

A soft pat on his shoulder dragged Felix’s gaze from the cop car to Adrien, who was standing next to him. Conflict reflected in his brother’s eyes, and the grief of the situation tugged his lips into a frown. Felix couldn’t blame him. Despite everything that’s transpired, Adrien still had a big heart. He wouldn’t want to outright reject Gabriel as a parental figure just yet.

Talking Adrien down after he woke up had not been a simple task and explaining the relations between himself and Marinette that took place beforehand had been even harder. Adrien always loathed secrets. Knowing that his closest friends and family had been withholding a mountain of information for that long was a hard blow.

Thankfully, however, Adrien was extremely understanding in the end, and Felix gained a newfound respect for his little brother that he hadn’t had before.

“Thank you for your service, Ladybug.” M. Roger smiled.

Felix glanced at Marinette. During their wait for the police, he managed to give her earrings back to her so she could transform. It was a struggle, considering Gabriel was still furious, but they did it. Adrien offered to transform as well, but Marinette declined, saying it might be suspicious if Adrien wasn’t present during the arrest. Felix was grateful to have her advice, because hoards of reporters had swarmed the mansion within the time it took to get handcuffs on Gabriel and walk him outside. The other police officers were holding them back, but only just.

Ladybug returned the cop’s smile. “Of course! As long as the people of Paris are safe.”

“It’s too bad you didn’t get Le Paon. We’ll have to keep an eye out for him.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry.” Ladybug assured, flashing Felix a secret smile. “I don’t think we’ll be seeing him anymore.”

Roger cop nodded, oblivious of the inside joke that had just passed before him. “That’s good to hear. Where Chat Noir? Aren’t you two partners?”

“He ran out of time and had to go detransform, but he was a big help.” Ladybug replied. “I couldn’t have done this without him.”

Felix noticed Adrien’s small, grateful smile. It gave him hope that everything might actually turn out alright after this.

“We’ll have to thank you both when we can then.” Roger cop mused. “Maybe the Mayor will throw you a party in your honor.”

Ladybug chuckled. “That’s very generous, but it’s not necessary. We were only doing our jobs.”

“I don’t think a celebration would hurt.” Felix spoke up. “You deserve it after saving everyone.”

After saving me. He mentally adds. She’d deserve everything in the world even if she hadn’t given him a second chance.

Ladybug shot him a side glance, her lips pursing to hide her smile. “And would you be attending this celebration, M. Agreste?”

“To be in company with our gallant heroes?” Felix remarked. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Ladybug hummed, her eyes narrowing with amusement. Gosh, he loved this woman.

“You guys better stop flirting in front of the paparazzi.” Adrien murmured in Felix’s ear, though his teasing smile was evident. “You might end up on the front page.”

Felix felt himself flush. His first inclination was to turn and snap at his brother, but the comment was sound advice. The cameras around them were still flashing, even though Gabriel and Nathalie’s cop car had left the premises.

“Well, I need to get going.” Ladybug said, her gaze slipping back to M. Roger. “I trust you to keep these boys safe.”

M. Roger straightened and gave her a salute. “You can count on me, Ma’am!”

Ladybug smiled and threw out her yo-yo. Only Felix and Adrien caught her wink in their direction as she swung off to the rooftops. She’d be detransforming in an alleyway not far from them. That meant the boys needed to get inside before she reached the back entrance again.

“I think you boys have been through enough today.” M. Roger spoke up, patting Felix and Adrien’s heads. “Why don’t you two go inside and rest? We’ll take it from here.”

Felix pushed down his displeasure towards being touched in such a casual manner and nodded. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, thanks!” Adrien said, plastering a smile across his lips.

Taking the convenient opportunity while it lasted, the boys shuffled inside of the mansion where Gorilla was waiting. He’d been the one to detain Nathalie when she broke loose, and Felix was extremely grateful for it. When the world was crumbling around them, it was nice to know that he and Adrien had had someone in the Agreste mansion that they were able to fully rely on.

Gorilla closed the door behind them and grunted his concerns, but the boys assured him that they were alright. At least, they would be. It would take time to adjust to their new life. Gabriel has been telling them how to eat, sleep, dress, and live for the better half of two years. The sudden freedom was going to be.. admittedly strange.

“So.. Does this mean that we’re orphans now?” Adrien commented thoughtfully.

Felix rose a brow. “Adrien, orphans are kids whose parents have died.”

“I don’t know about you, but Father’s dead to me.”

A surprised laugh burst from Felix’s lips. “Yes, but the term ‘orphans’ refers to the literal definition of death. Besides, we still have Mother.”

Adrien’s smile faltered. “Yeah.. do you really think she’ll be able to heal her?”

Felix lightly touched his side, feeling over the bullet scar. “I think we should have some faith in her.”

Adrien nodded, his smile returning full force. “You two have really gotten close, huh? I can’t believe you kissed her, and I didn’t even know!”

Felix chuckled, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. “It’s not like I could have told you.”

Adrien laughed. “Like you would have either way!”

Felix shrugged. That was true.

“Hey, guys!”

The boys turned to see Marinette waving them down as she ran in from the kitchen. Felix smiled and walked forward, meeting her half way.

“Sorry, it took me so long.” Marinette huffed, coming to a stop in front of Felix. “I had to make sure the police didn’t see me come in.”

“You didn’t take long.” Felix promised. He reached up to brush her disheveled bangs aside, and she leaned into his touch with a contented sigh. He couldn't help smiling at her expression. Giddiness and peace and relief littered her features. It made his heart skip knowing that he was the reason for such a breathtaking look.

With keeping Gabriel at bay and explaining things to the police, Felix had barely gotten time to accept the fact that Marinette was alive and okay. And now that they finally had a moment to relax, all he wanted to do was pull her close and never let her go.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” He asked softly, brushing his thumbs across her cheeks simply to feel her warmth. “You can rest if you need to.”

Marinette closed her eyes, reveling in his touch as well, and lightly grabbed his wrists. “I’ll be fine.”

Felix nodded. He’d never healed someone with magic before and, therefore, wasn’t certain of the physically or emotional backlash that might occur. If she said that she was ready, though, he would take her word for it.

“Oh my gosh,” Adrien grinned, “I’ve never seen you so sappy in my entire life.”

Felix swatted at his brother with a glare, but Marinette giggled.

“You should see him when he’s at my house.” She said, only embarrassing him further. “He’s even carried me bridal style around Paris.”

“That was one time!” Felix defended, though he wasn’t sure what he was defending. He wouldn’t hesitate to carry her around Paris again. The argument that night hadn’t been fun, but the feeling of her in his arms had infected his mind for weeks afterwards. It still did now.

Adrien put his hands on his hips. “Wow. And here I thought that you were never going to be the one to confess first.”

Felix scowled, but Marinette’s hand slipping into his promptly dissipated any on-coming rage.

“Nope! The confession was all him. He did say it right before he took my miraculous, though..” Marinette remarked.

Adrien gasped. “Felix! I thought you would be better than that.”

Felix’s fingers tightened around Marinette’s hand, and he sighed. “You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?”

The pair chuckled, and Marinette pushed herself onto her tiptoes to give Felix a chaste kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t worry. We’ll stop teasing you about it.. Eventually.” She promised, a mischievous glint reflecting in her bluebell eyes. Felix might have been disgruntled about the comment had his chest not been swirling with warmth from her touch. He supposed he deserved the treatment anyway.

“Oh, I need to get going!” Marinette gasped, suddenly remembering the task at hand.

Felix furrowed his eyebrows. “Get going where?”

“You want me to heal Mlle. Agreste, right?” Marinette replied. “I can do that, but I’m going to need some help.”

Help? Who could possibly help her in this situation? The only people who knew about the miraculous were in this room or on their way to jail.

..Right?

~~~~~~

Marinette staring up at the large dome of metal above them as the elevator came to a stop. Seeing Felix activate a secret elevator by pressing secret buttons on a painting had been a surreal experience. Gabriel must have jumped through a lot of hoops to keep Emilie hidden. It made it all the more shocking to know that Felix had actually discovered the elevator on his own, without Gabriel’s help.

Now that the rubble and debri from the fight was clear, Marinette got a much better picture of the secret basement that she’d previously fallen into. The metal walkway stretched out in front of her, cutting through loads of greenery around the room. Her footsteps echoed as though she were in a tunnel, and almost everything was dark and dreary, save for the beam of light that shined on Emilie’s golden coffin. The set-up vaguely reminded Marinette of an abandoned cathedral.

“How long has this been down here?” Adrien asked in front of her. The elevator was two small to take all of them at once, so Felix had everyone take turns.

“I don’t know.” Felix admitted, coming to stand next to Marinette. “Ever since Mother disappeared, I imagine.”

“I can’t believe he would go to such lengths to keep her here.” Marinette commented, absently lacing her fingers with Felix’s.

Felix gave her hand a soft squeeze. “I still can’t believe that old man is really a miraculous guardian.”

“Hey, now.” Master Fu spoke up, glancing over his shoulder to shoot Felix a wry smile. “I’m only 186. I’ve still got a good few years left ahead of me.”

“I found you mugged in an alley.” Felix retorted.

“Did you?” Master Fu shot back, a mischievous glint coming to his eyes. “Or did I find you?”

Felix scrunched up his nose in a mix of annoyance and confusion, causing Marinette to giggle. The shocked gasp that had flown from Felix’s lips when she brought Fu back to the mansion had made her regret that she didn’t have a camera. His face was completely twisted with confusion and disbelief, and she was certain that it had been the most expressive thing he’d ever done in his life.

Naturally, Adrien had been more confused than shocked, but once she was able to explain everything, he got excited. Finding out he had hidden powers gave him a sudden urge to study and learn about his miraculous all over again. Of course, they decided that that could wait until after they healed Emilie.

“Thank you for coming, Master Fu.” Marinette said warmly. “I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Adrien agreed. “Maybe when this is over, you can show me how to unlock my inner power!”

Master Fu chuckled. “All in good time, Chat Noir, and it’s an honor to help you. Shall we get started?”

Marinette nodded, and they made their way across the room to Emilie’s coffin. She looked as peaceful as ever, almost like she’d lain down for a simple nap. How had her body stayed intact all this time? A coma doesn’t cause your body to decay, but it would keep you from eating or drinking. How had Gabriel kept her fed and healthy?

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Marinette reached forward to open the glass casing. How she was still alive didn’t matter. The point was that she was alive, and Marinette was going to heal her.

“Remember what I taught you.” Master Fu said beside her as she touched Emilie’s forearm. “Clear your mind. Focus on your connection with Tikki. Feel the magic in your soul and transfer it to Emilie through your shared life force.”

Marinette drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Feel the magic in your soul.

Her hand tightened around Felix’s as she concentrated her thoughts on Tikki, on life, on healing. Everything around her fell away, save for the life force that Marinette was envisioning. She imagined refilling Emilie’s light with her own, as though she were the pitcher of water and Emilie was the glass that she was pouring into.

Slowly, Marinette felt the spark of magic between her fingers, felt it move to Emilie’s forearm and trail up her body. It took a lot of discipline to not open her eyes as Emilie’s body started glowing a soft pink.

“Wow..” She heard Adrien whisper behind her.

Marinette squeezed her eyes to close them further. She needed to block everything out if this was going to work.

Emilie’s soft glow turned into a shining light, growing brighter and brighter as Marinette transferred more magic into her. Then, when it became blinding, the light started fading again.

Marinette’s breath caught in her throat when the light finally stopped, and her eyes fluttered open. Please be healed..

Emilie remained motionless. Her skin remained pale and lifeless. They waited, hoping beyond all hope for movement, but nothing came.

“It didn’t work..” Marinette whispered, the realization washing over her like a bucket of ice water. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t heal their mother.

“Oh, Felix-” A sob choked out her words, and she put a hand over her mouth. After all of that fighting and planning and practicing.. She still wasn’t able to help them. “Felix, I’m so sorry.”

Felix pulled her into a tight hug, using his free hand to brush through her hair. “It’s alright, it’s fine. You did the best you could.”

Despite his attempts to sound soothing or composed, Marinette could hear the distress in his voice, the heartache. She buried her face into his shoulder, feeling pain lace through her chest as well.

With everyone huddling together to share their comforts and sorrows, no one noticed the slight gasp that passed Emilie’s lips, or how her fingers twitched.

Tag List: @im-here-for-the-content @novicevoice @mewwitch@minightrose @starlit-winter @multishipper1needshalp@unabashedbookworm @unholykrow @trubel43@kaydenth3gayden @stardustrevoutionx @legendaryneckjudgestudent @aurordraws @crazylittlemunchkin @uwuteamleader @chocolatecustarddanish @iambi-thilla-meena @corabeth11 @asianfrustration13 @chrismarium @agumon1123 @luciferge @yue-caelum @persephonebutkore @constancetruggle @make-the-stars-stay @johnlockfeelz @imfreakingmagical @tinybrie @procrastinatingrightnow @bee-wrecker @dontcallmecedge @shadowhex99 @daminette-is-life @thethirdwheelfriend @myazael @sizzling-fairy-oil @sparkle9510 @chaosace @the-navistar-carol @sannsibarr @grumpy-vixen-kitten @hauntedfreakdeputyhero @utcaro @more-or-less-human-i-guess @mlbutatbspofsalt @dawn-the-rithmatist @artcart0n @mermaidreject @tori-mmm @fifaanayd @novicevoice @dreamykitty25 @mischief-not-managed-posts @amayakans @arsaem @athena452 @pink-and-bunny @wannajointhecrabcult @theymakeupfairies

#Felinette #Marinette #Felix Agreste #Le Paon AU #Crossing a Line

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barnesandco · 4 years

Text

Nikah: June

Story Masterlist

Nikah: noun, Arabic, meaning the contract of marriage.

Bucky marries Peter’s former tutor because her student visa’s about to expire and the government isn’t granting her a green card. Can she find a way to permanent residence by marriage, and if so, will it be at the cost of their hearts?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Mentions of guns. Angst. Captivity.

A/N: Written under the Arranged/Accidental Marriage trope for @mermaidxatxheart ‘s writing challenge. I’ll be honest, I don’t really know how to feel about this chapter. Please let me know what you think.

For the first time in nearly eighty years, Bucky wants to be a soldier. Wants to bark orders, organize his troops, pull the goddamn trigger, because this isn’t working. The troops are in disarray, another off-the-clock meeting in the living room going nowhere. The area is dark, their handwritten notes illuminated by Peter’s floating lights. Like enlarged fireflies, they hover above them, casting soft shadows across the contraband paperwork, but do nothing to soothe Bucky. It’s going to take more than that to take his mind off his missing wife.

He’s busy counting. It has been 13 days, 11 hours, and 34 minutes since she walked out the door. She never came back. Every moment since has been only disaster, catastrophe. A complete blur. He tries to put together the jagged shards of the course of events that lays splintered in his mind, recaps the case like a private eye in a noir film, but the storyline is overwhelming. He can only remember the noise. The television static that was the police station he reported her missing in the morning after the fallout. The mind-numbing white noise of the press, of the investigators, his concerned teammates. They’re still concerned, naturally, watching him pace behind the sofa, mind clearly in another dimension.

Peter himself is absent. Has refused to show up to meetings, says he’s taking a break. As if they don’t know that he spends his free time patrolling as much of the city as possible, looking for her. A few amongst them would again suggest that she has run away, if it wasn’t for the notes.

Whoever took her has been sending cruel, little messages, in varying unpredictable fashions. On social media, in the mail, a temporary web domain. All made impossible to track and each more infuriating than the next. No ransom demand, no explanation, just taunts.

Forensic specialists have nothing, behavioral analysts are at a total loss, and Bucky’s at the center of the circus that this investigation has become. He is at the eye of the storm, although currently, he feels like the storm itself, even while it surrounds him, raging and powerful, it threatens to drown him, but he cannot afford that. Not when someone else’s life is at stake.

“Man, that’s enough. Get some rest and we’ll get back to it tomorrow.” Tired and weary, and above all else, worried, Sam decides to call it a night. Bucky doesn’t have the heart to argue. As they file out, Sam stays behind, looking at Bucky, still standing with a manila folder in his hands. The captain comes up to him and takes it away gently. “You’re going to collapse, Barnes. No good to her like this. Sleep,” He says, pointing the folder like a scolding finger at him on his way out, and Bucky sighs. Knows he will not obey this order.

The night is temperate, a gentle blanket smelling of grass and gun-cleaner around him as he steps onto the balcony outside his room. They must have cut the lawns today. It’s a beautiful evening, and he’d appreciate it if there was room for any such thing in his heart. At present, the cavity in his chest is overflowing with fear. He hasn’t been this scared since he was a 20-something soldier in Azzano, Zola’s wicked face above him on the operating table. The intensity of this fear frightens him further. How is he this scared, for someone else? When did the cold metal Hydra poured into him to forge their sword melt into the lava bubbling ferociously with rage and hurt inside him? He has spent his whole life, scorning the cold, and now he is being burnt from the inside out, the fury in his veins sparking a fire in his belly.

Taking a deep breath, he reminds himself to calm down. Remembers that the magma can and will pour into his lungs if he lets it, will stifle his air supply until he is as helpless as his wife probably is, wherever she is. Sleep is not on the cards, so he comes back into his room and picks up the Glock under his pillow. Sits to clean it again tracing the indentations and following the lines.

“Sign here, sir,” The official’s baritone voice requests, pointing to the dotted line on their accepted marriage license. The black fountain pen is cold in his hands, and he hurries to sign. Their witnesses - another married couple that were waiting in line for their ceremony - shuffle impatiently. The document is slid over to her, and she does the same. Bucky doesn’t know whether his sigh of relief is releasing the burden of anticipation from his shoulders, or making room for the burden of a false marriage on them. The formalities are discussed in short time, prenuptial agreement non-existent, and the man congratulates them professionally behind half-moon glasses.

She nods, smiling, and they get up to thank the witnesses as their own file in, along with their few guests. Courthouse marriages are popular, Bucky notes, buttoning his jacket. They leave the building, walking a few blocks to grab a taxi, silent and cold. Night falls by the time they get home, the elevator ride feeling like weeks instead of minutes. The keys jingle as he turns the lock, and he and his bride step over the threshold of his house. Not their home, not yet.

Sam’s frantic knocking rouses him from his uncomfortable sleep, his back against the side of his bed and legs splayed out in front of him, gun still in his hands. He thanks God the safety’s on, and goes to open up.

“What?” He says shortly to the man who is breathless and alert, bursting with something to say. Sam holds up a key.

“The agent who gets sent to check your mail in Brooklyn just got back with this,” He says, giving it to Bucky. He looks over it, the silver glinting and reflecting off the metal of his arm. It’s vaguely familiar, and he thinks he should recognize it, but he does not. Not until he reads the number, and his heart drops to his knees, last night’s scarce dinner threatening to resurface.

“The storage unit,” He murmurs, tracing the number on the plastic keychain attached to the key. 3-8-4.

“What?” It’s Sam’s turn to ask as he takes in his friend’s expression, knowing this means something.

“We rented a storage unit to put her stuff in when she moved in with me,” Bucky explains, rotating the key in his hands, as if there is a hidden clue in it. “This is the key to that unit.”

“Then we should go,” Sam determines, throwing a call to suit up over his shoulder at him, and ordering Friday to gather the others.

Two hours later sees them at the storage facility, heavy red gate imposing in front of them. They can hear the ambulance on standby outside, the buzz of media attracted by the movement of armed forces inside the city. The SWATs nod for him to open the gate, rifles on their shoulders, and Bucky sarcastically thinks this might be one hell of an anticlimax, until the gate slides up with an unholy groan to reveal his wife.

The smell of sweat and stench and human waste, along with those curse MREs slaps him across the face harshly, but he needs to get to her. This is nothing, compared to the hell of the past few weeks without her.

Finally, here she is now- his bruised, tired, but very much alive wife. Her bloodshot eyes widen at the sight of them all, black-clad special ops and a team of Avengers, him still at the side of the entryway. They all lower their weapons, but she scrambles back, gag in her mouth biting at the corner of her lips when she gasps, frightened. Then she sees Bucky, and it’s like an ocean wave washes over her. She is clad, well-covered, yet he slides his combat jacket off, approaches slowly and drapes it around her shaking form before doing anything else.

Maintains eye contact while cutting the ropes the bind her hands and feet and pulls off the gag. For a painful moment, she stares at him, frozen in time, and then the dam breaks, and she collapses. Falls into his arms, great, gasping sobs erupting from a chest he didn’t know could hold that much sorrow as she cries against him. Her sanctuary is ripped away when the medics arrive, as they ask for her to be taken to the hospital, she needs to go, Mr. Barnes, but she clings to him. Screams hoarsely until they stop insisting and give them space.

Bucky nods to them - telling them he’ll bring her to the ambulance - over the top of her unwashed head, the tiny jhumkas from the iftaari still in her ears, one blood-stained, digging into his shoulder as she tries to hide in him. Tries to bury herself in his body, tries to make herself disappear. Again. Sam’s calling for everyone to back up, and Bucky’s grips grows tighter. He’s going to bend down to pick her up bridal style when she passes out, dead weight in his arms. The medics rush forward again, but he waves them off, carrying her back himself.

She wakes up in the ambulance on the way back, fraught like a tense rope, but doesn’t open her eyes. His only indication of her consciousness is how she squeezes his hand feebly, and he squeezes back, thinking: it isn’t fair.

Taglist: @suz-123 @mermaidxatxheart @buckyreaderrecs @shield-agent78 @corneliabarnes @readerandcinephileingeneral @stevieboyharrington @notsomellowmushroom @veganfangirl5 @mood-pancakes @lbuck121 @starnight-charmer @redhairedfeistynerd @geeksareunique @samingtonwilson @alyxkbrl

#ayesha writes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky x reader angst #bucky barnes x desi!reader #bucky barnes angst

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sariahsue · 4 years

Text

The Open Line, Chapter 20 - Trust

Read Chapter 1 Read Chapter 19

Claustrophobia was something Ladybug had never really understood. How could small, cozy places be scary? Sitting on the cold tile floor, an akuma prowling just out of sight, trapped and blinded by the rack of dresses that she was counting on to keep her safe, she thought she could learn to understand.

Space inside the circular rack was so cramped that she was wedged tightly against her partner, but she moved in even closer for comfort, resting her cheek against his shoulder as he listened. He smiled slightly. Well, she was glad someone liked being trapped here. Though, she would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying the touch just a little.

"Okay," Cat Noir whispered. "He's moving away again."

Ladybug leaned in, massaging her sore shoulder. It still hurt a little, and not even the magical suit was enough to completely ease the pain. He'd offered to do that for her, but the glare she'd given him had shut him right up.

Though, if it was still sore later, maybe...

"What else do you hear?" she asked.

Cat Noir squinted, tilted his head to one side, and his hair fell across his forehead. She wanted to reach over and push it out of his eyes for him. Stupid boy with this stupid hair and his stupid face, making her feel stupid things in the middle of a battle.

"There's still a lot of people in here," he whispered. "They're mostly tiptoeing around the edges, trying to get out." He lowered his voice even further. "Akuma's coming back around. No, wait. He's going to the back of the store. More people outside. They're talking. I don't think they know what's going on... And I can hear my heart."

"Your..."

He cracked one eye open at her. "Which is beating only for you."

Ladybug's mouth fell open, but just as quickly she snapped it shut and pretended to be interested in the blue empire waist next to her. "Stop being so cute."

Ever contrary, Cat Noir grabbed her hand and kissed it. "Can't. Sorry. The cuteness is a feature." He didn't let go, but neither did she.

"I think it's a bug. I would know."

"Did you just pun?"

"Me? In the middle of a battle? Never."

Chuckling, he asked, "Should we use Lucky Charm?" and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. It was very distracting, though she wasn't about to tell him that.

Staring at the dress like it would help clear her mind, she said, "I'd rather not use it to escape. We'll probably need it later to fight."

They waited in silence for a few more seconds. The dresses rustled as someone brushed past their rack. Ladybug turned to her partner, who gave her a thumbs up. Nothing to worry about. Just a civilian escaping. In the back of the store, Dodgeboy grumbled about them not coming out to play his game. She could feel the distant voice rumbling in her chest.

Cat Noir squeezed her hand tighter. "I have an idea to get out of here, but you're gonna hate it."

"I'll consider any plan right now." They'd been fighting for ages and ideas were slow coming with him rubbing relaxing circles into her back of her hand. The sensible thing would be to ask him to stop. She did not do the sensible thing.

"Well," he began slowly, "we can try to... blend in with the crowd. You know, just walk out with all the other civilians."

"I think the akuma would notice us pretty easily. Our suits are-"

"No, I mean... detransform first. We're just two kids. No one will look twice at us trying to escape."

Detransform? Right now?

"You're right," she said. "I hate it. But I..." She looked down at their still-joined hands. The circles he was rubbing weren't intended to be relaxing, she realized; they were supposed to be consoling. Her heart pounded painfully, spreading panic with each beat. She wasn't ready. "I don't have any better ideas," she whispered, hating how afraid she sounded.

"Hey." Slipping one knuckle under her chin, he lifted her face up to his. The space was so small that their noses almost brushed together. His eyes were so full of concern and adoration that she leaned toward him involuntarily. Mostly involuntarily.

"This is just to escape, and once we're back outside we'll get back in the suits." He kept his voice low, drawing her in. "I promise I won't look. Do... do you trust me?"

"Yes," she breathed.

"Thank you." He kissed her forehead, then cocked his head, listening again. "His footsteps are far enough away. I don't hear anyone else nearby. No one will see us if we go now."

Ladybug nodded and unfolded herself from her crouch, joints stiff from sitting on the floor for so long. Forcing herself to let go of his hand (which was harder than she expected), she slipped out of the clothing rack. Immediately, she felt too exposed and crossed her arms in front of herself, knowing the sensation was about to get worse.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Never," she said. "Let's do it."

Looking straight ahead, they both released their transformations, hid their kwamis, and walked toward the nearest exit sign. The boy who was not Cat Noir padded quietly to her right, his bare forearm occasionally brushing against her own. It was strange to realize she'd never actually touched his arm before. Or his hands.

Another thing Marinette had never realized was how many mirrors clothing stores had. They covered every pillar, capped the end of every aisle. Even the metal clothing racks and glass cases of jewelry were reflective enough for her to see herself. It would be so easy to glance in any direction and see her partner's face accidentally. The temptation was very, very pressing, so she kept her eyes trained upward, on the exit sign.

By the third time their arms brushed together, they'd safely left the store and were back in the mall's wide hallway, and she'd come to the conclusion that the touches were definitely not accidental. This was proven true a few seconds later when he caught her hand and laced their fingers together.

"A couple would draw less attention," he explained.

"This is completely unnecessary," she hissed. "We looked fine the way we were." No one was looking at them. The itch between her shoulder blades continually warned her that they about to be discovered, but it looked like Dodgeboy had lost them, as well.

Despite the validity of her arguments, Marinette's free hand found the crook of his elbow. Fabric bunched under her fingers.

"Unnecessary..." Not Cat Noir said. "Get your hand off my arm then."

"No."

There were plenty of people in the hallways, though much fewer than there had been before. Faces peeked out of shop entrances and through wide glass panes. Dodgeboy and his craters were nowhere to be seen. That should have been reassuring – it meant they were escaping safely – but Marinette was a little unsettled because it also meant they didn't know where he was.

"So the backpack," she said. "I think we need to get that off him."

"Which means we're either going to create one captivating distraction or we'll need to get him stuck somewhere."

"That'll come down to the Lucky Charm I get," Marinette said. "But I think getting him trapped might be easier."

"Agreed. There's enough debris outside to work with, plus it'll neutralize his guns."

While they were outlining a plan and making their way to the closest exit, Marinette's hand roamed up his arm, coming to rest on his bicep, and she hoped he didn't notice. It was either an attempt to walk closer to him or... something else that she didn't want to name. She wasn't sure which.

"Speaking of guns," Not Cat Noir said. Fabric went taught as his arm bulged. "Like what you feel?"

Okay, it definitely wasn't THAT. Marinette had to focus on keeping her footsteps even for a few seconds to refocus her brain. Then, to punish him for noticing, she ignored his question and started obviously exploring the muscle, drawing circles and dragging her fingers over the lines of his shirt until he tripped.

"Ha," she said. "Who's making who flustered now, Kitty?"

"P-please. I'm trying not to die, here."

She wasn't sure if the danger was the akuma or her hands. "Oh, so when I tell you not to goof off with puns and flirts in the middle of a battle, now you know how it feels." She gave him an extra tight squeeze.

"Can we focus, please?"

"I'm trying to distract you." She did it again, feeding the happy feeling that curled from her heart all the way down to her toes.

"You- I- You-" He picked up their pace, shop windows sliding past them in his haste to escape her teasing. They turned a corner to see a bright rectangle of sunlight at the end of the hallway. An emergency exit. He walked even faster.

"Imagine what this would be like if your sleeves were even shorter." She hummed, sliding her hand from his shoulder down to his elbow and feeling him shiver.

"Wh-Why don't you distract me later?" he said, lowering his voice. Marinette thought his attempt to sound alluring and back in control of the conversation was adorable in its absurdity. The wobble in his voice and his need to escape told her he had no idea what he was doing, but he kept trying. "I can think of some good distractions," he said. "Wink wink."

"Did you just narrate your wink?"

"Well, I know you're not looking at my face."

Cat Noir practically punched the door open, cracking against the outside wall and setting off an alarm. Marinette blinked in the sunlight, still hanging onto his arm. Turning her face carefully away from him, she surveyed her half of the parking lot.

"I can't see anyone. You?"

"No one," he said.

"Okay. I guess we should get back to work, then. Playtime's over."

"Oh, thank goodness, claws out!"

Plagg cackled at them as he was sucked into the ring.

Marinette giggled. "Am I too much for you to handle?" She glanced at his face. Mask already back in place, Cat Noir was looking away from her – like she knew he would be – and was violently blushing. She laughed at his discomfort and at the power of his suit that tickled her palms as he transformed. "Spots on."

"Got your baton back?"

"Right here," he said, pulling it out with his free hand. "That's a relief."

"First thing's first, we need to find Dodgeboy before he gets into trouble," Ladybug said, slowly peeling her hands off him.

"Wait." His interlaced fingers squeezed hers before she could get away, and she paused. He still hadn't turned to look at her yet. "Would you..." he asked the air in front of him. "Would you be interested in going on a date with me?"

A punch in the gut couldn't have left Ladybug more winded. All the happiness their teasing and flirting had created evaporated.

She hadn't had time to make her choice. She wasn't ready for this question yet, and she kicked herself for not seeing that she'd been inviting it.

She hadn't been silent for two seconds before Cat Noir said, "It's fine. You don't want to. I get it. It's okay."

"It's not that," she said slowly. "I just... haven't decided what I want yet. I don't want to string you along."

Cat Noir turned to her, hope blazing in his eyes. "So don't decide yet. I just want to spend time with you. That's all. Just a date? I won't ask for anything else until you've made up your mind."

But that wasn't all. What about Adrien?

Well, she thought, what about him?

Cat Noir's eyes were wide and earnest, and she loved him so much. A date sounded wonderful. No patrols, no akumas, a chance for him to dedicate time just to her, for them to be together.

Hands still linked, Cat Noir waited patiently before finally breaking the silence. "We can stay in our masks. No revealing identities yet, if that's what you want."

What was the harm in it? As long as he understood it was just one date, as long as he would give her the distance and time afterward to make her final decision.

"I... I'd like that," she said. "I'd really like that."

His cat ears perked up. "Friday?"

"Sure. I'm free all evening. We'll talk about it later, though. Akuma."

"Right," he said, letting go of her hand at last and turning away, and she thought he heard him whisper, "It worked again!"

Cold wind blew in the threat of a storm as they circled the building and found a crowd of civilians on the other side, pouring through the doors to escape the fire alarm. Dodgeboy was there too, both cannon-hands train on the largest door, waiting for them.

"Hey, Dog-breath! There's more than one door!" Cat Noir bounded over the akuma's head, and the crowd below cheered. "Too late to ambush us! You'll have to cat-ch us!"

"Head toward the school," Ladybug said, throwing out her yoyo.

They twisted away from each other, frigid wind whipping at their faces and muting Dodgeboy's roars.

"What's the plan, My Lady?"

"Working on it."

But she wasn't working on it. Her mind was compiling every action she'd taken in the last week, laying it out plainly for her for the first time. The smiles, the flirting, the texts, all the times she'd wished she could be near him, and now agreeing to a date.

She'd promised herself she would either stop or choose him. She wasn't stopping so...

Did this mean she was choosing him?

Read Chapter 21 here

***

Author's note: Don't let the happiness fool you. The angst chapters are imminent.

@littlehazzascurls1864 @digitalmagpie @angelofthequeers @writingish1210 @gentlemanoftimetravel @kayla0binow @keeper-of-words

#ladynoir #ladynoir july #ml #miraculous #miraculous ladybug

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coffeecomicsgalore · 4 years

Text

Unveiled Love

@smutember

Ao3

Chapter 20 – Adrenaline Rush

The akuma was another love battle akuma; exactly what the duo needed at the moment.

“Fuuuuuuuuuck.” Ladybug drawled out and Chat looked over at her incredulously. She let out another burp, and made a face at how gross it tasted.

Chat would always love his lady, no matter how gross or odd she was, but seeing her like this, especially during a battle, only made him watch her every move with worry.

She squinted her eyes and watched at what the villain was doing, seeing if there was any clear indication of where the akuma could be hiding.

“Dammit. Now I need to go down there.” Ladybug grumbled and Chat placed a hand on her shoulder.

“No. I’ll go down there. You stay here while I taunt him.”

Ladybug let out a huff and crossed her arms, watching her husky cat catapult his way down to the akuma’s level.

“Lovely seeing you here.” Chat began, the akuma glaring at him with poison in his eyes. “You know, a way to a lover’s heart is not by his screams or beams, but by his words!”

“Shut up you stupid cat.” The villain spit back. “You know nothing of love. You’re nothing but a stray alley cat trying to play with his food.”

“Oof. That hurt.” Chat said, placing a hand on his chest in feigned hurt. “I would never put my hands on more than one person.”

The akuma chuckled out in a high pitched laugh. “Ha! We all see how in love you are with Ladybug, then you go after a new superhero? If that doesn’t sound like a tom cat, I don’t know what does.”

Chat eyed the akuma up and down as he tried to find another distraction. In the distance, he could hear Ladybug throw out her yo-yo, no doubt impatient about waiting to come down and help him. She was the one who always made the plans.

The moment Chat looked up to see where she was was the moment the akuma decided to attack. His blaster hit Chat right in the chest, and Chat turned to look at the akuma with shock written across his features. Ladybug got down to the ground and covered her mouth with her hands, the feeling of guilt ricocheting off her heart and into every crevice of her body.

“Chat!” Ladybug called out, anger brimmed in her voice as she mentally scolded herself for her actions.

“Hahahaha!” The akuma’s boisterous laugh filled the street.

Ladybug stared at her partner, waiting to see what would happen now that he was hit. The beginning of a headache started to form, and was only gaining strength as the akuma continued to laugh. She refused to remove her eyes from her partner’s form, waiting for the inevitable. Every so often, she would look back at the akuma, ensuring her own safety now that they were probably down one hero.

At first, Chat felt nothing out of the ordinary. He was ready to go back into battle, and he did so by crouching down and into position with the baton in his hand. Suddenly, Chat felt a rush of lust run through him, his eyes closing as he could feel the arousal building within him. He turned to the akuma and smirked at him, before turning to Ladybug and doing the same.

Ladybug noticed Chat’s eyes grow increasingly dark, his smirk screaming something mischievous. His body language had changed, too. He seemed more aroused as he looked at her., like the gaze he was giving her was seductive in nature.

Chat sauntered up to Ladybug and slid the back of his hand down her cheek, his fingertips lingering for a couple of seconds longer as he made his way around her body. Ladybug’s eyes closed at the contact, the familiar feeling of arousal building within her as she noticed his demeanor.

“Fuck, Ladybug. You look delicious.” Chat purred out, causing her to shiver in his grasp.

Ladybug head lolled back for a brief moment, the alcohol’s inhibiting effects making her forget what she needed to do. Her eyes widened as her duty to protect Paris finally edged its way to the front of her mind, and she easily whisked herself away from him to get a plan into action

Ladybug hid up near a chimney, surveying the ground. The akuma was zapping people left and right, making them lust over who they love most. Her stomach rolled when she watched a couple get zapped, then the woman removed her hand from the man’s grasp, leaving her to run to, presumably, someone else. The poor man that was left behind tried to run after her, saying things like, “I want you. Please want me too!” as he continued his trek.

The faint sounds of tapping shoes could be heard behind her, and Ladybug turned around to notice Chat licking his lips before biting the bottom one, letting out a sultry moan in her direction. The sound he made only made her quiver with anxiousness, the feeling of arousal and lust hitting her from all sides.

She wanted him. She wanted to jump his bones. She had been wanting to all day. But once she saw the news about Chat Noir and Multimouse, all sense of anything flew out the window with drinking as the only plausible resolution. Now with the alcohol coursing through her body, Chat’s sensual glare, his delicious body that looked incredibly amazing in the black leather - which now she noticed, housed a very prominent erection that she wished she could lavish - there was no way that she could say no to him.

I’m never drinking alcohol again, she muttered, finally recognizing that she needed to move before things go too far.

Ladybug whipped her yo-yo at Chat, knocking him in the head, and he groaned as he rubbed the sore spot. She whipped it back, then repelled down the building, searching the ground for any signs of the akuma.

When he was spotted, Ladybug called upon her lucky charm, receiving a deflated balloon to solve. Looking around to gather her thoughts, she noticed Chat crouching down on all fours, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

Ladybug slipped away before he could, leaving Chat to land in a dumpster behind her.

“Sorry, kitty.” She said, looking back as she ran towards the victim.

Blowing up the balloon to get it to stretch, she ran into his space and opened up the neck of the balloon, engulfing the blaster with the latex.

She ran a little further, then broke the object causing the purple butterfly to fly out, and Ladybug captured it to purify it. She threw the lucky charm into the air, and restoring the city to its former glory.

Chat Noir came up from behind her and rubbed his head, looking a bit embarrassed at being pawned. Ladybug placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before looking over the victim. After they said their goodbyes, TVi reporters walked up to them to ask them questions about the newest superhero and the rumored love triangle that this has now created, causing Ladybug to go from okay to back to angry again.

“No comment.” She huffed out, angrily, and zipped her way out of the crowd. Chat rubbed his neck with his claws, before saying the same thing, vaulting himself out of view with his baton.

“Ladybug!” Chat called out as she jumped over to the next building. “Get over here.”

“No!” She called out, still bitter from the earlier incident. She wanted to go home and drink some more, betting that another akuma wouldn’t come back tonight. She would figure out how to handle this issue tomorrow, but today she just wanted to drink to forget.

That was until she could still feel the heat of arousal between her thighs. Chat jumped up behind her and Ladybug turned to look at him. She wanted to be angry, but her libido was taking over any rationality in her mind.

“Milady. Wait-” Chat grabbed her hand to get her to stop, but all it did was cause any lingering rationale to fall. Ladybug turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down as she crashed her lips against his. At first, Chat wanted to remove himself from her hold, but he melted into her kiss, chasing her tongue with his.

As if the moment their tongues touched sent fire to their bodies, Chat picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist and leaned her against the chimney that was away from view.

The kisses became intense and heated to a point where clothes were extremely uncomfortable, and the feeling of his bulge pressing against her core elicited a moan from her lips. Chat scratched off the crotch of her suit, not even waiting to get home to ravish her properly. He did the same to his own suit, and mentally decided it was probably best to give Plagg and Tikki an array of special treats at this point for all repairs they have had to endure.

“Fuck. LB.” Chat cried out as he found the entrance to her pussy with the tip of his cock.

“Chat…”Ladybug moaned out, gasping as she felt his hard cock fill her completely.

Ladybug didn’t have time to get used to the feeling of him being inside her, as he began to thrust as quickly as he could. It was as if they were running out of time and needed to end this before all hell broke loose.

Ladybug grasped onto his collar with one hand, using his bell as leverage with the other, as he rhythmically thrusted into her warm pussy. Chat nuzzled his nose into her neck, smelling her delicious scent on her exposed skin. He placed pecks of kisses along her neck line, and Ladybug could only moan as she lolled her head back at the sensation.

She ran her hand through his hair, tugging on the blonde locks as their lips crashed against each other in haste. Fumbling and moaning through locked lips, Chat thrusted faster and more erratically as the coil began the turn deep within him. He gripped her ass, massaging the tender muscles with his fingertips, and Ladybug moaned again into his mouth.

She removed one hand from his hair and ran it over her collarbone, reaching her breast and caressing the mound. She found her way to her nipple, rubbing the nub through her suit until it was pert. She pinched and pulled on the nub, swirling the thumb around the peak as he continued to thrust. She then brought her hand down to her clit, running her thumb over the sensitive nub giving her an additional friction that she so desperately needed.

Chat could feel that she was becoming increasingly aroused. She began to ride his dick as he rocked his own hips against hers, skin and balls crashing against each other as the sweaty mess of limbs became tangled tightly.

He moaned as his hips moved erratically, and Ladybug crashed her lips against his once more as she reached the peak of her climax. He shoved his tongue into her mouth as he thrust harder and faster, tilting her hips in the right position so his tip could brush against the bundle of nerves within her.

Ladybug cried out as she fell over the edge, and Chat felt her core clench around his cock. He followed suit, feeling the hot cum sputter into her pussy as she came down from her high. He slowly thrusted until he was completely spent, then dropped his head onto his shoulders as they relaxed their frantic breathing.

“So- good-” Ladybug stated, placing her forehead carefully against his temple. He looked up at her and shot her a satisfied smile, then tilted his head to capture her lips in a sweet kiss. Once they let go, Chat dropped her down to the rooftop, and they both laughed at the status of their suits. Detransforming and feeding their kwamis, Adrien gave her a play-by-play of what would happen once they returned home..

“Tonight. I’m going to give you a bath. No talking about this dilemma, no talking about our civilian dilemma either. I’m going to wash you up completely, feed you pizza… and water…” he added with a glare, “and then we are going to cuddle on the couch until we fall asleep. We will do damage control tomorrow.”

Marinette looked as if she wanted to say something, but instead nodded with a slight frown. Deep down inside, she was thankful for the idea. She needed time to just decompress, and after the way the akuma battle went, she didn’t want to drink anymore tonight anyways.

“Lead the way Chaton. That sounds like a lovely idea.”

---

“Well…” Hawkmouth announced as his transformation fell. “It seems like Ladybug has a bit of competition against this mouse. I mustn't let this information slip away.”

Gabriel crossed his arms behind his back as a plan formulated in his mind. “Yes. Your love will fall, Ladybug and Chat Noir. And I will get your miraculous. Even if it’s the last thing I do.”

#Unveiled Love #smutember #smutember 2020 #ml angst #lemon #ml fanfiction

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thewritewolf · 4 years

Text

Eating Habits Chapter 1: Anniversary

Things have never looked better for Adrien and his girlfriend, Marinette. Adrien has been living happily on his own, with frequent visits to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Marinette is about to enter a design university and already has a thriving online store. Gabriel Agreste is serving a 184 year long sentence (92 on good behavior). Yes, it looks like its all turned out wonderfully for them in the last six years.

Now, if only Adrien could convince Marinette to take things easy, everything would be just perfect...

(While this is the third part in the series, you can skip the first two parts without missing much besides soft fluff)

First Part: Four Times and the Lucky One | Ao3

Second Part: Just Between Us | Ao3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3.

Adrien glanced at the clock. Still an hour or two to go before their date for the anniversary, but now was as good a time as any to stop. He slowed down and turned off the treadmill. Just because there wasn’t any supervillains left to fight didn’t mean he should let himself get out of shape, after all. Or maybe it wasn’t so much his superhero instincts as his supermodel instincts.

Either way, the highlights of both those careers were behind him, even if he could still technically be called both.

After getting changed back into his street clothes, Adrien stepped out of the gym and made his way home to take a shower. Or at least, what counted as his home for now. The apartment he lived in was fancier than what Marinette was used to, but it was still a big downgrade from the manor that he had spent his childhood in. He preferred it this way though - there was more life with a few neighbors around, and less space meant less that he had to fill. Besides, he wasn’t there a lot so it didn’t matter much anyway.

A shower, fresh change into nice clothes, some expensive cologne, half an hour making his hair the perfect balance of messy and styled, some extra cheese to keep Plagg fat and lazy, and he was out the door again.

No, the place where he really spent most of his time was where he was headed now - the Dupain-Cheng bakery. The place had practically become his real home years ago. Not long after he started dating Marinette, as a matter of fact. Tom and Sabine weren’t his in-laws… yet. But he was sure they would be someday. In the meantime, they treated him as one of their own, with all the love and affection he never had before.

He almost walked past a flower shop without going inside. Almost. On the bright side, he did refrain from buying Marinette a whole bouquet of flowers. But only because she was very insistent that she was running out of space for them all. Between his lack of impulse control and her green thumb, her small room over the bakery was becoming more like a greenhouse than a bedroom. Instead, he settled for just one flower.

The bakery smelled as delicious and wonderful as it had every day he’d ever gone there. He’d gotten the scent of bread and sweets so associated with the place that just a whiff was enough to make his heart soar. The bell above the door alerted them to his arrival.

Sabine smiled at him as he approached and they shared cheek kisses. “Oh, hello, sweetheart! It’s wonderful to see you again!” She said it was such feeling that Adrien had never doubted her, even if it was always the first thing she said to him every time they saw each other. “Will you be coming over for dinner again this weekend?”

“Of course, maman! How could I refuse such a delicious meal?”

“Is that Adrien?” A man’s booming voice shouted from the kitchen in the back. Tom emerged, a wide grin on his face and flour all over him as he walked toward Adrien.

Adrien’s eyes widened and he held up his hands. “Wait, I-” But it was too late. Tom had picked him up in a great big bear huge and he was lifted so high that his feet dangled off the ground.

“Oh, sorry, son!” Tom had the decency to look down abashedly at the mess he’d made of Adrien’s nice clothes, which were now spotted with flour.

“Don’t worry, papa. This won’t take me long to fix. I got here plenty early,” Adrien flashed a quick smile up at Tom. “Actually, is Marinette here? I could probably use her help.”

“Sure, sure.” Tom waved a hand toward the back door leading into their home. “She’s probably working in her room as we speak.”

He smiled and waved at the both of them before heading upstairs, feeling just like the fourteen year old boy who’d visit after school years ago. He opened her trapdoor and sure enough, there she was. So lost in her commissions that she hadn’t gotten ready for their date yet. Which also meant she hadn’t noticed him yet, and he got to bask in her ‘focus face’ - tongue slightly out, nose scrunched, eyes narrowed - for a little while longer.

While he would’ve been fine missing their reservation if it meant watching her work for a little longer, alas, she eventually noticed him. She fell backwards with a squawk and he rushed forward to give her a hand up.

“Adrien what are you-” She winced. “It’s today, isn’t it?”

He nodded patiently.

“...How long have you been watching?”

“Long enough to remember all over again just how adorable you are.”

She groaned. “I was making the face again wasn’t I?”

He kissed the hand he had taken to help her up. “Precious as always.” He held out the flower he had bought for her, a white tulip. “For you, my lady.”

Her eyebrows scrunched up, but the tension left her face almost immediately as she smelled the flower. She smiled up at him. “My favorite.”

“A tulip for your two lips?” He leaned down and closed his eyes.

“Oh my God, Adrien,” she said, laughing. “Okay, fine, but only because you went through all that effort.” She pressed her lips to his, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did. She pulled away and seemed to notice his suit for the first time. A twinkle of mirth shone in her eyes. “I see papa got a little too excited to see you again.”

“Nothing new there.” He shrugged. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to help a poor boy out…?”

“Sure, just give me a minute to get changed.”

“No problem,” Adrien sat down on her well worn chaise and made no secret of watching her.

“Adrien…”

“Hm…?”

“Downstairs, sunshine.” She sternly pointed at the trapdoor. “I’ll call you back up when I’m ready.” Pouting, he paused every other step to shoot a pleading look at her over his shoulder. Eventually she got tired of him and pushed him forward, laughing. “Go, you tomcat!”

Adrien stepped outside her bedroom and sat on the stairs. Pulling out his phone, he checked the time and double checked his reservation. They still had half an hour to get there and it was close by. Plenty of time. After a few minutes of listening to rustling clothing, the door was opened above him and he walked back in.

“What do you think?”

Adrien’s eyes roved over her light summer dress and its pastel colors. He cupped her cheek with a soft smile.

“As beautiful as ever, lovebug.” He stepped back and offered his arm. “Ready to go?”

She giggled and gestured to his suit. “Forgetting something?”

A glance down reminded him of the flour. “Ah, right. I think I remember you promising me a hand?

After a quick clean up, they walked arm in arm out of the bakery and to their favorite restaurant.

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

The night was already going well with good food and a pleasant buzz from their drinks. Conversation was flowing between them, mostly one-sided as Marinette filled him in on everything that had happened since the last time they’d gotten to chat freely the week before. More commissions. Her last shifts at the bakery. Which brought her to the reasons she’d been saving so much money in the first place.

“...So I found an apartment.”

Adrien smiled as he poured both of them another glass of wine. “I can’t wait to see it. How close is it to your university?”

“That’s the best part! It’s within walking distance, just a couple blocks away.” Marinette took a sip of her wine while doing a happy shimmy. “I’ll save on commuting costs, and the rent is super cheap too.”

There was a surge of worry before Adrien quickly smoothed it over. Just because it was cheap didn’t mean it was bad. Maybe she’d just found a good deal was all. And even if it was… lacking… she’d be able to improve it, no problem.

“I’m so happy for you! You’re already ahead of the fashion game with all your contacts and professional experience. Having an education in design will be the final thing you need to really excel in the business. You’re going to do amazing, I just know it!”

“Thanks!” She ducked her head shyly. “I’ve been so nervous about… well, everything, to be honest,” she admitted with a giggle. “In a little under a month, I’ll be out of the bakery and putting my skills to the test. And it’s a pretty prestigious university, so I bet I’ll have some competition too.”

“It’s nothing you can’t handle, princess.” His smile faded as he swirled the last dregs in his wine glass.

He felt her take his other hand and he looked up to see her concerned frown. “I know it’s hard, Adrien, and I’m sorry Nino and Alya couldn’t make it. But you know we’re all right here behind you, all the way.”

He nodded, biting his lips. It’d been two years to the day. They had all met up last year to celebrate... and to forget. Sure, he didn’t expect it to really turn into a yearly tradition, and Alya and Nino had tried their best to make it... but it still stung a little that they couldn’t.

“I’ve been talking your ear off this whole time about what I’m doing. What about you, kitty?” She leaned forward to rest her chin and her hands, looking at him with tender affection in her eyes. “What’s next in life for you?”

Adrien didn’t have an answer for that.

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

Full, laughing, and slightly tipsy, Adrien walked Marinette to her front door just as the streetlights began to turn on.

“And you know I’ll be there for you forever and ever and ever, yeah?” He grinned from ear to ear, looking more like Chat Noir than Adrien Agreste in the moment.

“Silly kitty.” She leaned in a little closer. “I think just helping me move in a couple of weeks will be enough.”

His arm snaked around her waist, pressing her flush to him. “Then you can count on my help. Even if I have to carry in a hundred boxes alone.” He pulled back one arm to flex.

She rested her forehead against his chest and laughed. “You’re such a dork.”

“Your dork.”

She hummed in agreement. Rolling onto her toes, she gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “Good night, Adrien. I love you.”

He sighed happily. “Ahh, that takes me back.” He let her pull away from him. “I love you too, Marinette. Pleasant dreams.”

After flashing him one more smile, she ducked inside and closed the door behind her. Adrien spent a few long moments standing there, grinning like a dork, before a tiny, snide voice from inside his coat pocket drew him out of his reverie.

“You done staring at the woodwork, kid? Or do you want a few more minutes?”

He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t even manage to be exasperated. He was riding high after tonight, and he felt like nothing could drag him down. Not even grumpy cheese cats.

While it wouldn’t take him long to get home as Chat Noir… the summer night was warm and pleasant. He could almost pretend to see the stars above him. It would be a shame not to enjoy a little stroll back to his apartment.

On his way inside, he noticed that he had mail, but was in such a pleasant mood that he didn’t even glance at it until he’d shut his door behind him. As he kicked off his shoes, he finally looked at the envelope.

The prison-issued envelope.

His smile, a semi-permanent fixture on his face ever since heading over the bakery earlier that day, vanished like fog before the dawn. After skimming the contents, he neatly folded it back up and tossed it into a box of depressingly similar letters.

Try as he might, he couldn’t shake off the bad mood. His only consolation as he drifted off to sleep was that at least tomorrow would be a new day.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #tom dupain #Sabine Cheng #Plagg #ml fanfiction #my writing #Eating Habits #The Lucky One series #Can't tell you how long I've wanted to write this series #been sitting in my inbox for months #some of it is *at least* from december of last year #and now we're getting into the meat of it!#very excited for this

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pandawritespoorly · 4 years

Text

With Time: Chapter 20 - A Bittersweet Surprise

Author’s Note: Woo! Chapter 20! Here we go, I'm excited! This takes place mid to late December and oh hey a strong language warning! It's been a while! This chapter contains the words 'bitch' and 'asshole'.

Chapter Summary: An akuma attack interrupts Marinette and Adrien hanging out. Afterwards, they deal with an unexpected occurrence.

First | Previous | Next

Adrien and Marinette are hanging out at her house. He had a rare gap in his schedule caused by a few last-minute cancellations. The rest of their usual group couldn’t make it, so it’s just the two of them. They’re doing homework, Marinette is writing a paper and Adrien is working on math.

One of her heaters is down, so the room is slightly colder than usual. After a while, Marinette starts to slump, leaning over onto Adrien.

“Mari, you gotta’ do your paper.” He nudges her. He doesn’t actually know what the paper is about, but it’s important for her to try to complete her homework.

“...don’ like it…makes me sad, feel bad…he ‘ould tell me it wron’, but he doesn’ kno…” It’s a longer sentence than she usually would manage, and it only confuses Adrien.

“Who? Why does it make you sad?” Maybe she shouldn’t be doing the paper if it’s upsetting her.

“...don’ like th’ fac’s...stupid…” Marinette tries to explain, while casually ignoring the first question. Even as tired as she is, she understands that her partner needs to stay a secret.

Adrien misunderstands her meaning,”You don’t like the facts? You could find other information if you think it’s stupid.”

“...can’ change fac’s they’re wha’s true…notebook say so” She sounds very sure of herself. She slumps further onto Adrien’s side. She tries to keep her eyes open, but her eyelids seem very heavy, they close every so often, and she forces them open again and again. She loses the fight eventually, her eyes close and she succumbs to sleep.

Adrien can’t help but be tempted to read the paper. It’s not like she said he couldn’t read it. Maybe he can help with editing?

…

He doesn’t like it either. At all.

It’s an entire paper on Ladybug and her shortcomings, how she’s a bad hero and needs to improve. It’s multiple pages, and while there are specific events listed, there aren’t any outside sources referenced.

Marinette came up with all of this on her own.

It makes him think of Ladybug’s own doubts on herself - honestly the points are almost exactly the same. He can’t let Marinette turn this in. She’d said herself that she doesn’t like it.

“Mari.” He shrugs his shoulder a little, hoping to jostle her into being awake, but she doesn’t respond, “Marinette, I’d like to talk to you.”

She hums, but her eyes remain closed.

“Marinette, we need to talk about your paper.”

She blinks her eyes open, squinting. They’re unfocused and don’t seem to be taking in much. She blinks again, slower and seemingly heading back to sleep.

He prods her, “Marinette, stay with me.”

She pulls herself upright - or as upright as she’s going to get.

As he opens his mouth to begin, their phones ding in unison.

An akuma alert.

“Alright, I’ll be right back, you stay here. We’ll talk when I come back,”

She nods, and he slips into another part of the house to transform.

Ladybug must have been nearby, because she’s already on a nearby rooftop. She looks droopy.

“Hey, Bugaboo. How are you?”

“Try’n t’ sleep.” She scrunches up her face, clearly distressed by the interruption.

“Well, we’ll try to do this fast.”

She nods sleepily, and they head in the direction of the fight.

---

Ladybug lands in an alley. They’d defeated the akuma soon enough - only about half-an-hour - and Chat didn’t even have to use his Cataclysm. Her earrings are beeping, and she’s about to speak the words to detransform when someone spots her.

“You!”

What?

She turns to see Alya at the entrance to the alley, looking furious.

No no no no no nonono.

Ladybug hasn’t seen or heard from her in weeks. What did she do now? Alya deleted the Ladyblog, she was supposed to have stopped coming near akuma attacks.

She feels the panic welling up inside her. She freezes. Her brain is sure that if she can only stay perfectly still this threat will leave her be. Another part of her mind says to play dead, but her human sensibilities keep that in check.

“You are a monster! How could you betray your own best friend? For someone like her?!”

At first Ladybug thinks that Alya has figured out her identity, but then she continues.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a disgusting excuse of a decent person who pretends she’s some innocent snowflake! And you sided with her! Over Lila!”

What? No. No, no, no! She thought she’d finally been getting better at being a good person. Was she wrong?

“You and Lila were best friends! You were close, and you trusted each other, but then some liar plays victim and you turn sides! You bullied her! The person you called your best friend! You disgust me!”

She’s stuck. Frozen in place. What is she supposed to do? Her mind is convinced that she’s taken the safest option so far, so she just stays still, staring in horror.

“Marinette bullied her! Did you know that?! She cornered her during the school year to insult her, and Lila started believing it. Even during the summer, she messaged her from other accounts online! That good-for-nothing little bitch! Lila’s self-esteem is terrible and it’s all your fault! And hers!”

She’s having trouble breathing.

“Marinette beat Lila up the first week back and you helped her! What kind of ‘hero’ are you?! And then again, back at the museum, Marinette beat her up again and you didn’t care! Even when Lila got akumatized out of fear!”

Her vision is blurry, she can’t make out anything accurately and she hasn’t got her breathing under control.

“Even as an akuma she was scared of you! She wouldn’t leave the Louvre because she felt safer around her real friends! Even though she was an akuma!”

Alya takes another step toward her, they’re very close, but her vision is still wrong and it’s hard to tell just how close.

“Why would you do something like that?! Why would you do that?!”

She feels a sharp pain on her cheek, but can’t figure out what it is.

“Answer me, asshole!”

Someone lands in the alley.

---

Chat Noir is on his way back to Marinette’s, but he doesn’t make it far before he has to stop.

Something is wrong.

He doesn’t know what, but he can feel the panic in his chest, even if it isn’t his. It takes a moment to register, but he eventually realizes whose it is.

Ladybug.

It isn’t her panic specifically, but something in him knows that she needs him, that she is most certainly panicking and he needs to intervene.

He’d only just left. She’d left to detransform, what had happened in the time?

The panic claws at him, and he doesn’t know what to do. He can tell she’s scared and he has to do something. He needs to help her.

He turns around. He hates that Marinette will be waiting longer for him, but she can be patient. Ladybug needs him. Now.

He hears yelling. Maybe she’d seen a new akuma, but wasn’t able to transform?

Then he gets closer, and the words actually register with him, the voice, Alya.

Her words are sharp, harsh and clearly meant to hurt. To harm.

He can tell before he even arrives that they’re directed at Ladybug.

He can hear her earrings beeping as he peeks over the alley. Ladybug barely has time left on her transformation, and Alya’s anger doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.

Alya takes a step forward, and slaps Ladybug across the face.

He jumps down before he even thinks about it.

“You need to leave, Césaire.” He growls at the journalist.

“You! Do you know what she’s done or- Oh you’re probably just as bad as-”

“Césaire. Leave.” He’s seething - not even yelling - but the fury is clear. If he let himself do anything more, there wouldn’t be any restraint left.

“If you think I’ll-”

Ladybug has two spots left, and hasn’t moved.

“Go. Now.”

She gets the message, and stomps away. Chat turns to Ladybug immediately, face softening.

Her breathing is all over the place, her eyes are unfocused, and she isn’t actually here. Not mentally. She’s shaking. He hates to think what must be going on inside her head.

“Hey. Ladybug.” He approaches her gently and she doesn’t even react. Something in him is convinced she’s going to drop from pure fear and panic, but she remains standing.

Her earrings beep. She can’t stay here.

“Ladybug, I’m going to carry you to the roof now, okay?” He speaks softly so that she doesn’t get startled, but she isn’t responding at all. He tries his best to reign in his uneasiness.

He scoops her up carefully and sets her carefully on a rooftop, he’s about to back off, but she clings to him desperately. She still hasn’t registered anything around her, but some unconscious part of her won’t let go. Her grip is loose and could easily be shaken off, but he certainly won’t be the one to do that.

---

Ladybug wants to shut down. She’s scared and it’s so draining to remember all the ways she’s terrible and all the ways she tries to correct it. She isn’t supposed to shut down though. She’s got to…

What is she supposed to do? She hears a voice - it must be Alya. That’s the main thing she remembers. Alya is yelling at her, Alya is mad. Alya hit her? She isn’t sure, that’s about the time she started zoning out. Not paying attention to anything seems safer.

The voice is still there, she still isn’t sure who it is. She’d respond, but what if it is Alya?

No no. It’d be safer to stay quiet. To stay still.

The cold beckons to her. It must have started snowing, she can feel drops of water on her. She wants to go to sleep. She’s not supposed to sleep…right?

She normally tries to stay awake, but she can’t remember why. If being awake means more Alya, then maybe she should sleep.

There’s another cold breeze and she lets it carry her away to sleep. The beeping she vaguely registers probably isn’t important anyways.

---

“Ladybug, you’re about to detransform.” He feels like it might be important to tell her, even if he’s certain she isn’t listening.

She doesn’t respond, as he expected.

“Oh, Bug, what happened?” The question is rhetorical, especially since his only audience is close to sleep.

It’s begun to snow, and it looks like it’ll only get worse. Paris is in for a blizzard.

The final beeps sound over the empty rooftops, and he focuses elsewhere.

“Chat Noir,” It’s Tikki, he can tell she’s barely managing against the cold, shivering and stuttering, “I-I th-think you need t-to know e-each other’s id-d-dentities.”

“What?!” He certainly wasn’t expecting that.

“You t-two would-d-d bo-both b-benefit. She needs y-y-you. Y-y-you’re the one she’s t-told the most a-a-a-about how she’s f-feeling. Y-you b-both need ea-each other in y-your real lives.”

“So… should I look at her?” He’s hesitant, he’s been waiting for this, but not in these sorts of circumstances.

“Yes. T-take her h-home.” The Kwami is barely still with him.

“How will I know where she lives?”

“T-trust m-m-me.”

He nods, and finally turns to the girl in his arms.

Oh.

Oh!

Ladybug is Marinette.

Marinette is Ladybug.

Things are falling into place in his head, and he doesn't know what to think. He’s obviously happy because it’s Marinette! He loves her doubly. He doesn’t have a crush on two different girls, he has two crushes on one.

But, at the same time, everything that’s happened to Ladybug, happened to Marinette. Everything that’s happened to Marinette happened to Ladybug. How much can one person take?

Oh, Marinette.

The snow is falling harder now, he stands. They need to go.

Making sure Tikki isn’t at risk of falling, he takes off across the roofs. He arrives at the bakery, entering the trapdoor and shutting it carefully. He gently places his partner into her bed, accidentally knocking a notebook down as he does so.

He breathes a sigh of relief that they’re home now.

---

Author’s Note: Oh hey, a notebook fell. Oh well, I'm sure that's not relevant.

A little ironic what you're saying there Alya.

Well! The reveal! I've been so excited to post this! Don't worry, the next chapter is directly after this one.

Last chapter I said this one marked a first for Adrien, did any of you catch it? At the very end there, he referred to the bakery as 'home'. Every time I have Adrien speak/think of his house that's what I say: his house. That empty mansion is no home to him, but his friends? Marinette especially? They're his home.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in my ask box, in replies or through reblogs. I love seeing what you think!

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#miraculous ladybug #transfer #with time #fanfic #chameleon salt #miraculous tendencies #miraculous side effects #winter #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #chat noir #tikki #alya cesaire #strong language

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lycorogue · 4 years

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Love Square Fluff Week: Part 3 - Trust

A bit flipped here, AAAAAND I should be on day 5 or 6 of @lovesquarefluffweek 2020 by now, but... *shrug *

Surprise surprise... I didn't think of anything until about 9pm, so once again I didn't publish anything until after 2am. UPDATE (2/12/20): The story has now been edited. Sorry if you read it originally with the typos.

Also... yeah... I know... kinda angsty again. I don't know why writing pure fluff has been so hard for me this week. I've done it in the past. I've written fanfics so fluffy and pure I warned readers that they might need to set up dentist appointments to make sure their teeth didn't rot. Something about this week though, man.... This "chapter" is the first one I officially tied to the other two, and, much like with my last short, this could have been both the Day 2 prompt of 'Trust' and the Day 5 prompt of 'Comfort'. For this go, I was mostly focusing on 'Trust' so I still need to write up something specifically focused on 'Comfort', despite it being an underlying theme throughout this series of one-shots.

Also, I rarely write in third-person omniscient (usually sticking to either first-person or third-limited), so if I'm head-hopping in this, please let me know.

Just like the other two “chapters” of this, you can either read this story below the break, or you can check it out on AO3, on FFN, or on DA.

I Have Something To Confess

Summary: Now that she's the Guardian of the Miraculous, Ladybug has a lot to confess.

Word Count: 2844 Rating: General Audience Spoilers: Desperada, Feast, Chat Blanc, and Miracle Queen spoilers (which you’d realize after reading that summary... whoops) Love Square Side: LadyNoir Romance Level: Sweet Friendship

The apartment remained dark; still vacant. Ladybug wasn't sure if she preferred that to someone else living there. Someone else making it theirs. Making it no longer his.

“Evening, M'lady.” Chat Noir landed beside Ladybug on the building across from the empty apartment. “I have to say, I wasn't expecting a late-night meet-up. What's up? What are we doing here?”

“Chat Noir,” Ladybug's voice was soft; solemn. “You know I've hated keeping secrets from you, right?”

“Yeah. Of course I do. What's going on?” He inched closer, but kept his hands to his sides, unsure what kind of comfort she would need yet.

“I'm the Guardian of the Miraculous now, and so many secrets have already been revealed to you, like who the other Miraculous holders were. But, I wasn't the one who got to let you know that, and neither did Master Fu. You had to find out because of Hawkmoth, and I hate that. I should have told you, or Master Fu.”

“It's okay, Ladybug. I have to admit I hated that you were trusted enough to know, but I wasn't. I also hated that you were able to pass out Miraculouses, but I couldn't choose a hero. But I get it. I understand why. I'm not mad at you, or at Master Fu.” This time he rested his hands on her shoulders, squaring her in front of him so she could see how sincere he was.

"Even so." She turned, and Chat Noir reluctantly let go so she could. "There should only be one secret between us, and that's who we really are. No others. Hawkmoth still managed to find out who the other holders were even when Master Fu and I were the only ones who knew, and he didn't even learn from either of us. So, from now on, you're going to know too. I promise."

“Thank you. That means so much to me, but-” Chat Noir looked around him. It wasn't often that they fought in this particular part of Paris, and there wasn't a monument nearby. There didn't seem to be anything terribly significant about the spot, but it also wasn't terribly secluded. “Why did you ask me here? This address?”

Ladybug pointed across the street, to the empty apartment. “You see the one that's dark?”

“Yeah. The one with the flower box?”

Ladybug didn't even notice that. She was so focused on what was missing from the inside of the apartment, she didn't even see the flowers still growing on the small balcony outside the living room windows. They were a bit wild since no one had properly cared for them for nearly a month now, but still, they grew. They had lived on even without a guiding hand. She suddenly had a touch more faith that she could do the same.

“That apartment used to be Master Fu's.”

Chat Noir did a double take. Master Fu had lived there. That was where the Guardian of the Miraculous was. That apartment was where Ladybug would disappear to in the middle of their battles in order to bring a new hero into their fold. Suddenly, the apartment felt so surprisingly close to his own home.

“You knew where he lived?”

Ladybug nodded. “I'm sorry we never told you. It wasn't fair.”

“The whole time?”

“What? No!” Ladybug flailed her arms around, crossing them wildly. “No no no. Not the whole time. I didn't even know there was a Guardian at first. I was just as clueless as you when I first got my Miraculous. No, I only found out after Volpina attacked.”

“Still.” Chat Noir crouched down, perched like a cat as he stared across at Master Fu's former apartment.

“I know.” Ladybug sat beside him, her fingers digging into the cement roof ledge. “It was still a long time that I knew and you didn't.”

“I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Guardian of the Miraculous until Syren.”

“I know, and I'm so sorry.”

“Why did Master Fu bring you to his home, but not me?” Chat Noir glanced over, his eyes wide, sad, and pleading.

Ladybug gently squeezed his forearm. “If it's any consolation, he didn't bring me to his home. My kwami did.”

“But why? My kwami never had me come here to meet Master Fu. In fact, I only officially met him when he came to my house.”

“He- he came to your house? How? Wouldn't that have given himself away?”

Chat Noir blinked. He didn't realize he had a secret from Ladybug (aside from the identity thing).

“I- I can't really say how. Secret identity stuff, but no one I live with seems to have questioned it.”

Ladybug nodded. “Master Fu probably knew what he was doing. I'm glad he did finally talk with you, but I'm sad that you two weren't able to interact more.” Refocusing on the apartment, she tried to figure out what exactly she could tell Chat Noir without potentially giving him a clue as to who she was.

“As for why my kwami brought me here, there is this book. A spell book. It explains the Miraculous and the other powers they each possess: the transformations, as well as how our normal powers could evolve once we're stronger.”

“A- a book? About the Miraculous?” Chat Noir grew pale. He was pretty sure he knew exactly what book Ladybug was talking about.

“It is written in a language that only Guardians can read, so my kwami couldn't decipher it. She knew that Master Fu would want the book back, though, so when I found it she told me where to find him.”

Plagg had seen the book. He knew that Adrien was carrying it around all day. He never once mentioned Master Fu or even that there was a Guardian that was looking for it.

Maybe it wasn't the same book. Maybe there was another one that had pictures of superheroes and written in a language he didn't recognize. He didn't know that many languages; it was possible.

“You said you found the book?”

Ladybug nodded. “In a trash can in the Place des Vosges. I- I found it when I went there to yell at Lila for lying on the Ladyblog about knowing me. That must have been how she was able to have the Fox pendent replicated.”

Lila? That's why Adrien didn't have the book when he went home that day? She had taken it? He wanted to believe that Ladybug was mistaken, but it did add up, and Lila proved herself untrustworthy on multiple occasions. Still, his father got the book back, didn't he? One of Adrien's classmates returned it, didn't they? Was that Lila? Why would Ladybug give it back to her to return? Did she force her to? Why did his father get the book back in the first place, didn't Master Fu need it?

“Chat Noir? Are you okay?” Ladybug began rubbing his back, bringing him back to present. “I know, this is a lot, isn't it?”

He nodded. “So, do- do you have this book now? Do you know how to read it?”

“Well, I sort of do.” Ladybug turned back to the apartment building across the street. “For reasons I can't really talk about because, ya know, secret identities and all that, the book was returned to the man who had it before Lila: Gabriel Agreste. That was why he became The Collector; he was mad that the last gift his wife gave him went missing: the book.”

Chat Noir sank; his shoulders felt heavy. It was the same book. Nothing made sense anymore. More questions flooded his mind.

“Wait. Is that why you thought that he could be Hawkmoth? Because he had a book about the Miraculous?”

Ladybug nodded. “Plus, you have to admit there was a lot of other circumstantial evidence that would have fit. I'm glad I was wrong, but it would have also been nice to have found Hawkmoth and finally stopped him.” She laid back across the rooftop, counting off the dozen stars that were bright enough to cut through the light pollution. “Master Fu took pictures of the pages before we returned the book, and then he translated the digital copy. I guess after we defeated Feast, and Master Fu told me he wanted to train me to be the next Guardian, he must have made a duplicate of his digital copy of the spell book. I have that, and a way to translate it. I have to be careful that no kwami sees it though. It's super important that they never learn how to read the book or discover its contents.”

“It is? Still? I thought there were no more secrets now.”

Ladybug sat back up so she could meet Chat Noir's eyes. “We have to keep this one. The book explains everything, including the ingredients for the power-up potions. What if a kwami finds that out? What if Hawkmoth's or Mayura's kwamis knew how to make the potions? It may not be a concern for our kwamis now, but what if some future Ladybug or Chat Noir gets corrupted and orders their kwami to tell them that info? What if we let any of the other kwamis find out, and then Hawkmoth captures them?”

“You always have a reason for your secrets.” There was a bitterness in Chat Noir's voice.

She placed a hand on Chat Noir's shoulder; it was stiff. “I'm sorry. I really am, but this is for everyone's safety; now and in the future. Please understand. I'm telling you because I wanted to show you the spell book. I wanted you to know what I do in case something comes up and I can't tell you the information when you need it. We're partners, Chat Noir, and I want us to be more equal in that partnership, but you need to understand how important certain secrets are.”

Chat Noir scanned her face, taking in all of her sincerity. He rested his hand on top of hers, and gave it a little squeeze. “Nah, I get it. I do. I'm sorry I'm acting like this. You don't like lies, and I don't like being left out – or for others to be left out. I've had too much of that in my life. But you're right. Some secrets are important to keep.”

“Thank you, Chat Noir.”

Ladybug then took her yo-yo off her hip, and swiped a finger up the side like she were about to capture an akuma. The yo-yo opened up into a transdimensional pocket; a glowing endless pouch. Reaching in, she pulled out a flash drive. "Here. This is your copy of the spell book. Make sure no one can find it."

“Thank you, Ladybug. I'll keep it safe. I promise.”

“I know you will.”

Chat Noir accepted the drive, and tucked it inside one of his zipper pockets.

“There's something else. You saw Nino Lahiffe with the other Miraculous holders, but he wasn't transformed.”

“He's Carapace, isn't he?”

Ladybug nodded. “I had a feeling you were able to figure it out, but I wanted to make sure: no more secrets... aside from the one we need to keep from each other.”

“Thank you, Ladybug.”

“Oh! Also-” This last secret pained her the most to tell. It was one thing when only she and Master Fu knew who a Miraculous holder was, but to confess a civilian knew? “About Viperion.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I'm sure you noticed that he wasn't Adrien Agreste after all. His name is Luka. I tried to give the Snake bracelet to Adrien, but- but he- I never realized it because of how Second Chance works, but he told me that he tried being the Snake superhero Aspik nearly twenty-five-thousand times. We kept failing as a team, and he'd reset time to try again, and it never worked. He gave up the Miraculous.” Ladybug winced. She was dreading the next part.

"Luka ran up to check to see if we had found Adrien," she continued, "and I needed to find someone to wield the Miraculous. I hadn't learned about merging two powers yet, so I thought neither you nor I could use Second Chance. It was actually Adrien who suggested I give the Miraculous to Luka. He was the one who chose, not me, and he knew who Viperion was. I mean- he went to go hide before I officially handed the bracelet to Luka, and so it's possible he thinks Luka also failed or that I didn't listen to him and Viperion is someone else entirely, but that's not the kind of person Adrien is. He chose well. He saw exactly who we needed that day, and I don't think we would have been able to defeat Desperada if Adrien hadn't picked Luka to help.”

Chat Noir gawked at Ladybug, so she took his hands in hers.

“I am so so sorry, Chat Noir. It was wrong for me to let a civilian help me choose a Miraculous holder instead of you. I should have tracked you down and talked to you instead. And to let Adrien know who – besides Chloe, of course – had a Miraculous? It's inexcusable, and I hope you can forgive me. But that's it. That's all of the secrets I have left between us.”

“Aside from the obvious.”

“Yes. Aside from that. So, please, could you forgive me?” Ladybug squeezed his hands tighter, pleadingly.

Chat Noir remembered what it felt like, when Ladybug pulled him – well, Adrien him - into that tight hug on his sofa the night he was missing his mother terribly. He felt that weight lift off him again; that same sense of relief.

Ladybug looked close to tears, probably scared to have ruined their partnership when she handed him – Adrien him – the Snake bracelet, and let him choose who should wield it instead. It was a very un-Ladybug-like thing to do, but he was just so elated that she valued Adrien that much that he didn't think much of it.

Clearly Ladybug thought often of that moment, and she desperately needed the same relief she had given Adrien just a week before. He tugged gently on her hands, and pulled her into a hug. He wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders, and let his head slowly sink into her hair, nuzzling her a little with his cheek.

“It's okay, Ladybug. I get it. I'm not mad, and if you could trust Adrien, then I will too. I'll even take special care to watch over him to make sure Hawkmoth can't get to him, okay?”

“You don't have to-”

“No. It's okay. You are the Guardian of the Miraculous. Let me be the Guardian of Adrien Agreste.” Chat Noir felt bad about manipulating her like this, especially when she truly did have so much extra piled on her plate now, and all he was promising to take off it was to watch his own back.

Meanwhile, Ladybug wondered if this was how Chat Noir found out who she was and became Chat Blanc. She wasn't sure how far into the future it truly was that he was akumatized, just that it all started when Adrien discovered who she was. If the Chat Noir of that timeline also watched over Adrien, and found out that way....

It didn't matter. Adrien didn't know who she was, so Chat Noir was safe. She held him tight, praying that he'd forgive her this one final secret between them.

“Thank you, Chat Noir. Thank you for having so much faith in me, and for forgiving me so easily.”

“There's nothing to forgive, Bugaboo. It means a lot to me that you told me all of this.” Chat Noir wished he had some crepe paper and pipe cleaner on him so he could make Ladybug a flower, just as he had done for Marinette over the weekend. Didn't matter. Ladybug never liked accepting flowers from him anyway. So instead he just held her for as long as she needed in order to know that he wasn't going to abandon her.

They were partners, and she was his lady. Nothing would ever change those two facts in his heart.

Ladybug lingered in Chat Noir's arms. She didn't want to lead him on, but it felt too nice to push him away, or to let go of him. He wasn't mad. He understood, all of it, and he accepted it as well. She couldn't have asked for a better partner.

With one last burst of strength, she tenderly squeezed him close to her, breathing in his warmth and compassion. She never before noticed how familiar he smelled. If only she could peg how she knew that scent.

@discoveringmiraculouswriters

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 5 years

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The 25,913 Times Aspik Couldn’t Save Ladybug - chapter two

Time loops 4-9, read it on AO3!

I did the maths and if I want to finish writing this fic in under 5 years, I’ll have to average writing at least 15 loops per day. Yeah, that’s not happening. So I guess this fic is gonna take me like 50 years to write, and to be honest, I’m fine with that.

iv.

This time, Adrien was more cautious. He couldn’t let himself become distracted and forget to protect Ladybug. They were a team, after all! They had to look out for each other. If he was too busy cuddling up with her to defend against Desperada, well, that was his fault then. He was determined not to let it happen again.

Ladybug was speaking to him, but he barely listened. He’d heard it all before already. Not even waiting for her to finish, he took her hand and began walking down the tunnel, turning a different way at the end to what they had done last time. A new path was their best bet at staying safe.

“Adrien?” Ladybug was saying, surprised. “What happened? Shouldn’t we wait for Chat Noir?”

Aw, she still wanted him to be with them. Well, other him. But he shook his head. “This is the fourth time, Ladybug. He didn’t show up the other times so there’s no point waiting.”

“You mean you already went back in time four times?”

“Three, technically...”

“What happened?”

He could barely turn his head back to look her in the eye, guilt creeping up his insides. “I couldn’t protect you. You got hit by Desperada.”

Her eyes widened.

“But I won’t let it happen this time,” he said quickly. “I won’t be so careless. We’ll defeat her this time, you’ll see.”

She smiled. “You’re right Adrien...”

“Call me Aspik.”

“Oh! Aspik – that’s a nice superhero name!”

He willed himself not to blush, and looked forward again to look for any sign of exit. Surely they must be far enough away from Desperada now.

There! Another ladder to an exit. A much safer route, hopefully.

Out on the surface again, Adrien kept a close eye out for Desperada. Ladybug seemed to sense it, and she too behaved a little more cautiously – keeping low to the ground, eyes darting from side to side, light tread.

It was all for nothing.

As they passed under an archway, Desperada was waiting for them on the other side and shot Ladybug.

Oh for goodness’ sake!

Adrien hid back behind the arch as quick as he could. “Not again!!”

How had that even happened? They were being careful that time! And yet somehow Desperada had managed to catch them unawares!

No, that time had been bad luck. It was neither of their faults. There had been no silly flirting, no getting distracted, no flowers, no hugs. Just the two of them carefully creeping around, the way Adrien often did with her as Chat Noir.

So how unlucky could they have been for this to happen?

It was just so fast. It had happened before he could even react. Not even time to blink.

This whole thing, really, so fast paced – why couldn’t the bracelet have a 10 minute limit, instead of 5? That would make things a lot easier, or at least give him a moment to rest.

But as it was, he had no time to rest at all. Desperada was right round the corner from him, and he was probably next up on her hit list. He couldn’t stay here.

Flicking the bracelet, he went back in time.

Back to the beginning once more.

“We now have five minutes–”

“I know, and this is the fifth time,” he said.

“What?”

“This is the fifth time I'm trying this. We already failed the last four times.”

Ladybug covered her mouth in surprise. “We failed? What happened?”

“You... you kept getting hit by Desperada,” Adrien admitted, as painful as it was to say. “I couldn't prevent it.”

“So you must have been fighting non-stop for almost 15 minutes now...” She smiled and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Don't worry though. Every time you reset, so do your energy levels. From what I know about it, you could keep resetting for days and not even need to eat or sleep!”

Adrien involuntarily recoiled in shock. Ladybug quickly backtracked and laughed it off.

“Not that you'll be stuck resetting for days, of course! Haha, no way... We'll do it this time. You must have learnt from what we did last time that failed, right? Now we can do it properly. Just lead the way!”

Adrien glanced down at the bracelet. The two of them had already been talking for a fair amount of time, standing here for longer than they had done in the other loops. There wasn't all that much time left. But then again, rushing into things wasn't the best course of action – and they couldn't rely on blind luck either, or Desperada would get them every time.

“Maybe it's better to think things through and form a plan,” he suggested. “Like you always do.”

She beamed at him. “Are you a fan of me?”

“Of course I am! Who isn't?”

“Aw Adrien, that's so sweet...”

“Call me Aspik.”

He had said it a few times already by now, and he hadn't yet tired of seeing the look of delight on her face. No matter how many times he had to reset, he was pretty sure he would be sticking with this name.

There were footsteps from behind them. Adrien tensed up, wondering how Desperada could possibly have got down here so quick – until he heard a familiar voice, and one that definitely wasn't Desperada.

“Ladybug?”

They both turned to see that it was none other than Luka Couffaine, who Adrien had put safely inside a locker ages ago.

Well no, not ages ago – barely five minutes ago. But having gone through four resets already, it had certainly felt like ages. Anyway, what was this boy doing wandering around during an akuma attack?!

“It's dangerous to be here, you should go hide somewhere!” Adrien said.

“I came out to look for Adrien,” Luka said, walking up to him and Ladybug. “I thought he was hiding with me but I don't know where he went... Did you find him, Ladybug?”

Adrien already knew what it felt like to be standing right in front of someone who didn't recognize him – it happened all the time with Chat Noir. But it was surreal to experience it as Aspik too.

“Don't worry about that,” Ladybug said quickly. “Aspik is right – you should hide. It may not be safe here.”

For a few seconds Luka just stared at Adrien – well, “Aspik" – almost frowning slightly. Then his mouth dropped open. “Adrien? Is that you?”

Wait, what?!

“Of course not!” he gabbled. “I’m Aspik, and I - I've never heard of Adrien Agreste in my life–”

Luka was not looking even remotely convinced. But come on! It was so easy to hide his identity as Chat Noir! Why was he so bad at doing it as Aspik?

And how the hell had Luka worked it out?!

“I won't tell anyone,” Luka promised. “It's just that Ladybug was looking for Adrien, and now you're here, and you sound kind of like him, and... I'll keep it a secret, I won't tell...”

“Oh, you won't get a chance to tell,” Ladybug said, hands on her hips inannoyance. “Aspik, reset the loop.”

Adrien looked at her. “What, now? We haven't tried to defeat Desperada yet!”

“There's no point. Your identity has to stay a secret. Reset the loop, and next time don't talk to Luka!”

Right, right, made sense...

“What time loop?” Luka asked.

Hey, he was going to forget it in a few seconds, no point keeping it from him. “I can reset back to the time I first activated my power,” Adrien explained, holding up his wrist to show Luka the bracelet. “You won't remember any of it. And neither will Ladybug.”

Ladybug nodded. “That's right. Next time, perhaps we should leave this tunnel sooner so that we don't bump into Luka. How about that way?” She pointed up at the ladder beside her, but Adrien shook his head.

“Desperada's waiting up there with a sniper weapon. She'll spot us, and you'll get hit again. We've already tried some of the other tunnel exits too. I guess we'll have to just keep looking for new exits and hoping that one's our lucky break...”

“Well you have a better idea than me, so use it to your advantage. Next time we'll do it right!”

Luka looked as if he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut as he often did. That guy always seemed to know when was the right time to speak up and when to be quiet. Right now, with not much time left on the bracelet, talking much more wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Adrien gave the two of then a quick nod, then flicked the bracelet.

vi.

Materializing in front of Ladybug again, Adrien didn't waste any time. He took her arm and began running down the tunnel. “We have to get away from here before Luka shows up, or he'll figure out my identity!”

Ladybug immediately worked out what was going on. “Is that what happened last time?”

“Yep. And we need to find an exit we haven't used before. Desperada has a scope on her weapon and can see a huge distance away, plus she's up on the Eiffel Tower. We have to find somewhere she won't see us. Just follow me.”

“Of course, Adrien...”

“And call me Aspik!”

He couldn't help grinning. How many times by now had he told her to call him Aspik? Hopefully he'd never tire of it.

But even as he turned his attention back to the matter at hand, his mind began to wander. After all, it had been 20 minutes or so, and staying focused for so long was starting to take a toll on his brain, even if his “energy levels" did reset along with the timeline.

How did Ladybug know all of that about the snake, anyway? The Guardian had probably told her. He seemed to tell her a lot of things. But then again, how would anyone know about the energy levels resetting, unless... unless someone had physically experienced it before?

Adrien shuddered. To think that someone, at some point in history, had used these powers and failed over and over, so many times that it lasted longer than an entire day for them, and they didn't even need to eat or sleep, they just had to keep endlessly trying until they succeeded in their task...

That sounded like the worst kind of torture.

Heck, even five resets was getting tedious enough. Adrien very much hoped that this would be over soon. He did not want to have to go through an entire day of this. He already knew how to be a superhero so surely there was no way it could take anywhere near that long.

Right?

They clambered out of a new exit this time, Adrien making sure that they were out of sight of the Eiffel Tower first. It seemed to be deserted for now – good.

As they hid behind a car, Ladybug seemed to be moving in to lean against him again, like she had done a few loops ago behind the bus. Reluctantly, Adrien moved away. As much as he would just love to hold her that close again, he couldn't let himself be distracted. And he couldn't let Ladybug be distracted either!

“Did Desperada always attack from the Eiffel Tower?” Ladybug whispered.

“No, sometimes she's been down here on the street.”

“So... she could be anywhere?”

Adrien nodded. Ladybug stepped forward and stood in front of him, yoyo spinning round in preparation.

“I'll protect you, don't worry,” she said, her voice filled with determination.

“But it's supposed to be me protecting you! You're the one who's been hit every time...”

“That's a good thing! If I get hit, you can always reset everything and try again. But what would I do if you got hit? That would be the end of things! It's good that she keeps going for me first. It always gives you a chance to escape.”

Huh... she was right. And that intense look she was giving him, it was enough to melt him on the spot...

“Don't worry about a thing, Aspik. I will always protec–”

She didn't get to finish. From up on the roof of the building, Desperada shot her.

Adrien leapt right back down the hole into the sewer tunnel, barely stopping to think.

Come on... again??? This was ridiculous!

“Having fun there?”

Oh, and Plagg was here too, watching all that. Adrien had almost forgotten about him, having not seen him for a few loops in a row now.

“I got unlucky, I just need more time,” he replied.

“How many times will you get unlucky?”

“None. I'll do it next time.”

Plagg yawned. “If you say so...”

Conscious that Desperada might follow him down here at any moment, Adrien flicked the bracelet.

vii.

“We now have five minutes–”

Adrien ignored her and pulled her down the tunnels again, trying to remember which direction he had gone in last time so that he could try somewhere else now. If only he had done this consistently from the start! Had he gone left here, or right? It was starting to blur together a bit in his memory.

As they ran, he decided it might be worth explaining a few things. “Ladybug, Desperada is excellent at tracking us down and keeps hitting you before I can do anything about it. Chat Noir never shows up. If Luka sees me, he'll recognize me as Adrien. But you can call me Aspik.”

“Aspik... that's a lovely name!”

The blood rushed up to his cheeks before he could stop it, and he almost didn't care. The most important thing for now was finding a way to defeat Desperada, not hiding his huge crush on Ladybug!

“Desperada aims for you, not me,” he continued. “That's why I keep surviving.”

“Well that's a good thing! And it's because she needs my earrings, to give them to Hawk Moth, whereas she doesn't know who you are...”

That much was true. No matter what else happened, Adrien could count on the fact that Desperada would always attack Ladybug first. After all, she had no idea that Adrien could reset it whenever he wanted. So she would leave him alone and go for Ladybug, meaning he would always be able to escape...

It was honestly so weird being the survivor for once. He couldn't even count how many times he had sacrificed himself for Ladybug back as Chat Noir – those times, it was Ladybug who needed to stay in action at all costs. He was usually the “expendable" one. Having it be the other way round now, well... it didn't feel good.

And watching Ladybug being hit over and over didn't feel good either...

He had made his promise, though, his promise to keep trying until he could get it right. No matter what it took. He had vowed to protect Ladybug, and he wouldn't break that vow for anything.

Up on the surface, they were in a much smaller alleyway to the side of the main road now. Thank goodness. There was way more cover here, they were far less likely to be ambushed.

“Now what?” Ladybug asked. “Any plans on how to defeat Desperada?”

Adrien held up his weapon. “Well I have this lyre thing, I could throw it like a boomerang at her...”

Ladybug chuckled. “Good idea! Have you tried it yet?”

“No, I haven't had a chance, since Desperada keeps finding us before we can find her...”

“Hmm. We need to think of a way to track her down. That way it's us who’ll have the element of surprise!”

“Yeah!”

He suddenly noticed with alarm that their voices had been creeping up in volume, emboldened by their hiding spot undercover. It was only the fact that his words were echoing around between the walls that warned him how loud they were being – and once again, it was too late.

As soon as Adrien spotted Desperada at the end of the alleyway, he didn't even watch as Ladybug was vaporized. He simply rolled his eyes and flicked the bracelet.

viii.

No paying attention, as usual he grabbed Ladybug's arm and ran. There was no time for anything else.

Which way was it again? This way? That way? He had been here just a few minutes ago, but all these tunnels looked the same!

“Eighth time,” he muttered to Ladybug.

“You've reset eight times already?!”

“Seven times, technically.”

For several seconds she was stunned into silence, before finally thinking of something to say. “Well, uh, eight's a lucky number, right?”

“So is seven and we still failed that one...”

She didn't ask him any further questions, opting to just quietly follow him. Did he sound frustrated? Yeah, he probably did. He was frustrated! But he hoped that she realized that he wasn't frustrated at her, no, far from it. If anything, it was himself he was mad at. For failing so much. He was mad at Desperada too, for winning every time so far.

And most of all, he was mad at Hawk Moth for putting them into this stupid situation in the first place!

Up on the surface, instead of staying in one place and hiding, they ran down the street as fast as they could. At least this way they wouldn't be sitting ducks.

“So what happened the first seven times?” Ladybug asked him as they ran, seeming genuinely curious.

Where to even begin? “Desperada killed you a bunch, Luka found out my identity, the–”

“Wait wait wait – I DIED?!”

“Well no, she didn't actually kill you! She hit you and you got trapped in her – her – her thing that she's trapping everyone in...”

What was the word? His brain... oh god, his brain was getting sluggish, he had been on-edge for far too long. He tried to do the mental calculation in his head to figure out how long it had been. Come on, 7 × 5, it wasn't that hard...

“35!” he said in triumph.

“Uh... what?”

“35 minutes so far I've spent in the loops. Assuming about 5 minutes per loop, that is. Though some of them maybe took less time than that.”

“Um... right.”

Ladybug was still frowning at him as if he was slightly crazy, and to be honest, yelling out random numbers in the middle of the street probably did give off that effect. But hey, his head was starting to buzz from being stuck in this stressful situation for over half an hour now. Some maths was just what he needed to keep his wits sharp.

And clearly his wits were currently very blunt, because he didn't even notice Desperada aiming a shot at Ladybug until it was too late.

No! Not again!

He darted behind a nearby car, temper rising. He really thought they'd get away this time, or at least have some time to actually think and make a plan together! But no...

Ugh. Desperada was going to haunt his dreams tonight, he was sure of it.

Before Plagg could pop up and start making snide comments again, Adrien flicked the bracelet.

ix.

“I know, I know, we now have five minutes,” Adrien huffed. Ladybug clapped her hands with glee.

“You can read my mind!”

“No, it's just that this is the ninth time I'm hearing you say it.”

Her face fell. “So we've already failed several times?”

“Yep.”

Her eyes were downcast. “Was it... was it my fault?”

“What? No! No way, of course not!” He tried to smile at her, as much of a bad mood as he was in. “Sorry if I sound annoyed, I'm just... I'm not mad at you, I promise.”

“Just frustrated at failing a lot?”

“Heh, seems like you're the one who can read my mind.”

She returned his smile. “Well we'll try to do better this time, Adrien.”

“Call me Aspik.”

“Aspik? Oh, that's a wonderful name for a superhero!”

He grinned for real this time. Then he looked down at the bracelet ticking away on his wrist – Luka would probably show up shortly, and he couldn't have that! He grabbed Ladybug's arm and ran with her through the tunnels.

Along the way, he tried to do some mental maths to keep himself occupied, since these drab sewer walls weren’t doing anything to keep him entertained. How many resets in an hour? A day? A week? A month?

They were out on the surface again before he triumphantly yelled out the answers.

“12! 288! About 2,000! About 9,000!”

“Shhh!” Ladybug pulled him behind a nearby van. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m bored,” he admitted. “I worked out that 12 resets takes me about an hour, 288 resets takes me a day–”

“Shhh,” she said again, though more gently this time, putting a finger to his lips. “It won’t take us that long. Okay?”

As much as his brain hadn’t been fully functioning before, it certainly wasn’t fully functioning right now, when she was doing that to him... Did she know what an effect it had?

Reluctantly, he pushed her hand away. This was no time for distractions. “Ladybug, if I keep this up I think I might go nuts...”

“You won’t need to! We’ll defeat Desperada this time!”

There was a maniacal cackle from somewhere behind them. “OH WILL YOU?”

Adrien turned just in time to see Ladybug shot right through the heart yet again.

Desperada’s laughter was ringing in his ears. He didn’t even move, he simply flicked the bracelet once more, cursing her under his breath.

Well, if this was going to keep happening, he was going to get extremely bored extremely fast. If he wanted to actually defeat Desperada then he needed new ideas.

He needed to get creative.

Closing his eyes as time rewound around him, he allowed himself a little smile.

From here on, anything went. No need to be sensible or professional about it. After all, if they failed then no one would remember it, right? And if they didn’t fail then, well, Ladybug would be proud of him for coming up with something crazy that actually worked.

Yeah. Now things were gonna get interesting.

#miraculous ladybug #ladrien #adrien agreste #random stuff #aish writes #25913

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sugakookie · 5 years

Text

pls read/share!

hey guys! so this may be the hardest thing i’ve ever had to convince myself to do...and it’s really heartbreaking but i am in a not so good financial situation right now (always) and i’m finally starting a school program + my car is going to break down any moment so i needed to make some very tough grown-up decisions and well, i have some items to sell. as much as i hate to part with items that i have considered precious, that have brought me immense joy, i have to make some sacrifices to get myself back on track.

so with that melancholy introduction here are very bad photos of what i am trying to sell (descriptions + details + pricing will be below)

starting from the top:

exo - love me right + folded poster, D.O. photocard, + extra stickers/cards - good condition $15

Monsta X - the Clan 2.5 Beautiful (vers) + 2 folded posters (shownu and group) + shownu transparent card + group photocard + stickers - excellent condition $20

BAP - the Rose + folded group poster + yongguk mini poster card + jong up photocard - excellent condition $15

BAP Noir limited edition Daehyun vers. + yongguk card + daehyun mini poster card - excellent condition $75 (this is a limited edition and i literally could not find one priced under $90 even if used which is why it’s priced so high. best offer or if you find ones listed for more normal prices i will honor that once i have confirmed it’s the same vers/album and it’s legit)

Got7 Flight Log Departure + group photocard + markbam “boarding pass” - good condition $15

Got7 turbulence + bambam photocard + group vers. photobook + stickers (one missing) - good condition $15

Got7 Arrival + Yugyeom, Jinyoung, Jackson photocards + folded poster - good condition $20

BTS 2 cool 4 skool + hip hop monsters postcard (that’s what comes with the album instead of a photocard) - photobook and disk in good condition, album covers are slightly curled inwards but nothing major $10

BTS ORUL82 + folded poster + joon and group photocards - outside got slightly damaged in the mail but everything else is in good condition $10

BTS skool luv affair + group and taehyung photocards - good condition $15

BTS Dark and Wild + joon and group photocards - good condition $15

BTS most beautiful moments in life pt 1 pink vers. + jin photocard - good condition $15

BTS beautiful moments in life pt 2 blue vers. + group photocard - good condition $15

BTS Young Forever night vers. + folded poster + yoongi photocard - good condition but binding on photobook is a bit sensitive (that’s how it was when purchased) $20

BTS Wings N vers. + jimin photocard - good condition $15

BTS YNWA right vers. + jungkook photocard + pop up thing? - good condition $15

BTS Her L vers. + taehyung photocard + notes - good condition $15

BTS Tear R vers. + folded poster + notes + taehyung photocard - good condition $15

BTS Face Yourself C vers - excellent condition $15

BTS 3rd Muster - disks have never been used (are for USA region) + house of army making + taehyung photocard + photobook - good condition $70

BTS Memories of 2016 - disks never used (USA region) + photobook + jin, jimin, yoongi photocard - good condition $70

BTS memories of 2017 - disks never used (USA region) + photobook + jin photocard - good condition, corner slightly damaged $70

BTS summer package 2017 - disks never used (USA region) + taehyung selca book + photobook + fan never used nor taken out of box + stickers - excellent condition $75

BTS Wings Tour in Seoul (non blu-ray USA region) - disks never used + photobook + jin photocard - good condition $70

BTS 2018 Summer Package + Jin guide book + all 7 members’ mini poster cards (still in plastic protector) + extra trinkets + disks never used (USA region) + photobook - excellent condition $75

BTS Season’s Greetings 2018 - 2018 calendar (w multiple pics of members) that has a teeny coffee stain on one page + 2018 planner (also has photoshoot pics) that has not been touched (neither planner nor calendar has any writing or anything in them) + picture of all 7 members in a little frame + stickers + pencils (a few missing) + all 7 members’ postcards (fronts look great, had them attached to wall so backs are slightly damaged/sticky) + mini photos of all 7 members + disks never used (USA region) $60 or best offer (this one is pretty used so i’ll be lenient on this one. it’s big so a lot would be to cover shipping

BTS posters - YNWA right vers. official rolled poster + Her L vers. official rolled poster + Her E vers. previously folded poster in not so great condition w a little rip (freebie basically) - $5 (I’m selling this as one thing since i only have one poster tube)

All albums have photobooks even if not specified. Basically all of these i’ve looked through once or twice and then left on a shelf so all the photobooks are in very nice condition and hardly used. i am not selling photocards/photobook separately from albums. if you only want a specific item from the album you still have to pay full price lol

if you are interested you can shoot me a DM (or an ask and then i’ll DM you) and i can send more pictures of the insides of albums, the disks, photocards, photobooks, closer photos of the outside of the album etc.!! basically if you have any questions/want more photos of specific items or want to buy please send me a DM. i will also take best offers however you’ll probably be last in line and waiting a while until i decide whether or not to take you up on the price, but you are free to shoot your best shot

i’m going to accept payments via paypal (which we can discuss in DM) and i ask that payment be made before i send the albums out since i will need to cover shipping! i’m not quite sure how shipping overseas works but as of right now i will accept that (i’ll get more info from the post office and give an update if anything changes)

this is very long and i apologize but even if you aren’t interested if you could spread around that would be fantastic!! again, if you have any questions pls don’t hesitate to send me an ask or a DM.

thank you!!

#bts #monsta x #exo #bap #got7 #kpop #kpop albums #kpop merch #i am keeping some of my love yourself albums tho bc i love them T_T #i can't part with everything #i wish i could keep them all #the summer packages were soooo hard to put up for sale #i'm so sad #but i sadly do really need the money

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alicepink-me · 4 years

Text

Secrets Revealed

By: Alice Pink (Btw I was 14 when I wrote this, so not my best work)

Story Summary:

Chat Noir’s goal has always been to find out Ladybug’s true identity. Can one hint about Ladybug lead to the truth? Secrets will be revealed about the past as mysteries unfold. How will Marinette and Adrien react to everything?

Chapter 15: Dream Big

Marinette woke up on the wooden floor in the Between's library. She was laying in the middle of the room next to the couches and tables. She opened up her eyes and looked around the room, realizing where she was at.

"Ugh! Why am I back here?!" Marinette groaned, getting up off of the floor. "Hey Betweens! Why did you bring me back? You know you can't keep me here." Marinette shouted, looking up at the ceiling. "I've gotta get out quick so I can get back to Paris to help Chat Noir." She mumbled.

Marinette looked around the library again, seeing all of the bookshelves and the usual things that had been there. She remembered where the staircase was, but there was something that had caught her eye behind her.

"Wait. What was that?" She questioned, turning back around. She saw out of the corner of her eye that at the edge of the room was an opening. "That wasn't there before." She whispered, walking over.

The edge of the room was darker and the opening was almost hidden, but it was still visible. Marinette slid through the opening and peered inside. The opening led to another room that was also a library, but much smaller. The shelves were all laid against the walls instead of in rows. In the center of the room stood a tall, brown podium with a small light.

"Another library?" She said, moving around the room, looking at the shelves.

The bookshelves in the room were filled with a lot more dust than any of the book shelves outside of the room.

"This room must be older." Marinette analyzed before moving over to the podium.

On the podium stood a thick brown book with gold medal on the corners.

Marinette approached the podium and opened the book. She blew all of the dust off of it and furrowed her eyebrows.

"What? The pages are blank?" She said, flipping through the pages.

Marinette eventually realized that every page was blank and turned back to the first page. Suddenly, as she reached the first page, words started to appear. The words continued to appear as she read them.

"Marinette, this book holds many secrets and mysteries about the future. You are in need of some information."

"So this is why I'm here." She mumbled before she kept reading.

"This book will only let you read what you need, but once you look away from this book, you will forget everything. You can only fully access these secrets when the time is right. Sometimes it requires a certain impact or trigger word to cause you to remember." Marinette kept her eyes glued to the book as she turned to the next page. "A great evil is coming. An evil more powerful than you have ever fought before. The Collector will rise and he will cause more problems than Hawkmoth ever has. You will need to unlock the hidden secrets of your miraculous to defeat him." Marinette quit reading as the words stopped appearing.

"That's it? Who's The Collector?" Marinette asked as the book suddenly slammed itself shut. "Hey! I'm not done." Marinette protested, trying to pry the book back open. "Ugh! Why won't you open back up? How is any of the information that you just told me going to help if I don't understand it?"

Marinette frowned and accidentally turned away from the book for a second. She immediately forgot everything she just learned.

"What?" She said, scratching her head as she turned to look back at the book. "What did I . . . just read? Did I . . . read something." She stared at the book, confused, trying to figure out what had just happened. When she looked at the book though, she was thought nothing of it. Her mind had no interest in it.

Marinette spun around and headed for the opening in the corner, but it closed when she came near it.

"No!" She shouted, hitting her fist against the wall. "How am I-" Marinette was interrupted by the sound of bookshelves moving.

She turned around to see two bookshelves separate and reveal a passage.

"Another hidden place?" Marinette observed as she walked to the new path. "I'll never understand this place." She said, shaking her head.

The passage led her to a small room with a huge TV on one wall and a long desk with a control panel.

Marinette moved to the TV and saw that it shows what's happening back in the real world. Marinette typed in Paris, France on the control panel and live footage of Paris showed up on the screen.

"Oh no. Everything is getting worse. The Mime has destroyed the Eiffel Tower again and Pigeons have taken over all the parks." Marinette stated, tears filling her eyes. "I wish . . . that everything was over. I wish that I was there, as Ladybug, right now to fix everything." Marinette mumbled. "I wish everything was like it used to be."

"Granted." The TV spoke as the words lit up the scream.

"Granted?" Marinette looked back up at the TV, confused.

Marinette soon became cold and felt tired. She looked down at her hand that was starting to fade. Looking up and down, she realized that her whole body was starting to disappear.

"What's happening?! Betweens? What are you doing? What was my purpose in being here?!" Marinette shouted at the ceiling as she grew colder and disappeared more.

Marinette peeked down to see everything below her waist gone. She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and her eyelids shut for her to sleep.

. . .

Chat Noir awoke from a nap on top of the mansion to see Marinette moving in her sleep. She laid there on his lap mumbling. Chat Noir watched as she suddenly turned into Ladybug. Streams of sparkling ladybugs flew out of her. They circled the city, repairing any damage that was caused. Chat Noir stared at them as Paris was fixed. When they were done, he leaned closer to Ladybug as she continued to squirm.

Ladybug quickly shot up, hitting her head against Chat's.

"Ow!" Chat whined, rubbing his forehead.

"Sorry!" Ladybug apologized, feeling her head too.

"Marinette! I mean . . . Ladybug! You're awake!" Chat smiled with joy, hugging Ladybug as she sat up. "What happened? Right before you woke up, you turned into Ladybug and all of Paris's damage was fixed. It was so cool." Chat said, releasing Ladybug from his hug. "How did you do that when you were asleep?"

"I don't know?" Ladybug stared at the ground as if trying to remember something. "I do know that there are many hidden places in the Betweens that we don't know about. I was in a hidden room that led to another room and it showed Paris on a TV." Ladybug babbled. "I was saying that I wish I could be here to fix everything and that I wish everything was better like before."

"Well I guess your wishes came true because . . . " Chat Noir looked around at the fixed city. "All of the damage is fixed and you turned into Ladybug."

"Yay!" Ladybug shouted with excitment, hugging Chat Noir again.

"You were mumbling a lot stuff in your sleep. I didn't know what you were actually thinking." Chat smiled. "I just hoped that you were dreaming about me, but apparently you were dreaming about Paris."

"Oh don't worry. I dream about you all the time." Ladybug grinned, scratching under Chat Noir's chin. "I really hope all of my wishes came true though . . . or else we won't be able to go out in public with everyone knowing our identities."

"We'll have to wait until later. Keep your fingers crossed." Chat said, crossing his fingers in the air.

"If not, then I'm going back to the Betweens to scream. It brought me back there again, so it better let me finish my wish."

"Why does the Betweens keep bringing you back there anyway?" Chat asked. "It's taking you away from me and destroying my precious time with you." Chat Noir whined, giving her a pouting face.

"I don't know, but quit your whining." Ladybug smiled, letting go of Chat. "By the way . . . what time is it?" Ladybug asked looking up at the dark blue sky.

"About 5:30 a.m." Chat said as he looked at his baton. "When you collapsed on the roof, I took a quick nap, so I'm not that tired. I'm glad you woke up though. I don't think that I can keep a missing girl in my room again."

"Yeah and I don't need my boyfriend getting arrested for kidnapping me." Ladybug laughed, standing up from Chat Noir's lap. "Well . . . I should probably get back home."

"Do you have to go? I enjoyed sitting up here under the stars with you sleeping on my lap."

Chat complained, holding onto her hand.

"Yeah." Ladybug started. "My parents will be worried if they don't find me sleeping in my room at six in the morning. I had told them yesterday that I was going to stay up in my room for the remainder of the night and I just hope that they didn't check up on me. I can't stay away any longer." She saw the sad look on his face as she helped him up from the ground. "You can visit me in my room later. Just let me get some sleep first."

Ladybug lightly kissed him on the cheek before waving goodbye. She flew from the edge of the mansion using her yo-yo and landed through her trapdoor. She called her kwami to release her transformation and she immediately hopped into bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

. . .

Chat Noir lightly tapped on the trap door on the balcony, awaking Marinette. Marinette jumped at the sound of his knocking, but she quickly made herself look descent and ran back up to the trap door.

"Hello." She said, yawning as she opened the door.

"Sorry. Did I wake you?" Chat asked, hopping into her room.

"Yeah, but it's 10:30, so I might as well be up by now." Marinette answered as she put on a jacket. "My parents came up at around 8:20 to check on me, so they know that I'm okay."

"That's good." Chat Noir detransformed back into Adrien Agreste and tightly hugged Marinette as Plagg flew away to join Tikki on Marinette's desk.

"What's the hug for?" Marinette asked, blinking her tired eyes.

"You looked cold." Adrien said into her shoulder. "And you are my girlfriend. Hugging is part of the deal."

"Okay." Marinette agreed. "It is part of the deal and you really enjoy hugging me."

"Exactly." Adrien said, letting go of her. He looked around her room, but frowned. "Why did you take down all of the pictures of me?"

"Well I didn't just fall for Adrien Agreste." Marinette smiled. "I also fell for Chat Noir and I don't have pictures of both of you. But once I do, I'll put them all back up."

"You have a picture of both of me." Adrien said, stepping forward. He took Marinette's necklace that he'd given her and smiled up at her. "Did you even open it?"

"What?" Marinette's eyes widened as she looked down at the necklace. "It opens?"

"Yeah. See." Adrien opened up the necklace and showed it to her. "There's a picture of me and you as our normal selves on the left side and then there's a picture of us as heroes on the right side."

"Oh. I'm sorry. Sometimes I can be so-"

"Clueless." Adrien finished with a grin.

"Hey!" Marinette shouted, hitting Adrien's arm. "I just didn't realize that your gift was a thousand times more amazing than I thought. And I'm not that clueless."

"Sure." Adrien's grin grew as he raised his eye brows.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"I'm sorry princess, but you're so purretty." Adrien said, staring at her as Marinette rolled her eyes. "Hey, did you check the news at all?" Adrien asked, pulling out his phone.

Adrien laid on the chaise as Marinette came and sat next to him.

"No. Not yet. Why?" Marinette asked, scooting closer.

"I checked the news this morning and the video of you is gone." Adrien said, looking down at his phone screen at news stories. "I checked everywhere online and still nothing. It's like it never happened. Even the news reporters acted normal on the morning news. There is no sign of anyone knowing the truth."

"Do you know if anyone remembers anything?" Marinette stared down at his phone screen. "What about your parents?"

"My parents remember everything like it happened five minutes ago, but the citizens don't have a clue. Like nothing ever happened."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. I walked around Paris this morning, but no one said my real name or anything out of the ordinary. They still remember the events of yesterday though." Adrein said, holding his phone in front of Marinette. "They remember all of the attacks, but they don't remember us. The attacks were all over the internet today. I guess you really dream big, Marinette. You were dreaming in the Betweens that everything would go back to the way it was and now everything came true."

"That's better than I thought. Now I don't have to go back to the Betweens to scream."

"Yeah, the Betweens would not want to be on your bad side." Adrien said, sitting up on the chaise. "I know I wouldn't. You'd kill me in a second if I angered you."

"Then cool it with the puns, Chat." Marinette smirked.

"Are you threatening me?" Adrien gasped, dramatically placing his hand on his chest.

"Maybe I am." Marinette grinned.

"I think I like you better when you are well rested." Adrien said, standing up. "How about we go out for some coffee?"

"Are you asking me on a date?" Marinette said, standing up next to him. "Because if you are then I accept?"

"Shall we My Lady?" Adrien smiled, holding his hand out to Marinette.

"Why of course My Chaton." Marinette replied, taking his hand. "Wait." She said, stopping him before she looked back at their kwamis. "Do you guys want to come or will you be fine here?"

"We'll be fine here Tikki said, waving goodbye."

"Yeah, go on. We don't want to get in the way of your lovey dovey nonsense." Plagg complained before closing his eyes to sleep.

They both looked at each other and laughed before they left through the trap door with their arms linked. They smiled and gazed peacefully into each others eyes as they made their way to the coffee shop.

. . .

"Plagg!" Tikki shouted, hitting her kwami friend. "Don't be so rude. They're finally together after their long time of searching."

"Well it took them long enough." Plagg said, opening his eyes up again. "It only took us like five minutes to figure out their identities."

"No it didn't, Plagg." Tikki rolled her eyes. "It took us a while too, but they are more clueless than we are. We were hidden away the entire time and only were close enough to realize the truth in the school locker room. They on the other hand see each other everyday and are in the same class."

"Yeah, I don't know how they didn't figure it out sooner." Plagg agreed. "I would have connected the dots sooner if I had a good look at Marinette. But Adrien's bedroom is only for stalking Ladybug not Marinette."

"Well Marinette doesn't have Chat Noir pictures, but if she did, I would have figured it out. "Tikki boasted, putting her paws on her hips. "I would just need to see a picture of both of them, so that I could compare."

"If Adrien wanted to find out her identity so bad, then he shouldn't have be so oblivious to everything. Especially when he was internet stalking her." Plagg joked.

"Did you see Marinette's room before she took her posters down?" Tikki smiled. "She was obsessed with Adrien. You'd think since she has his exact schedule and has done so many stupid things to be around him, that she'd figure it out, but no."

"They're both clueless teenagers." Plagg yawned before closing his eyes again.

"But they're finally together and that's all that matters now." Tikki smiled before closing her eyes as well. "And they're both going to become closer now that they know each other. Especially when we go to London."

"Wait. We're going to London?"

#miraculous ladybug #MIRACULOUS: TALES OF LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR #Adrien Agreste #marinette dupain cheng #alice pink #alicepink-me #fanfiction

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veryfashionabledesigns · 5 years

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Analyzing the Snicket Aesthetic, Part 1/5: Time Period, Technology, and Medicine

.-There are quite a few fan theories placing the main events of ASOUE in the 80’s or 90’s, which is plausible, if not quite probable, in terms of the technology present in the series and the timing of the real-life publication of the books. On the other hand, I’m a shameless hipster and I live for that retro aesthetic, so I like the ambiguity.

-The post-post-apocalyptic theory is a fun one, but it can be a little limiting—not to mention difficult—to apply too many practical implications to this universe. Realism is all well and good, but it can easily be discarded for the sake of a good yarn or a pointed bit of commentary.

Figure 1: The Illustrations of ASOUE are mostly influenced by the woodblock prints that frequently appeared in Victorian fiction--black and white, hatched shading, realistic perspective—while those of ATWQ vaguely resemble Modernist and/or Cubist art—subtle color, solid shadows, and slightly warped perspective.

(Continued under the cut)

-Anachronisms everywhere, of course. One of the books mentions a blacksmith and a computer repair shop in the same sentence. Events and media from before, during, or (infrequently) after the date range are regularly referenced.

-Personally, I mix and match from a date range of about 1890-1980, for reasons we’ll get into over the course of this analysis, although this is really quite a large range, and even then it’s rather approximate, and can change depending on which version of the story one is referencing, and even from book to book or character to character.

-Time does not pass normally like in the real world. The atmosphere of ASOUE feels a bit older (gothic, vaguely turn of the century) than that of ATWQ (noir, 1930’s-40’s), but the latter is set before the former (see fig. 1). History has been run through a blender set to puree.

TECHNOLOGY

-It’s sort of lowkey steampunk/dieselpunk. Relatively little sci fi tech is floating loose in the world, but given the materials and time, Violet would almost certainly come up with some fun retro-futuristic inventions.

-Violet’s inventions involve mechanical and electrical technology, but seemingly nothing digital. She’s largely indifferent (and in the books, possibly even disdainful) in response to the “advanced computer” at Prufrock Prep, which always struck me as a bit odd. Maybe she distrusts Nero’s vague assertions that it will deter Count Olaf, maybe she prefers a more hands-on approach to inventing, or maybe she has the soul of cranky old lady.

Figure 2: Prufrock’s advanced computer in the Netflix series features cameras, a CRT monitor, and something resembling an oscilloscope.

-Computers exist in this universe, but they don’t seem to do much, and there aren’t very many of them. Smart phones, laptops, and similar devices of the 21st century are almost certainly not around.

-In the books, Prufrock’s computer can display a recognizable image of Count Olaf and is compared to a toad in appearance, meaning it was likely modeled after PCs from the 80s and 90s.

-In the series, it’s even more anachronistic. The monitor looks more or less like what was described in the books, but it also comes fitted with a built in camera, much like a modern webcam, and can recognize faces about as well as most characters (although this really isn’t saying much), implying some kind of primitive deep learning capacity.

Figure 3: A few computers that could fit in the Snicketverse. (The Apple 1, hilariously, is the real thing.)

-If the internet exists, it’s pretty useless. The first season of the Netflix series has a few references to the internet, none of which are relevant to the plot. The internet makes everything easier, and the Snicketverse is all about inconvenience and suffering.

-Photographs appear in both black and white and color, although the color is quite grainy. The shift to color photography occurred gradually throughout the 20th century.

-Hector’s self-sustaining hot air mobile home is really quite impractical, if not impossible. A proper hot air balloon would require quite a bit of fuel to keep the air inside the balloons sufficiently hot. Historically, airships of comparative size would have filled their balloons with hydrogen and/or helium, which, barring leakage or other damage, could actually remain buoyant more or less indefinitely. Hydrogen, by the way, is very flammable.

-The submarines in The Grim Grotto are steampunk as heck—that is, realistically impractical but really friggin’ cool—likely inspired by early science fiction such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In real life, submarines rarely have portholes; in warfare or high water pressure, they could potentially be a weak point, and they’re fairly pricy for something that isn’t strictly necessary. There are a few exceptions, though, such as in subs designed for tourism or marine biology.

Figure 4: The Quequeg has a number of features solely for the comfort of its crew, such as this lovely library with paintings and antique-looking lamps. The use of brass and copper tones, as well as the warm lighting reminiscent of gas, oil, or early incandescent lights, also add to the steampunk vibes.

-Mobile phones do not appear in the books. As with the internet, they’re just too convenient. Should they be necessary to your story, however, there are a few ways to work them in. The movie featured telephones built into cars, which is actually pretty cool. In real life, portable phones have existed since at least the 1960s, although they were too large and expensive to be popular with the public until recently.

Figure 5: The Radio Common Carrier, a sort of mobile phone introduced in the 1960s.

MEDICINE

-If Heimlich Hospital is typical of the Snicketverse, then the medical technology of the time is… not good.

-For all the bureaucracy and paperwork depicted, there seems to be very little control over what sorts of operations are actually performed. Count Olaf can waltz in and say he needs the operating theater for a “cranioectomy,” and nobody seems to question it. It’s entirely possible that the amount of paperwork required is so massive that nobody can really keep track of it all.

-Patients at Heimlich Hospital often ask volunteers for simple things like a glass of water—implying that the hospital is severely understaffed.

-It is unknown what happens if a Volunteer is seriously injured in the line of duty. V.F.D. may have its own medics/infirmaries. Alternately, they may try to recruit medical professionals who will treat patients without revealing any secrets. It is also possible that volunteers are expected to lie to their doctors, or that the healthcare system is such a mess that nobody really asks questions when someone turns up with a suspicious injury.

-There is some good news: near the beginning of The Hostile Hospital, Klaus mentions antibiotics and shots (likely referring to vaccines). From this we can assume that many of history’s nastiest plagues (i.e. tuberculosis, cholera, scarlet fever, etc.) are more or less under control. (Although I personally headcannon that Mr. Poe’s cough is an early symptom of tuberculosis, as this would be a fun little shout-out to Edgar Allen Poe.)

-The rusty knives used in Violet’s “surgery” imply that doctors could get away with some pretty lousy sanitation. In the Netflix series, the entire hospital is filthy.

Figure 6: The operating theater in The Hostile Hospital is similar in structure, if not style, to the one at the Old Operating Theatre museum, built c.1822.

-Public operating theaters like the one seen in the Hostile Hospital were gradually replaced by sterile operating rooms as doctors developed proper understanding of germ theory between c. 1860-1900. (See fig. 6). Notably, the set design for the operating theater in the series uses a 19th century layout with mid-20th century materials and lighting.

-Treatment for mental health conditions is given little attention, which is troubling; sooner or later those poor kids are going to need some therapy. If memory serves, one of the patients at Heimlich is described as looking sad but otherwise healthy, suggesting depression.

-Given how dystopian the Snicketverse is, PTSD and anxiety are probably quite common—especially among V.F.D. members, who often wind up in very dangerous situations at very early ages. In fact, one could make a solid argument that childhood trauma might be behind the neuroses of characters such as Aunt Joesephine or Hector—both of whom, despite having severely debilitating anxiety disorders, never seem to receive any treatment.

FANTASY ELEMENTS

-There are very few of these, but it’s far from realism. Some rough rules of thumb would be to avoid things typically considered supernatural (i.e. dragons, ghosts, vampires), but things that are not quite possible (i.e. babies can bite through concrete, reptiles can be trained to imitate human speech on command), or possible but very improbable (i.e. a harmless snake being officially named “the Incredibly Deadly Viper” solely for pranking purposes, a phony surgeon convincing a crowd that decapitation is a risky but necessary medical procedure) are all well and good.

-It should be noted, however, that at least a few characters in-universe believe in the supernatural. In the Ersatz Elevator, the Baudelaires are briefly mistaken for ghosts, and in The End, Ishmael claims to predict the weather using magic.

#analyzing the snicket aesthetic #this started as a remake of a post from my main blog #but then i wound up with 20 pages #oops #asoue #lemony snicket #snicket aesthetic #vfd #i also threw fantasy element in with this section #because i didn't know where else to put them

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paganinpurple · 5 years

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A Feline’s Family - MariChat May 2019

I know I only made it about half-way through the month, but...my uncle died. It was really hard to think about doing anything other than keeping going day-to-day. Anyway, I’m back to working on this so I hope no one has lost interest.

Buy Me A Coffee?

AO3

Chapters (If there’s no link, it’s not written yet)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Day 14 – Angst

“Bonsoir, Monsieur Agreste.”

Gabriel startled from his doze at his desk. He’d had far too many late nights recently and –stubborn as ever– had refused to do the sensible thing and just go to bed when he had found himself drifting. That had to be the reason he hadn’t sensed anyone approaching or picked up any lingering emotions until now, he reassured himself.

He looked up at the youngster leaning against the wall next to his window. “Chat Noir?” he asked, almost overwhelmed by the sheer force of the anger radiating from the boy, which was tinged with the strangest hint of sorrow.

The young hero uncrossed his arms and pushed off from the wall, stalking his way over to the man who was attempting to regain some of his lost dignity by sitting upright in front of him, straightening his clothes as he did so.

“Can I help you?” he asked coldly, “I don’t usually see people without an appointment.”

Of all the things he could’ve said, thought Chat, his chest bubbling into a painful scorch. There was no point in dragging things out now, he decided. It was time to force his father to confess to what he had done. He really didn’t want to give Marinette time to realise what he was doing and follow him.

“People got hurt today,” he said plainly.

“I’m sorry?” Gabriel replied, his eyebrows raised and his confusion evident in the tone he used.

“But are you?” Chat said with a snarl, “After all, you’ll just send another akuma at the first opportunity. Won’t you?”

“I-”

Chat caught the brief flash of fear that flitted across his father’s face. He schooled it quickly, but Adrien had grown up learning how to read his father in a flash, eager to give the man what he wanted with only a second’s notice of what that might be. He had caught the tell-tale signs in his expression within a fraction of a second.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“I’m sure you don’t. I’d like to talk to your son.”

Chat smirked when Gabriel’s eyes widened, knowing he had the upper hand now. Considering he wasn’t here as himself, it would leave the man with no choice. He would have to admit he wasn’t at home and leave him open to questioning.

“He’s studying in his room. He can’t be disturbed.”

“That’s okay. It won’t take long.”

“Actually, he’s been quite unwell lately. He may even be asleep.”

The teenager’s patience was starting to wear thin and he gritted his teeth, his smirk twisting into a grimace. “Now, those are lies and we both know it,” he said, “Why not just come clean?”

That seemed to be all Gabriel needed to finally drop his innocent façade and his eyes narrowed, defensive and cold. “You’ve already spoken to Adrien.”

“Clearly.”

“I knew I should have hired better people to watch him,” the older man sighed, letting his head fall forward so he could pinch the bridge of his nose, “I have no idea how he manages to just disappear after school finishes.”

Chat felt the fire in his chest burn brighter. He’d been warned to keep his distance and still his father had been having him followed. Who knows what might have happened if he hadn’t told him about his auto-queued email? Would his goons have just snatched Adrien right out of his classroom, in front of all his friends and brought him back to the man?

He watched as Gabriel’s eyes opened as if he was reacting to something, and he looked up at Chat as his hand fell away from his face. “You seem much angrier than I would have anticipated, even considering what you’ve learned,” he said, his eyes glancing back to the window as if looking for something, “And where is Ladybug?”

“I’d like to leave my Lady out of this. I’ve got a particular issue with parents who treat their kids badly, so I’d rather handle this one alone.”

The eye roll Gabriel gave did nothing for Chat’s temperament and he suppressed a growl as best he could. The man seemed far too calm for his liking.

“I do not treat my son badly,” the older man said haughtily, “I’m simply protective of him from outside influences. My wife and I agreed to keep him from all the potential dangers we could. Considering the way you’re trying to protect Ladybug, surely you can understand.”

At that moment, Chat was nothing more than white hot rage inside. He slammed his hands against the pristine desk so hard he left indents in it where his claws dug in. He relished the feel of the cool surface, allowing it to act as a balm against the painful heat creeping from his chest and into all of his extremities.

“I am nothing like you,” he hissed threateningly - his eyes narrowed, pupils like slits as he glared at the man in front of him, “You constantly disappoint Adrien and keep him at arm’s length. At least your wife spent time with him.”

Amongst the odd cocktail of emotions coming from the boy, rage and anger were still the most prevalent among them, but Gabriel also felt the sudden fear and disgust towards what he’d said. And when the boy had mentioned Emilie there had been a huge spike in…in what? Sorrow? Longing?

Grief.

The logical side of Gabriel’s mind kicked in as he comprehended and everything began to make sense to him again.

“Adrien,” he said, “Would you like to see your mother?”

***

“Marinette, did you tell him to-” Tom cut off abruptly –head poking out of the trapdoor entrance– as he caught sight of his daughter sitting at her desk, tears streaming down her face and onto the slip of paper in her hands.

“Honey!” he shouted down to his wife, quickly finishing his ascent into the room and over towards the distraught girl. He knelt down in front of her, his eyes quickly scanning her person, assessing for any signs of injury. Finding nothing wrong, he looked around the room instead, noticing the recent rearrangement of the furniture and the distinct lack of the teenage boy she had come upstairs to collect.

“Oh! Marinette, sweetheart!” Sabine cooed as she too made her way over, dropping into the second chair beside the first and stroking the girl’s hair, “What’s wrong?”

“Where’s Chat?” Tom asked carefully and watched as Sabine’s head shot up and made the same sweep of the room he had already completed, and probably coming to the same conclusion.

Marinette only wept harder at the sound of the boy’s name, dropping her head onto Sabine’s shoulder and openly wailing for a moment.

“He’s…he’s gone to face his father,” she finally said between sobs a few moments later.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Sabine began in a soothing tone, “Maybe…it’s for the best. We never knew exactly what was wrong at home for him. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought? And he’s thought of something he can do to fix things?” Despite her optimistic words, she glanced up at Tom and gave him a knowing look, her eyes wide, but fiery.

The look was something the two of them had often joked about with Marinette, especially when she had been smaller, and the girl had dubbed it ‘Parental telepathy.’ She had found it amazing how it seemed her parents could have an entire conversation and come to an agreement on something relating to her with nothing except a look or two between them. Sabine was counting on Tom to understand that it absolutely was not a good thing Chat had gone back home and that they would tear Paris apart if they had to in order to find that boy and keep him safe. She simply didn’t want to alarm the girl in her arms.

“No,” snivelled Marinette, head shaking furiously, “There’s no way Gabriel will listen.”

“Gabriel?” Tom said, confused. His eyes glanced back to the paper in her clenched fists, finally recognising that it was more than just a brief note. From the looks of things, Chat had written her a full-page letter. “Honey, did Chat tell you something? Do you know where he went?”

Sniffling a little, Marinette pulled away from her mother slowly, sitting upright in her seat. She looked down at her lap before hesitantly looking at first Tom, then Sabine.

“Mama, papa, there are some things I need to tell you.”

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#PIP writes #marichatmay2019 #A Feline's Family #MariChat May #MariChat

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