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marauderundercover · 3 years

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The Strings that Bind Us: Chapter One

AO3

Marinette Dupain Cheng was tired. She’d fought the same villain for fifteen years. She’d been a hero longer than she’d been just Marinette. It was exhausting. And she was ready for a break. Two years after unmasking Hawkmoth, Paris was finally healed enough for her to move on. To leave.

Which was why she was currently putting fairy lights and pumpkins on the balcony of her new apartment in Gotham. It was quiet, and lonely, but at least she didn’t have the weight of a city on her back anymore. She hums as she places the last pumpkin. Perfect. Glancing across the city, she lets out a sigh. Here she was, in an entirely new city, no connections and no one to talk to when she needed to just talk. But it was worth it, the memories of everything in Paris still too fresh. It still hurt too much. Deciding it’s not too early to go to sleep, she walks back inside. She’s just closed the door when a loud crash from outside has her tensing. She peeks behind the curtain, frowning at the figure on her balcony. She opens the door.

“Uh, hello.” She greets the strangely dressed man. If what she’d read had been correct, this was Batman. Gotham’s resident hero, or vigilante as the papers called him. He probably wasn’t here to fight her, but you can never be too careful.

“My apologies.” He says, his voice gruff. Her eyes narrow at the way he favors his left side.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” She asks suddenly, her face instantly heating up as the words tumble out without her permission.

“I’m not-” He starts, but she shakes her head.

“I insist. You are out trying to protect citizens, are you not? The least I can do is offer you a coffee.” She says, turning and walking back inside. She doesn’t turn to see if he follows, but she does hear footsteps behind her. She figures he could walk silently, if he really wanted to. After all, even though he’d been around for eight or so years, few had ever seen Batman. She hums, moving around the kitchen and starting up her small coffee pot and grabbing a few of the leftover pastries from earlier. Placing the pastries on a plate, she pulls down two cups before turning to the vigilante in her kitchen.

“How do you take your coffee?” She asks, and she swears his lips twitch slightly.

“Just black.” He says, and she grins.

“Thank goodness. One of my friends in Paris refuses to drink coffee unless it’s half cream and sugar.” She says, trying to keep the conversation light. After all, what do you say to a random vigilante? It was different when Chat Noir, or Adrien, visited her back in collège. He didn’t start doing that until after she’d helped with Evillustrator, which helped it to not be awkward. Like it currently was with her and Batman. God, why did she even invite him in? She turns and almost sighs in relief when she sees the coffee is done. Quickly filling up both cups, she passes one to Batman and then pushes the plate of pastries towards him.

“I own the cafe downstairs.” She says as an explanation when she sees his lips purse. He nods and grabs a croissant, taking a hesitant bite out of it.

“Thank you.” He says, and she just smiles. She may not want to be a hero again, but maybe it would be okay to be friends with a hero again.

---

The bell over the door notifying her of another customer makes Marinette stick her head out from the back.

“Hello! Welcome to La Petite Tasse, I’ll be with you in just a minute.” She calls, not catching the response before she’s back in the kitchen, pulling a fresh batch of croissants out of the oven. She slides the tray onto the cooling rack before tugging off the oven mitts and rushing out to the front.

“I am so sorry about that, most of my workers are also students so they have class right now. What can I get you?” She rambles, freezing when she looks up into the most attractive blue eyes she’s ever seen. The man just smiles at her, and she swears her knees go weak.

“That’s fine. Could I have... a large black coffee and a croissant?” The man asks, glancing up at the menu before looking back at her. She nods and smiles, cursing the way her cheeks heat up. Sure, this was quite literally the most attractive man she’d ever seen in person, but she was not going to fall for a pretty face. Nope. Totally not. She turns and grabs a cup, filling it up before rushing to the back to grab one of the fresh croissants. After all, they were better warm.

“That’ll be three dollars and twenty seven cents.” She says, passing the man his order. He grins and passes her a twenty.

“Keep the change.” He says with a grin before he turns and walks out. She blinks, slightly confused, but takes the change and puts it into the tip jar. That was weird, she thinks, but she doesn’t think too much into it. It’s not like she’d ever see him again.

---

She had been wrong, and she was completely okay with it. The man came in almost every day for two weeks before she worked up the courage to introduce herself and ask his name. He’d seemed shocked, but had introduced himself as Bruce. And after two weeks, she was happy to say that Gotham had started to feel a little lighter, that she was a little happier in this dark city. The bell above the door chimes, but she keeps working on filling the macarons since Mack was manning the counter.

“Listen kid, open the register and I won’t shoot your fucking brains out.” A voice says. Oh hell no. She drops the piping back and picks up her rolling pin. Peeking out, she breathes a sigh of relief when she sees it’s only one guy, not an entire group. She tosses her rolling pin lightly before catching it, familiarizing herself with it as a projectile before she actually uses it. She watches as Mack’s hands shake, obviously panicked. Letting out a steadying breath, Marinette aims and manages to hit the man in the head with the rolling pin. He drops instantly, the gun clattering to the floor. She rushes out and grabs a couple zip ties from under the counter, walking over and cuffing the man’s hands behind his back before dragging him towards the handrail and attaching him to it. She glares at the man before she remembers Mack and gasps. She rushes over, frantically checking over the girl to make sure she’s okay.

“Mama M, I’m fine. I promise.” She says, though her voice shakes. Marinette breathes a sigh of relief before crushing the girl in a hug.

“I am so sorry, Mack, so, so sorry.” She apologizes, holding the girl close. She can feel the girl shake slightly, her shirt getting wet as the girl cries. Marinette just coos softly, whispering reassuring words to her. She barely hears the bell signaling a customer ring.

“What the hell happened?” A familiar voice asks. She glances over at Bruce and grimaces.

“Attempted robbery. Would you mind calling the police?” She asks, nodding towards the landline. He blinks, standing frozen as he stares at the tied up man in the corner. “Bruce!” She calls, his attention snapping to her. She nods towards the phone again and he nods, walking over to make the call.

---

After the police take their statements, Marinette sends Mack home with the tips from the day, despite the girl’s protests.

“Sweetheart, you were just held at gunpoint. I’m not gonna let you stay here. Go home, eat some junk food and watch something funny. I’ll see you on Monday.” Marinette says, giving the girl another quick hug before watching her leave. She turns to Bruce, who had been kind enough to stay, and winces. “You’re not gonna get in trouble with your boss, are you?” She asks. He just grins.

“I was actually off today, don’t worry about me.” He says, his smile falling as he looks her over. “Are you okay?” He asks. She lets out a shaky breath before nodding.

“Yeah, yeah. I was more worried about Mack, honestly. I was in the back, but I couldn’t just stay there. Not knowing she was in danger.” She says, her arms wrapped around herself as she tries to stay calm. It was the first time she’d had an actual gun aimed at someone she cares about.

“You were quite the hero today.” He says softly, and she snorts, shaking her head.

“No, Bruce, I wasn’t. I did what anyone else would’ve done.” She says, waving him off dismissively.

“Only you would actually believe that there are still people good enough to act like that.” He says softly. She blushes and clears her throat.

“Well, did you want your regular?” She asks, moving to go back behind the counter. He frowns.

“Mari, you aren’t seriously going to open the cafe back up today, are you?” He asks and she frowns.

“Why wouldn’t I?” She asks.

“Because your store was just attacked!” He exclaims, and she snorts.

“If my parent’s bakery in Paris closed every time there was an attack, they would’ve gone out of business.” She says flippantly. He frowns, and she worries she’s said something wrong, when his face suddenly twists back up into a smile.

“Spend the day with me.” He says and she blinks in surprise.

“What?”

“I had set out to ask you on a date when I came in today, but the whole attempted robbery stopped me. I know you want to just get back to work, but what if you spent the day with me instead?” He offers. She stares at him, wide eyed, before a wide smile forms on her face.

“I thought you’d never ask.” She says. It’d be fine to have the cafe closed for a day.

Event tag list: @maribat-october-rarepairs

Permanent tag list: @stainedglassm @kittenmywaythrulife @laydeekrayzee @doll246 @queenz-z @deathssilentapproach-blog @literaryhiraeth @unoriginalmess

#brucinette #maribat bruce wayne #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat #maribat fanfiction #maribat ladybug #maribat batman #MaribatHalloween21 #maribatoctrp21 #ao3fic

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coccinelle-et-chaton · 3 years

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can i interest you in a fanfic that had no business making me so emotionally invested?

Heads up this is a bit of a self-promote.

Okay, it’s a lot of a self-promote but please stay with me.

I just wanted to share this story that I started writing in 2019 shortly after S3 ended, in which Marinette goes through the events of Truth and basically S4 and onward. I’m always a lil self-conscious about promoting it because it was never really popular so maybe it’s just not good. But I just really enjoy reading and writing it myself and I want to share it with you guys. I’m doing a lil recap of it because at 13 chapters in, it’s not getting a whole lot of readers anymore so here’s to maybe piquing your interest?

The Wall Between Us

Marinette is left to pick up the pieces after losing her chance with Adrien and having Master Fu give up his memories to protect the Miraculous Box. She struggles to find her ground as the new Guardian, and when it all becomes too much, finds unexpected support in Luka Couffaine.

Ladybug, Chat Noir, and their friends are tested when Luka accidentally discovers who they are. With their identities in line and complicated feelings in the air, Ladybug and Chat Noir must come up with a plan to defeat Hawkmoth before he ever realizes the secret Luka is keeping and is able to hurt him and everyone involved.

Gather Your Bearings - In which Marinette finally succumbs to the pressure of being the Guardian of the Miracle Box and struggles to find her footing, due to forcing herself into isolation and secrecy.

Macaron Advisor - Still struggling to juggle her personal life and duties, Marinette finds unexpected support in Luka Couffaine after a rather awkward encounter with him, Adrien, and Kagami in the unlikeliest of places.

The Guardian’s Apprentice - Following Luka’s advice, Marinette decides to address the elephant in the room with Chat Noir in an attempt to strengthen their partnership.

Party at the Couffaines’ - Being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Luka learns a secret he is aware he is not supposed to know. Much to his undoing after learning this new information, Marinette decides to act on her feelings for him.

Keeper of Secrets - Marinette goes on with her plan to form a “support group” she can entrust with her secrets but an Akuma forces her to reveal herself to her first confidant faster than she planned. Meanwhile, Adrien realizes where his heart really lies a little too late.

The Hangout Spot - Marinette finally brings herself to see Master Fu’s final gift for her: The place where he kept all the records of his adventures as a Guardian of the Miraculous. Meanwhile, Luka’s knack for picking terrible hiding spots in Akuma attacks lands him in a position he doesn’t want to be in, yet again learning another secret he is not supposed to know. Adrien works up the courage to finally be honest with Kagami, and Chat Noir reaches a terrible conclusion.

Luka’s Realization - Growing jealous of Adrien and Chat Noir, Luka struggles with the decision to come clean to Marinette, fearing he might lose her if he does. In the aftermath of being summoned by Chat Noir to join a regrettable battle against a love-themed Akuma, Luka realizes if he wants his relationship with Marinette to work, he must find a way to make peace with the truth he knows about her and Adrien Agreste.

Ladybug Got Your Tongue - Influenced by his suspicions about his father, Adrien lashes out at him and Natalie. Anticipating his father might retaliate he decides to finally reveal himself to Ladybug in their hangout spot. He realizes who she is before they ever get the chance to reveal and heartbroken at the fact Marinette truly does not love him, reassesses his role as Chat Noir in an attempt to make things easier for her. His sudden disappearance sends Marinette into a grieving spiral and Luka reaches a decision about his relationship with her.

9. It's Better This Way - Chat Noir and Ladybug make up after Ladybug’s partial reveal, with Chat choosing to stay anonymous after all. Luka acts on his resolution to break up with Marinette, leaving her devastated at the fact her being Ladybug has yet again interfered with her personal life. In a rare happenstance, Adrien attempts to cheer her up and gives her a word of advice.

10. The Akumatization of Luka Couffaine - After a short and well-meaning encounter with Kagami, Luka loses grip of his emotions and ends up struggling to keep his secrets away from Hawkmoth’s knowledge. Meanwhile, Chat Noir realizes how much danger Marinette and Luka are in, and Ladybug and Luka decide to act as if their relationship never happened to protect him from Hawkmoth.

11. Becoming Friends - Marinette slowly but surely begins overcoming the heartache with the help of Alya, Nino, and Adrien. As months pass by, Adrien and her become closer friends. Meanwhile, Gabriel schemes to squeeze the truth out of Luka to finally learn the identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

12. A Cat on the Roof - Panicked that Ladybug is not answering his calls and fearing Hawkmoth might have hurt her, Chat Noir rushes to Marinette’s house, accidentally walking in on a sleepover with her friends. Days later, she confesses something to him.

13. The Akuma That Wasn’t - After Adrien is almost akumatized at school, Marinette accidentally realizes who Chat Noir is in the worst possible moment.

14. The Photo Shoot - After learning Chat Noir’s identity, Marinette does all in her power to keep him company throughout a particularly lonely day as she gathers up the courage to let him know she has figured him out.

15. Chat Noir’s Name - A completely exhaused Adrien ties up the string and comes to the conclusion that Ladybug knows who he is. He tests that theory.

16. The Butterfly Manor - The joy of finally learning each other's identities is short-lived when Adrien finally has his suspicions confirmed.

17. The Future She Sees - Ladybug and Chat Noir process the horrible news of Hawkmoth's identity and have a difficult conversation about their future.

So yeah, if this post worked and you end up reading it let me know :D

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dakotacrisis · 3 years

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Topsy Turvy

Hyper-fixation has been activated! Who needs to work on their wips when they can start something else entirely? Hahaha...it’d be funny if it wasn’t true.

Anyhoo! Saw this cute comic by @hannahyonana and my goblin brain latched on and wouldn’t let it go. So I give you this unofficial expansion of this wonderful comic. In short: these children are disasters in more ways than one.

---

Two weeks. That is how long Adrien would be gone. Two long and painful weeks without seeing his face or hearing his voice. Pictures and videos were well and good but they were no proper substitute for the real thing.

Marinette came to the train station to see him off and steal a few more blessed minutes with him before he departed on his work trip/vacation. She had tried to convince Alya and Nino to come so she wasn’t totally alone with him but they already had plans. Marinette hadn't heard about any plans before this so she could only assume this was another Alya scheme to give Marinette a chance to confess.

Marinette had thought about it. Telling Adrien how she felt would get a lot off this nervous tension and anxiety off her chest. He didn’t even need to respond or give her an answer. Just having him know would be enough.

But could she do it? She had tried countless times before to no avail. What made this different?

Adrien and her walked along the platform full of people bustling to get here and there. Marinette gripped the box of macarons her parents made for Adrien behind her back.

The Gorilla took Adrien’s luggage and carried it onto the train. He looked back to see if Adrien was following.

"You go on ahead, I want to say goodbye real quick." Adrien ushered his bodyguard away. The Gorilla looked between them and with a curt nod of his head disappeared inside the train.

Adrien turned back to Marinette. His hair was stylishly tousled and his smile bright and beaming. Could the boy stop modeling for even a second? How was anyone meant to keep their wits about them with that thousand watt smile?

"Thanks for coming to see me off, Mari." Adrien said.

"Of course," Marinette replied, shuffling from foot to foot. "Even if you're only gone for two weeks…"

She brought the box out from behind her back and held it out to him. "Also, this is for you from my parents. A little something to snack on during the ride."

"What! That's so sweet! Literally." Adrien took the box with glee. "Be sure to give them my thanks."

"I will,"

BEE-BOOP!

The pair looked up at the sudden sound.

"Oh, that means it's time for me to go," Adrien said with a small shake of his head.

Gone again. In just another minute he'd be out of her reach once more. Even after all this time saying goodbye felt so hard. He was only going to be gone for two weeks! He was gonna come back! Why did it hurt so much being away from him?

That familiar weight settled on her chest. So many feelings left unspoken. Secrets she was dying to share. It felt like they were smothering her.

"Before you go," Marinette halted him before he could enter the train, "I have something to tell you."

"Oh yeah?" Adrien tilted his head like a curious little puppy. Why did he have to be so cute? Marinette was sweating he was so cute. Or maybe that was just her inner terror at what she was about to say.

"Well I--you see--I…" Marinette stammered and lost her nerve, "I uh, make sure to send us pictures."

"Of course!" Adrien responded with glee. "Alright well, see you later, Marinette."

He turned to get on the train and Marinette’s heart sank. Another chance at happiness, wasted. Perhaps it was for the best.

She forced her feet to move, to carry her from this painful moment. When they did though they didn't back away. They surged forward. She was barely aware that she had reached out for Adrien until she grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Wait! That's not it!" She proclaimed loudly. Her nerves came out in the shakiness and desperation in her voice. She kept her eyes shut tight. Afraid of what she would see if she opened them.

"The truth is, I'm in love with you!" She blurted out. She let go of his shirt, her hands fisted into tight balls by her side as she quickly explained, "I'm not expecting a reply. I know you don't like me back. But have a nice trip!"

She turned on her heel and fled. Tears of anxiety or fear stinging her eyes. The last thing she heard was Adrien calling out for her to wait. Once she was far enough away she risked a glance back and saw Adrien’s face staring out the closed door in shock before the train pulled away from the station.

She stared at the now empty train track for a long time before it truly hit her. She just told Adrien she was in love with him. He was going to be thinking about how she told him she loved him for the next two weeks. Then she was going to have to face him knowing all that when he returned home.

Marinette whipped out her phone and called Alya. “I did something stupid and I need help.”

---

Adrien pulled himself away from the train door and sat down in his seat. Marinette’s parting words echoed in his ears. She loves him. She is in love with him.

When did that happen? He knew they were friends but he hadn’t expected her to be in love with him. Marinette…

He glanced down at the box in his hands. Something small and sweet to take with him. A reminder of home. A reminder of someone petite and kind that just spilled her heart out to him on the train platform.

She said she didn’t expect a response but he felt like he owed her one. She had also said she knew that he didn’t like her the same way she liked him. While it was true that Adrien’s heart had belonged to Ladybug for as long as he’s known her he did feel a warmth around Marinette. Was that love? Or was it just friendship?

Nino had a crush on Marinette. Maybe he would know. Adrien pulled out his phone and hit Nino’s number. “Hey, I’m on the train heading out but I had a question about Marinette.”

---

“Oh dear,” Alya shook her head, she covered the receiver of her phone so Marinette couldn’t hear. Not that Marinette could hear anything over the sound of her own panicked ramblings. She turned to Nino on the couch with a sly smile. “Marinette just confessed to Adrien before he went on his trip and she’s freaking out.”

“Wow, good for her, do you think Adrien will respond?” Nino asked.

“No idea,” Alya shrugged, “It’s a good thing we left them alone though. Marinette finally got the guts to say something to him.”

“Speak of the devil,” Nino held up his phone where Adrien’s contact picture flashed on the screen. He hit answer. “Hey dude, what’s up? Miss me already?”

Alya went back to listening to Marinette and trying to calm her down while Nino talked to Adrien. The both of them were panicking messes as they ranted and lamented at their respective best friends over the phone.

“I don’t really know what to tell you about your own feelings, dude,” Nino told Adrien, “Yeah I had a crush on Marinette but it only lasted a week. That’s kind of how it is with most of the people from our class.”

“What?” Adrien said.

“Yeah, literally everyone has had a small crush on Marinette at one point or another growing up. You’re like the only person who hasn’t. Which is weird considering how much she dotes on you and swoons around you. Did you really not know about her crush until today?”

“No!”

“Ah...then again you have been head over heels for Ladybug I don’t suppose you would have noticed anyone else unless they confessed to you point blank.” Nino said. He had thought that Adrien’s crush on the spotted hero of Paris was something that had been waning recently once he had agreed to go out with Kagami. But when they broke up it had returned full force.

“Marinette, hold on a second,” Alya shushed Marinette on the other line and turned to Nino with wide eyes, “Did you just say that Adrien has a crush on Ladybug?”

“Uh yeah? Why?”

“What’s going on?” Adrien asked.

“Alya is--”

Alya snatched the phone out of his hands. She held up the other phone with Marinette on the line. “Girl, I know you are spiraling right now but I am gonna need to call you back. I swear I will only be like ten minutes max. Goodbye.” she turned to Nino’s phone, “Now you, pretty boy, I’m gonna need you to repeat that for me.”

“That I have a crush on Ladybug?” Adrien answered timidly.

“How long has that been a thing?”

“Since she first showed up in Paris. Why?”

Nino saw the calculations going off in Alya’s head as she processed this information. Had she not known? He was sure she had to have known but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“Adrien, listen to me very carefully,” Alya said, “You are going to want to accept Marinette’s feelings.”

“Listen, Alya, I know that you are her best friend but--”

“No buts, Agreste!” Alya snapped, “Really listen to me here. I know that you have feelings for Ladybug. Who wouldn’t? She’s amazing but she’s also a superhero with a secret identity. Do you really think you can take Ladybug out to the movies or invite her home for dinner? How are you gonna call her? How do you plan on making that work?”

“Well I--”

“Moonlight rendezvous over the rooftops of Paris sound fine and dandy but you know what else is nice? Marinette. Tangible and readily available with romantic feelings already pre-downloaded in her core. You already call her our Everyday Ladybug. What more do you want?”

“I see your point. But that situation is a little more complicated than that.”

“No it isn’t. Do you not think Marinette is great?”

“She is. She really is.”

“Do you not think she is cute?”

“She is very adorable and attractive. I will confess to that.”

“So if Ladybug wasn’t a thing then would you consider dating Marinette?”

“I mean I guess. But Ladybug is still real and she owns my heart. I can’t just give up on her that easily.”

“Adrien, I do not know how to tell you this but you are not giving up anything by dating Marinette. She is every bit as amazing as Ladybug and you would do well to remember that. As a wise man once said, “far better than any dream girl, is one of flesh and blood, one warm and caring, and right before your eyes.””

“Did you steal that from The Little Mermaid?”

“Not the point! Just think on it. You have two weeks before you come back and make a decision. I suggest you use the time wisely and really consider what I’m telling you. I’m not just saying this because Marinette is my best friend but because I know deep in my gut that you two were made for each other. The only one that doesn’t see it is you.”

“You think we’re made for each other?” Adrien’s voice was soft and quiet. It made Alya’s heart melt.

“I do. I think that you two would make each other so incredibly happy.” Alya sighed, “But no pressure or anything. At the end of the day it is your heart and your choice. I’m just asking you to look at all the possibilities before you make a decision.”

“Okay, I’ll think on it. I promise.”

“Good. Now I gotta call Marinette back before she worries herself into a human pretzel. Bye.” Alya handed the phone back to Nino. She dialed Marinette back and wandered into her room for privacy.

“Why did you hang up on me?” Marinette asked. “I am having a crisis here!”

“Girl,” Alya’s face broke into a grin that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame. “You are not gonna believe this. Adrien’s had a crush on you this entire time. Or rather, a huge, massive, fanboy crush on Ladybug that is.”

“WHAT!”

*Two weeks later*

Well that was the longest two weeks of Adrien’s life. He had done what Alya suggested and really thought over his feelings for Marinette and Ladybug. The more he compared them the more he realized how alike they were. He knew he called Marinette their Everyday Ladybug but he hadn’t realized how true that was until now.

His heart belonged to Ladybug but he would be lying if he said he didn’t feel anything for Marinette. Adrien knew that through Alya and Nino’s eyes the answer was obvious. Marinette was their friend and classmate and she was so much closer to them then Ladybug. But they didn’t know that Adrien was Chat Noir. They didn’t know that he had a direct line to Ladybug. They didn’t know he had this already huge connection to her.

So what was there to do? Have a happy civilian life with Marinette and stop his pursuit of Ladybug? Or let Marinette down gently and keep trying to make things work with his Lady? He needed to come to a decision quick since his train was getting closer to the Paris station. What if Marinette was waiting out on the platform? What was he going to tell her?

The train came to a screeching halt that flung everyone forward. What in the world was that? HE scrambled to the window and saw the leg of a huge a robot. An akuma.

He was thinking up an excuse to leave his bodyguard when the roof of the train was ripped off. The giant robot looked in and reached out its hand and started grabbing random people and dropping them into its mouth.

He had to get out of here and transform! He made a bolt for the bathroom but the robot got him first and lifted him off the ground. He struggled to get free but he was no use against thousands of pounds of metal and magic.

“Oh no you don’t!” the robot’s arm lurched away from its mouth. Ladybug stood on a nearby building with her yo-yo drawn tight to keep the robot from dropping Adrien down its gullet. “Rena! Now!”

Rena Rouge leapt out from behind Ladybug and pounced at the akuma. She dug her flute down between Adrien and the clamp holding him captive. With a large heave she pried the clamp open enough for Adrien to wiggle free. She reached to grab him but at that moment the robot had broken free from Ladybug’s hold and the pair of them were thrown off.

“I got ya!” Ladybug swooped down and grabbed hold of Adrien. Rena was quick on her feet made a safe landing down on the ground.

They landed on a nearby rooftop for Ladybug to deposit him. “You okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, never better,” Adrien’s heart was beating wildly in his chest.

“Good,” Ladybug looked back at the akuma with a small frown, “I gotta go take care of this guy but you should be safe here.”

“Alright,”

“By the way you’re really cute and I think we should go to a movie sometime. Bye!” Ladybug said quickly and leapt back into the fight.

“Wait! What?!” Adrien shouted after her but she was already gone. He was so stunned that by the time he remembered he was Chat Noir and should be helping Ladybug and Rena Rouge had already defeated the akuma.

The miraculous cure swept across the city and Adrien was deposited back in the fixed train in his seat like nothing had happened. Well this got a whole lot more complicated!

---

(Part 2)

#affectionately named after a tag in OPs post #post gang of secrets #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #marientte dupain cheng #alya cesaire #topsy turvy #ladrien question mark?#adrinette question mark?#writing

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the-alice-of-hearts · 3 years

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Kids again Ch 1

AO3 Next>

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

Summary:

Soulmates come in twos; At least they usually did

98% of the world's population has a soulmate bond. Of those, 80% have platonic bonds. Only .2% of all soul bonds connected more than two people.

Having three soulmates is exactly the kind of cosmic joke the universe would play on a True Wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous. If it gives a boy who still had a lot of life to live a second chance, well that is still in Creation's domain, now isn't it?

Marinette loved the boy in her heart, and the other two links were twisted around each other in a way only romantic pairs could be. If only she could have loved him enough to save him /||\ Jason wanted, more than anything, to protect the girl who his heart belonged to; protect her from the harness of the world, and then from what he had become.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, let's start at the beginning.

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

The first time Jason looked into his Soulmate’s life she was happy. Whoever she was, she seemed happy. The first strong emotion that he got from her was pure bliss and a sense of major accomplishment. The first time he got to see through her eyes he was eight years old. She was rushing out the door waving goodbye to smiling parents, a thermos in one hand and a cute pink backpack in the other. He cherished this memory like no other. There were other strong emotions from the bond, most of them were similar. She was happy and seemed strong. After that, Jason tried not to let his emotions overwhelm him; he didn’t want the girl with the happy laugh and the pink backpack to see where he was.

He knew he didn’t do as good a job as he tried. The feeling of worry in his heart that he knew came from her told him so. He could feel when she worried about him not eating enough, so he tried not to go to bed hungry too often. He could feel when she would panic because she hadn’t felt anything from him for too long. He would go and listen to the musicians playing on the streets; trying desperately to feel as happy as he could for her.

When he had gotten stabbed defending another kid from a man with a knife, he wasn’t sure if his panic was his own or hers. He felt like he was watching someone die though, so he was pretty sure it was her panic feeding into his own pain. He made sure to take care of himself so that she didn’t think he had died.

This went on for a long time; him looking in and seeing small bits of her life and later try to send good things back as much as he could. He figured out she was from Paris when the Eiffel Tower was in so many of the small glimpses he saw. So, he stole an English to French dictionary. He then found a bookstore, he could steal from it pretty easily, that had a copy of a book filled with his favourite fairy tales in French. He learned French, then he took it as his language elective. Slowly, he started to understand what she was saying in his visions of her. She had a small number of friends, but they were pretty close. She still worried about him far too often, but he noticed that on days where she was worried she would go out of her way to be as happy as possible. It was like she was trying to make him warm from the inside. And on those days, when was cold and hungry and desperate for a safe place to sleep, he would hold on to her happiness and promise himself that he would be happy for her tomorrow.

When he became Robin he was worried about her finding out. What if Bruce made him stop being Robin? For this reason, he stayed quiet about his Soulmate. Most bonds were platonic anyways, so he just didn’t mention that his bond was romantic.

He hoped she would at least get to see happier emotions from him. He knew that she had to have seen some of where he grew up, but he wanted to believe that maybe she would now get to see these happier moments. Jason vowed to live every happy moment to its fullest.

He hoped she got to see Alfred teaching him to cook, and him learning how to bake all her favourite pastries. He hoped she saw Dick teaching him gymnastics, seeing all the times he fell but got back up. He wanted her to see him and Dick goofing off and the times they would go sneak off behind Bruce’s back when he told them not to skip patrol to do just that and get ice cream in the suits. He hoped she saw him and Bruce sitting in the library reading, the two of them watching movies together when he was too sick to patrol. He wanted her to see that he had a family that loved him now. He hoped that she wouldn’t worry about him so much anymore; that he wouldn’t be a burden on her anymore.

He thought he had hidden this from his new family, but somehow Alfred always knew everything. Jason almost panicked when Alfred broached the conversation while he was teaching Jason to make macarons

“Does your Soulmate have a favourite flavor, Master Jason?”

“I- uh,” he tried to come up with a way to deny it, but knew that he would never get something past Alfred. Still he tried, “What do you mean?”

Alfred smiled, not looking away from measuring the ingredients. “Growing up, my best friend had a Soulmate that grew up in a troubled home. He told me he knew when she was in a better place because she started pouring emotions into everything she did so that he could feel, as well as see, that she was safe.” Alfred turned back to the cabinet looking at their ingredients. “I just thought that you seemed to be doing something similar. I apologize if I misread the situation.”

Jason stood there thinking for a moment. He looked around and listened to make sure Bruce wasn’t about to walk into the kitchen. He moved closer to Alfred so he could whisper, ”Her name is Marinette. I heard one of her friends call her Netté, though.” When Alfred didn’t stop him from talking he kept going. “She likes matcha ones best, but she always tells her mom that she likes strawberry ones because they're less work.”

That was all that was said. They finished making the cookies and Alfred packaged them up for him to have in his room. Jason was pretty sure that Alfred knew he was hoarding food, but so long as no one stopped him and probably even if they did he would keep doing it. Living on the streets taught him that a next meal isn’t guaranteed, and even if it was unlikely he would ever go hungry under Alfred’s watchful eyes, he still wanted a back up plan if he needed to make a break for it.

The next time someone asked about her was about a year later on a stakeout in Blüdhaven with Dick. Bruce had gotten scared when Jason got hurt and wouldn’t let him patrol in Gotham until his injuries had completely healed. Jason got antsy and ran away to crash on Dick’s couch until Bruce let up on the restriction.

Dick had just sat down next to him on the building they were on. “Hey, Little Wing”

Jason turned to him. “Yeah?”

“Do you ever try to send your soulmate messages?”

Jason’s throat closed up in terror. Dick kept talking as though he hadn’t noticed Jason tensing up and planning an escape route. “It’s just, sometimes I see what he’s seeing and I don’t know how to tell him that I want to look out for him, ya know? And his dad is kinda distant, but his mom loves him a lot. I don’t know though, because sometimes I can feel dread coming from my soul link but without any glimpses into what he’s seeing. Alfred thought maybe I have a platonic soulmate that is experiencing dread. Lately I’ve only had happy and joyful feelings so I’m worried that if I do have a platonic soulmate that maybe something bad happened to them. I have no idea how I would be able to send a message to a platonic soulmate though, so I wondered if maybe you knew?”

Jason had slowly gotten more confused while listening to his brother. He hadn’t considered the possibility of having more than one soulmate. “Wait, you mean you can have more than one Soulmate? I thought Soulmates were pairs?”

Dick shrugged. “My parents explained it being more like pieces of the same picture. Most bonds are platonic and platonic bonds are more likely to be someone who you grew up near, so you would have similar experiences with similar emotional responses. That’s why people don’t always notice them, but when you have a romantic bond that you can actually see through each other's eyes, you notice, yeah?”

Jason nodded. “So you have a romantic Soulmate, but think you also have a platonic bond?”

Dick ran a hand through his hair staring out at the windows they were watching, “Yeah, I don’t know how to describe it though. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I have three soulmates. The third is a lot quieter though. My mom laughed once and told me maybe it wasn’t that I had three soulmates, but that my soulmates had another link to each other.”

“Does that happen?”

“I don’t think so, but the stories about that happening are more fairy tale than concrete evidence. I like to think I have three though. I hope that, whoever my platonic bond is, they have their own romantic bond they can lean on. I don’t know if there is anything I can do for them unless I figure out who they are.”

Jason scoffed and then went on the alert seeing movement in the room. “We’ve finally got company.”

Dick smiled and ran back a few steps. “Wanna see me do a flip into the window?”

“Ten bucks says you don’t break the glass and fall on the ground.”

He laughed at that. “Be ready to pay up, Little Wing. I’ll get the two gunmen, then you swing in and help me with the others.”

He took a running start and jumped off the roof they had been on, doing a flip to keep his momentum up. He crashed through the glass rolling into a handspring, kicking the guns out of the two goons' hands. Jason followed using his grappling hook to get across to the now-broken window.

A short fight later and they had the men all tied up. Dick called the police with the info and then they were grappling away from the scene.

“Hey, Dick?”

“Yeah?”

“Earlier you said that you wanted to figure out who your platonic soulmate was.”

Dick landed on top of the building his apartment was in, then looked at him. “Yeah. I just want to know if I can help them.”

Jason followed him down the fire escape, “I thought that soulmates knew when they found each other; you make it seem like that’s not how it works?”

Dick walked into his room to grab clothes. “When you only have one soulmate, there is a glow when you touch each other the first time. It’s your soul telling you it’s complete, but if you have more than one you only get that if you find all the pieces of your soul.”

“Oh.” He caught the pants Dick threw at him. “Thanks for talking to me about this. I guess there was a lot I didn’t know.”

They crashed on the couch to play video games and eat leftovers. The conversation hung heavy in the air, though. Jason felt like, if he talked first, he would tell Dick everything, but, if Dick had had a romantic Soulmate this whole time, then Bruce had to know about it.

He looked up at his brother from where he was laying with his legs over the side of the couch. “Does Bruce know you have a romantic Soulmate?”

Dick looked down at him from where he was perched on the back of the couch. “Yeah? Why?”

Jason shot Dick's character while he wasn’t paying attention, trying to make him stop looking at him like that. He mulled over the question while avoiding the looks Dick was still giving him during his respawn times. In a small voice he finally answered, “He didn’t make you stop being Robin?”

That made Dick pause the game. He dropped down to sit on the cushion of the couch, leaning his head over Jason to look him in the eyes. “Jason, Alfred would never let Bruce use one of us having a Soulmate as a reason to kick us out of the suit.”

Jason pushed him back so he could sit up. Turning to look at him, he took a deep breath. “He kicked me out of the suit for being hurt. He fired you and sent you here. Why would having a Soulmate be any different?”

Dick reached out and hugged Jason. He felt Dick’s shirt becoming wet from tears he hadn’t realized he was crying. “Oh, baby bird, no, that’s not gonna happen, and if Bruce tries it, then you have a place here. You did really good back there, I would love to have your help anytime.”

Jason sniffled and wrapped his arms around Dick. “What if he tries to make you send me back?”

Dick was still rubbing circles on his back, talking soothingly. “Bruce can’t make me do anything. My bank account has Alfred as my responsible party, and Clark is the name on the lease. If you want to stay here you can, and no one gets to take my brother away from me okay?” Jason nodded, still sniffling but getting his tears under control. “Now enough sad talk. How about I kick your ass in this game and tomorrow I’ll take you to the gym I use and help you with your flips.”

Jason laughed wholeheartedly at that. Sitting up and discreetly wiping his tears, he grabbed his controller again. “Don’t know why you keep trying. You’re not gonna win at this any more than I’m gonna be able to do a backhandspring tomorrow.”

And that was it.

Bruce either didn’t know about his romantic Soulmate, or he really didn’t care. Jason started keeping a journal of written notes about her. He wanted to be able to find her one day, so he needed to know everything he could.

An incomplete list of things I know about my soulmate

Her name is Marinette

Her friends also call her Netté or Mari

She drinks a lot of coffee, usually black. She grabs it on the way to class. Is that a french thing? I feel like I only ever see her with coffee? That can’t be right, maybe it’s from the all-nighters? Her friends have teased her about not sleeping before. Is that more often than I think?

She ignores her own needs to help her friends

She’s like a year younger than me I think.

Her nonna (grandmother?) calls her Marinetta or Little Fairy (could I call her Pixie?)

Lives in Paris

She has an Asian mother; Chinese?

She has an Asian name, but I don’t remember it. Her parents use it but not often enough for me to write it down

Her father is French-Italian

She is in gymnastics, but can be clumsy

Kim, Nino, and Alix are her friends.

Chloe used to be her friend. She doesn’t know what changed things

She likes to draw

She wants to be a clothing designer

She made me something? I couldn’t see what it was, but her mom was really proud of her accomplishment.

She is a really good baker

She likes matcha macarons best; but she never asks for them. She feels guilty about her parents making them just for her

She can lift a giant bag of sugar like it weighs nothing

She likes to help people

She likes pink

She is nice and good. At least I think so.

The list was in a small red notebook. It stayed with him all the time; that way whenever something happened, he could write down any details. He filled the other pages of the book with things he wanted to tell his Soulmate, small bits of his life that he wanted to share with her. He had a spot in his utility belt for it to be, and a pocket in his jacket that he kept it in. He had once shown Dick the list and the pages that he had written about him and Alfred. He smiled when Dick showed him his own similar notebook. Dick’s romantic Soulmate was also from Paris; they both wondered if their Soulmates knew each other.

Jason liked to think so

#maribat #jasonette #soulmates #kids again fic

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sixtyeightdays · 4 years

Text

Apologies don’t change anything

helloo so i did this today bc i probably would’ve procrastinated if i left this for tmr but i really wanted to write this bc i love the idea of it alot so yes here goes (yes i ended up writing half then procrastinating again but its done now so yay)

also the idea of this goes to this post by @flufflepuffle296

⚠️TW: Mentions of murder

Marinette stared blankly at the airport she had just reached. Her class had gone on a trip to New York City, where Lila had oh-so-humbly bragged about all the famous people she knew here.

Lila had gotten Max to tamper with her alarm, setting it to go off a few hours late, at 5.30am instead of the 2am alarm she’d set it to, especially since their flight was at 6 in the morning.

Marinette had gotten to her hotel room late because everyone hadn’t bothered to get their own luggage to the car, and Marinette was reprimanded for not ‘helping her classmates bring their bags on to the bus’, especially because of Lila’s ‘sprained wrist’.

She had then been forced to carry all 30 luggages and carry-ons onto the bus by herself. Thankfully, the bus driver, who was staying at the same hotel as them for convenience had noticed her trouble when she’d tripped while carrying Lila’s huge baggage.

Lila had convinced the rest of the class not to bring suitcases that could be wheeled for no good reason, and everyone had brought large duffel bags, apart from Adrien, to which Marinette was very grateful for, even if the blonde boy was still bending to Lila’s whims.

Marinette had never appreciated lifting flour bags in the bakery more.

It had taken over two hours to get al the bags on the bus, especially since her class was stupid enough, or maybe they did it on purpose, and forgot stuff in their room, which they would then come down carrying, and forcing Marinette to unpack all the bags she’d piled on top of one another so they could put their item inside.

Marinette almost screamed when Max came down for the eighth time, carrying a stupid battery that could’ve easily fit into his pocket or Markov’s tail compartment.

Marinette was no exception and her stuff was on the plane, which was now on its way back to Paris-- without her.

She probably would’ve been more mad if she’d hadn’t seen it coming, and prepared a small backpack with her, with her phone, wallet, the binder she used to plan the class trip, a bag of cookies for Tikki, the box of power-up macarons, a jar of sugarcubes for Kaalki, and a spare change of clothes.

Tikki and Kaalki were safely hidden within the pouch Marinette had at her hip, which she was eternally grateful for. The Miracle Box was hidden in Ladybug’s yoyo, which was convenient for the girl so people wouldn’t steal it.

She let out a small groan in frustration until a hand gripped her shoulder. Panicking slightly, Marinette reared back her fist and clocked her attacker in the nose.

He yelped and staggered back as the lady with him looked slightly shocked. The lady faced Marinette, who was still on the defensive, but relaxed slightly when in the scuffle, the man’s badge fell out of his pocket, showing the golden unmistakable symbol of the NYPD.

‘Oh my gods, I am so sorry!’ Marinette helped the man up blushing slightly and panicking because she’d just punched a police officer in the face.

Marinette was very grateful she spoke fluent English.

He just groaned and with the help of Marinette and the lady, he stood up, clutching his bruised nose.

She introduced herself as Nette, because even if he was the police, she didn’t really want to give her name out to someone she punched in the face. You know, so she could run away, maybe Jagged would let her stay at his old apartment in Gotham--

She snapped out of her stupor as the lady tapped her on the shoulder cautiously and introduced herself as Amy Santiago and the man Jake Peralta.

‘What are you doing here, all by yourself? You can’t be more than 16.’

Frowning, Nette evaded the topic slightly and said she was here on a class trip, but she missed her flight back. The police officer looked disapproving until she noticed the binder peeking out of Marinette’s bag.

Her expression gave way to a happy delight as she plucked the binder out of her bag, gushing about how neat it was, how she used the correct fonts to emphasise everything, and she squealed when she saw the itinerary inside of it.

‘I am so sorry for her, she’s a bit of a nerd and she loves binders.’ Jake waved his hand side to side, making a tsk sound. Marinette could tell they were either dating or married, from the way he looked at her.

‘Why don’t you come with us to the police station? It’s about a 5 minute drive away, and we’re heading back anyway. We just had to drop my sister off.’ He explained, and Amy winced at the mentioned of Jake’s sister.

Huh, wonder why.

Marinette, still slightly wary but followed the couple to their car. He was a legitimate officer, and besides it wasn’t like she had anything to lose.

She clambered into the backseat and Tikki nudged her from the purse, a small show of support and a way of saying “i’m here for you”. She pressed her hand against the purse in response, listening to the somehow comforting banter between Jake and Amy.

When they arrived at the precinct, Marinette fidgeted in the lift, slightly nervous. Paris’ police department wasn’t the most friendly, and she was not welcomed there, since apparently Sabrina had complained to her father about Marinette.

When the lift doors opened with a small ding, Marinette clutched the string of her purse tightly, led around by Amy’s comforting hand o her shoulder. As she sat down in the seat Amy asked her to, facing Amy and away from the pigsty that was Jake’s desk holy shit were those rats?

Marinette placed her bag on the ground, making sure to keep it away from Jake’s crumbs.

She looked around her, taking in her surroundings before facing Amy who had a clipboard in hand, ready to write down her statement or Mlle. Bustier’s number she didn’t know.

She looked past Amy and her eyes widened when she noticed a familiar someone in the office behind Amy. She gasped, and somehow he winced totally not hearing it from a bug in Peralta’s desk and looked up.

His eyes widened and he strode out of the office, the door opening with a small bang which made Marinette raise her eyebrow.

Amy looked confused and turned around but shot to her feet when the captain stood behind her. He was not paying attention to his detective at all, staring at Marinette like he was seeing a ghost.

‘Uh, Captain? You look like your favorite detective just died, which he didn’t I’m right here, what’s up with the look?’

He ignored Peralta and started speaking in french, which Mari reciprocated.

‘Marinette? Is that you?’

‘Yep. Your detectives picked me up at the airport when I missed my plane back to Paris.’

‘I’m going to call Kevin.’

He switched back to English, looking to Jake and a rather dumpy looking man. ‘Boyle, do you remember when I told you I shared a croque monsieur with Kevin in France? And I made one for Kevin?’

The dumpy man, Boyle, nodded.

‘Guess who gave me the recipe?’ Raymond Holt smirked, pressing send on his phone. Marinette could make out a ‘Dear Kevin, Marinette is at the precinct. Sincerely, Raymond Holt.’

Dumpy man looked slightly awestruck.

She looked at him and deadpanned. ‘Still type like an old man?’

He smirked back, much to the dumpy man, Jake and Amy’s shock. ‘Still after model boy, Marinette Agreste?’

Marinette winced. ‘Consider me divorced.’

Holt looked slightly concerned. When he had gone to Paris with Kevin maybe a year or so back, the bluenette had blushed over the blonde model Adrien Agreste, her wishing that she’d have a relationship with the boy as successful as Raymond and Kevin’s.

The elevator dinged once more before he could question the girl that was so much like a daughter to him. Marinette noticed that two more people, a woman in all black that had a dagger in her boot and a katana strapped to her leg in a discreet way --badass, she noted-- and a buff man in suspenders that made Marinette want to gouge her eyes out.

Before she could rip into him, she was attacked by a blur of plaid and ginger. It was Kevin! The girl hugged the man fiercely and him likewise.

She socked him in the stomach as soon as he let go.

‘That’s for not telling me you were leaving Paris.’ She glared at the man as he doubled over.

Badass lady smirked and whispered to Buff Suspenders. ‘I like her.’ Not that Mari couldn’t hear of course.

‘Thank you, Badass Lady.’ The lady in question looked mildly flattered. ‘My name’s Rosa, pinky.’

‘My name’s Nette!’ She chirped, the badass aura lessening slightly. ‘I like your dagger! Can you teach me how to throw one?’

Amy looked rather puzzled. There was no visible weapon on Rosa. ‘What--’

Rosa was staring at the bluenette with shock and newfound respect. Rosa reached into her boot and drew out her dagger, and it glinted in the light.

‘How’d you know it was there?’ The dagger was small enough so that while it fit snugly in her palm, the blade was still long and sharp enough to cause bodily damage. It was small enough so that it couldn’t be seen petruding out from her boot.

Marinette just smiled and shrugged, wiggling her fingers.

‘Magic.’

Marinette eyed Rosa’s pant leg that held her katana.

Rosa looked very impressed by the petite girl.

Suddenly, a groan came from behind them, and whipping around, Marinette could see two men, foodies probably, gorging themselves on Tikki’s cookies.

‘Woah woah woah, my cookies are off limits!’ One of them, the shorter one, scoffed.

‘Like you can finish this much food anyway.’ Marinette raised an eyebrow and the other man glared at the bluenette, and the two men waddled over to a room.

Marinette followed and when she entered, she could see different types of chips, cookies, cakes laid out on the table. Jake let out a low whistle.

The two men were already seated there, napkins tied around their necks as a sure sign that they were going to eat.

Mari plopped herself on the chair opposite them and the taller man, looked at Marinette disbelievingly. No way that tiny girl could eat more than him and Hitchcock.

She took it as a silent challenge and waited a few seconds before starting to eat. The squad looked shocked at the fact that not only was the girl not vomiting from eating so fast, she was keeping up with Hitchcock and Scully.

The two had evidently noticed this as well, and shovelled more food in their mouth, causing cream and icing to drip everywhere. Their napkins, clothes and the chair.

But Marinette was still eating calmly, although her jaw was working at a furious pace. However, not one thing spilled anywhere which made Dumpy Man and Buff Suspenders look thankful, muttering something about a Marge.

But by the end of the race, contest, whatever, it was evident that it was a tie. While Hitchcock and Scully had eaten more food, Marinette had not made any messes at all. Plus, Marinette was only one person, while Hitchcock and Scully were two.

Needless to say, by the end of the day everyone had grown fond of the girl who could kick everyone’s asses and still look like a ball of sunshine.

She had ripped into Buff’s stupid suspenders, and he had been insulted until Marinette used the old sewing machine in Holt’s office that he had marched into the break room because he knew firsthand how amazing Marinette was at designing (Kevin had also been on the receiving end of her fashion administrations and it was not pleasant, although the end product was)

She fixed Terry’s suspenders, making the colors match for kwamis’ sake, and he had been very proud and paraded around the whole of the precinct.

Gina, who had just come back from the bathroom where she was totally not watching monkeys walk into an invisible wall had noticed Terry’s new suspenders and walked to the break room, and looking at the bluenette sew, fixing Charles’ tie because “yellow does not go with light orange what the hell were you thinking, dumpy”.

Gina asked Marinette if she wanted to be a fashion designer, because she definitely had the talent, and Mari smiled, saying that she was already one, but she went under an anonymous alias.

‘Ooh, we do love a good mystery. What’s your alias? Maybe I’ll commission a piece from you, I’ve been telling Charles to burn that horrible yellow tie for ages.’

‘My brand’s called MDC.’

She said this with the most innocent face she could as everyone around her freaked out that this barely 16 year old girl was one of the most up and rising designers, beating Gabriel Agreste in sales.

Even Jake knew who MDC was, but that was mostly because MDC was Jagged Stone’s personal designer. (He did freak out when Gina told him that MDC designed Jagged’s album covers from Rock Giant onwards)

Gina spent half an hour coaching Marinette on how to strut down the runway “like Catwoman slinking off into the night like the sexy queen she is”. Turns out, Marinette was a natural. (‘You need to work on that blushing though.’)

Eventually night fell and Marinette didn’t have anywhere to stay. Everyone offered their homes, even Rosa.

She eventually decided to go with Terry because why not, and she also wanted to fix the rest of his suspenders and maybe make him a suit that wouldn’t tear when he moved.

Turns out, Sharon took to Mari immediately, Cagney and Lace even more so. Marinette had loads of experience babysitting, she babysitted terrors on a weekly basis, ahem Manon, Ella, Etta, Chris, and so Cagney and Lacey were bascially nothing.

She loved the two and they loved her too, saying that “Mimi” was definitely the best babysitter they’d had, and Sharon and Terry agreed after seeing how easily the three got along. Marinette knew what made them tick, what made them tired and what made them happy, and nothing got past her.

When Lacey tried to steal cookies, Marinette was there, booping the girl on the nose and handing her one and telling her that she would’ve given them one if they had asked, but since they didn’t, only one cookie for the night.

That had the two of them sharp at attention and they went to sleep without a fuss for once, Sharon and Terry cried at the peaceful silence they hadn’t had in almost a decade.

Rosa taught Marinette to throw knives, which was kind of the same as a yoyo, just with more force necessary and a different angle of throwing. Marinette, using her cool guardian voodoo, summoned an undetectable dagger, that couldn’t be detected by metal detectors.

‘Why do you have this?’

‘...Why not?’

‘...Fair enough.’

Dumpy Man, also known as Charles, had taken to Marinette almost immediately, firstly because of the brilliant croque monsieur, and secondly because of the amazing paella recipe she shared with him.

Nikolaj had declared Marinette his ‘big sister Arin’ after trying one mouth of the paella and saw the girl talk back to his dad. Genevieve loved Marinette, who had made her a new scarf as soon as she noticed the drabby scarf that she was wearing.

Amy loved that Mari could keep up with her puzzles and riddles. The bluenette was amazingly clever and even gave Amy ideas on making a new binder. Jake loved that the girl was the MDC and even more so when he saw how well Amy and Mari got along.

Jake, Amy, Kevin and Holt got into a fight on who should have custody of Mari while she was here. (She ended up alternating the days she stayed with everyone in the squad.)

Marinette had ended up bonding with Hitchcock and Scully the most, forcing the two to clean their desks, goddamnit, and Hitchcock happened to be a big fan of Clara Nightingale, who was one of Mari’s closest friends and clients.

The fact that Scully spoke French, Hitchcock loved French pastries and Marinette living in a bakery helped matter loads too.

Eventually, the fact that Marinette was Ladybug became the squad’s most closely guarded secret. She’d gotten caught because Holt was a nosy parent and decided to pry into Marinette’s purse and conveniently found a cookie nibbling Tikki and a haughty looking Kaalki.

Jake had fangirled big time when Ladybug, looking rather grumpy, swung in and smacked the baddie on the head with her yoyo, hard enough that he’d go unconscious. Turns out, Ladybug was a very popular figure in New York.

After about a week in New York, Mari finally had to leave for Paris again. She was dreading it because of what lies Lila probably spun into making everything Mari’s fault, which made the girl dissolve into a small panic attack, and Rosa, Terry, Kevin, Amy, Jake and Gina wanted to commit cold blooded murder to the people that made this girl as sad as she was when she deserved the whole world.

Holt was very tempted to let them.

The squad and Kevin took a week of leave and followed Mari back to Paris, escorting her all the way to her classroom. Mr. Damocles had tried to stop them but a glare from Rosa and the sight of Terry’s muscles made him squeak and back away.

They could all hear the false tales pouring out of Lila’s mouth as soon as they reached the outside of the classroom.

‘Mlle. Bustier, surely Marinette will be punished for skiving off school and playing truant?’

They could hear Mlle. Bustier’s voice dripping with disappointment. ‘Rest assured, Lila, she will be punished accordingly.’

This made Amy extremely mad, hearing them talk so crudely about the girl she cared for very much, and she slammed the door open. The class jumped at the sound of the door hitting the wall, and Mlle. Bustier winced when Holt’s deadly glare looked her straight in the face.

It was then that the class noticed Marinette, who was feeling afraid and hiding behind Charles and Jake.

Max shot up to his feet when his eyes landed on Kevin. That was the Kevin Cozner, one of the most famous and respected teachers known to all of humanity.

Said Kevin had both hands on Marinette’s shoulders, pinning Max with a stare that made the boy’s feet turn stiff and he sat back down.

Murmurs and yells broke out in the classroom and Mlle. Bustier internally sighed at the trouble Marinette was causing. Really, if the girl didn’t skip school and cause a dramatic entrance, she would have been going through the lesson and maybe even getting a promotion, considering Kevin Cozner was here.

She mentally groaned and composed herself, wrenching Marinette out of Kevin’s grip and dragging her to the front of the classroom, where she proceeded to berate the girl loudly for skipping school for a week and causing an unnecessary scene in school.

Instead of looking frustrated or upset and cowing like the teacher though Marinette would be, Marinette only smiled coolly at the teacher. Amy strode forwards, plopping a stack of papers in the hands of the teacher before turning to Marinette and checking her arm, which now had purple bruises standing out in contrast to her pale skin.

Charles looked furious, and when Mlle. Bustier spluttered upon looking at the papers, which in bold, had the words ‘Sued’ on them, he took great pleasure in saying loudly, “You just got served, Caline Bustier.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but then seemed to remember her students’ presences, and those students were currently looking at the exchange between the foreigners and their teacher with rapt attention.

Mlle. Bustier smiled nervously and raised her hands as if to placate the squad and change their minds about suing her.

‘Let’s talk in the corridor. More privacy.’ She explained, striding to the door. She stopped adruptly a dagger was pressed to the teacher’s throat.

She gulped and went slightly crosseyed looking down at the dagger before saying that the children shouldn’t see this and repeating that they should go out in the corridor to talk.

Suddenly, a voice spoke up from the room. It was Sabrina, looking confident and proud and very unlike the meek and timid student who constantly answered to Chloe’s every whim.

‘You didn’t give Marinette that liberty.’

Chloe didn’t look surprised when Sabrina stood up, looking up at the girl proudly. She then stood up and put in a word.

‘You just dragged Marinette to the front of the classroom and tried to scold her when you were the one who listened to Lie-la and didn’t bother to do a headcount before leaving the hotel, hell, before boarding the plane.’

‘You left her in New York City,’ chimed Sabrina, leering at the teacher, who shrunk back into herself.

‘Who do you think paid for her ticket back?’ Chloe smirked.

‘Goodbye, Caline Bustier.’ They spoke in unison.

Mlle. Bustier paled. Gina looked like she wanted to run away with Chloe and Sabrina, and Marinette looked to the two gratefully, the former giving the girl a nod while the other smiled broadly.

Amy spoke again, grinning manically at the redheaded teacher, reciting everything that she’d done wrong in her years as a teacher, whether it be when she was teaching old students from almost a decade ago, or now, when she was teaching Marinette’s class.

“Yes, Rosa, I learnt French specifically for this. I took a seminar, called The French Way to Reprimand A Crap-sack.”

Mlle. Bustier dug herself an even deeper hole as she frantically tried to pile the blame on Marinette, who was pressing the bruises on her arm with morbid fascination.

Gina leaned towards Caline, her breath hot against the teacher’s ear as she drawled in a rather threatening voice. “I know every little secret you have. It’d be best if you’d just mosey on out.”

Bustier shook her head even more, doubting Gina, who took great pleasure in calling out Mlle. Bustier’s shortcomings and dirty little secrets that she’d tried so desperately to bury.

“Caline Bustier. You had a student named Bridgette Jaeng a few years back. She died. Her death was written off as a accident, when that really wasn’t the case, was it.”

Her voice, although rather soft, echoed loudly in the room, ringing in the ears of Marinette’s classmates who turned to look at their teacher with horrified expressions on their faces.

“No! She--” Gina continued as if Mlle. Bustier hadn’t said anything at all.

“She fell down the stairs.” Gina made air quotes when she said fell. “She was pushed down the stairs by her bullies. She broke her neck on impact, and Bustier?” She laughed wryly.

“She saw the whole thing, but didn’t do anything to stop her students. She even went so far as to turn the security cameras off.”

Caline was growing increasingly pale but didn’t say anything for fear of making it worse.

“You bribed the principal of this school to hire you.” Gina’s voice, quiet and deadly cut through the tension in the room, and as if a dam broke, all hell broke loose and chaos was ensued.

Gina spoke up again, effectively making the class quiet down.

“You told Marinette to be the ‘best Marinette she could be’. You told her to not do anything when Lila and he posse bullied her. You turned off the cameras again when Lila walked down the stairs and sat there, bawling and lying about how Marinette pushed her down the stairs.” Gina’s voice came out in a hiss.

“You didn’t tell them how Marinette was expelled, huh. It was because Lila framed her for stealing a necklace that was found in her locker. But none of the students here are allowed to use locks for some stupid reason.’

The evidence was overwhelming. The contrast of the yelling from minutes ago was now replaced with a deadly silence as they mulled over Gina’s words.

Officer Raincomprix had shown up and arrested Caline a few minutes later, courtesy of Sabrina.

As Caline Bustier was dragged out of the room, she yelled on last time. “What gives you the right to arrest me? I was only looking out for my students!”

Holt smirked smugly, and everyone in the squad, bar Gina and Kevin, held up their badges, with the very unmistakable logo of the NYPD.

Caline was forcefully dragged away, shocked. And as she sat in the solitary confinement of her prison cell almost a month later, thinking about what she’d done, there was a knock on the door. The one person Caline thought she’d never see again stood in the doorway, the bars being the only separator between the ex teacher and her ex student.

Caline didn’t trust herself to speak, only staring at the girl.

Marinette stood there, patiently waiting for her to speak.

When she did, the only thing that came out of her mouth was, “I’m sorry.”

Marinette smiled. Not a pitying one, not a smug one, no. It was a sad smile.

“Apologies don’t change anything.” Marinette told her old teacher. “I can’t speak for Bridgette, but for what it’s worth, I forgive you.”

4.2k words

well yes. feedback and thoughts appreciated

i didnt reread this bc i dont like reading my own works they make me cringe so if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes im sorry oops

Asks are Open!

#caline bustier bashing #caline bustier salt #b99 #brooklyn nine nine #marinette is a queen #miraculous ladybug #mlb #gina is a savage #lyra speaks #hope u enjoyed this bc it took me a whole week to write

158 notes · View notes

miraculouscontent · 4 years

Note

If you've already got a text summary of the special written up, it'd be awesome if you posted it. The only clip I've seen so far is of the magic hot dog guy; I'm curious what else happened.

No problem, here you go!

(note: I make some idly comments just because I never planned to post this, so sorry about that if it bothers you!)

- Mr. Pigeon is akumatized again and is trying to take the Eiffel Tower to space. Ladybug and Chat Noir use the pink (space) macarons to fly after him (there is no fanfare made about this by the way).

- Post-battle, yellow rose scene happens where Chat finds a "loophole" to Ladybug telling him not to give her flowers by insisting that it means friendship (I’m not sure what the obsession is with putting a label on their relationship?). Obvious shipping fuel follows with Ladybug absolutely PRAISING Chat Noir for being such a good partner+friend, which clearly strokes Chat Noir's ego.

- Marinette is going to school when she stops to take a picture of a new Adrien poster. Tikki groans and whines at her about it (”I thought you stopped taking pictures of Adrien”), but Marinette tries to say that it's different.

- What I’m gathering is that she's making an attempt to move on from "Miracle Queen" or has said that she's doing it but hasn't made the full leap.

- We’re shown a weird French-American sock puppet short that the students all made together pre-field trip. Miss Bustier says that she can't come on the trip because she's pregnant. The students loudly whine about Ms. Mendeleiev (who is peeking her head in so they haven't seen her), which Ms. Mendeleiev is hurt by.

- Sadrien (get used to Sadrien by the way) reveals that he can't come either because of his father. Lila tries to "comfort" him by saying that she can't go because of charity work and Marinette interrupts to give a speech about how she WILL convince Adrien's father to let him come because Adrien's her friend (”I-I mean, OUR friend!”; for some reason, the special like to stress Marinette differentiating between Adrien being Marinette’s friend versus everyone’s friends and it’s a little heavy-handed even though I know it’s Marinette’s nerves at work).

- Next scene is Alya and co. teasing/mocking Marinette for her crush and her calling Adrien a "friend". Marinette tries to talk about how exhausting it was crushing on him and it's easier just being friends. (I also have to add that it TICKS ME OFF because Marinette lists off the things that she's no longer doing and then Alix has to make a comment about things that she's probably still doing). Alya points out how "rOMaNtIc" a trip to New York will be and if Marinette's going to be okay with it. Marinette's priorities, however, are on convincing Gabriel.

- Gabriel and Nathalie are watching a news broadcast of a museum in New York and Nathalie points out an eagle miraculous. Marinette then shows up at the gate and, after being let in, Gabriel accepts her demand for Adrien to go. He later tells Nathalie that it's simpler than trying to hide his absence from him while he goes to New York himself.

- Kagami and Adrien are fencing. Sadrien is sulking after being beaten and vents to Kagami about how he wished that he could go on the trip. Kagami admits that she's sad for him, but happy for “him and her” because it means that they'll get to practice more. She kisses his upper lip (earning a brief smile from Adrien), then leaves.

- Marinette is excited about getting to go to New York with Adrien and is loudly cheering about it while skipping down the street. She catches Tikki grinning at her cheekily and tries to calm himself. Tikki then asks who's going to protect Paris while they're gone (I FEEL LIKE THIS WOULD'VE BEEN A GOOD QUESTION TO ASK A LONG TIME AGO??) and Marinette assures Tikki that she has a plan.

- At night, Ladybug tells Chat Noir about how she's going to be away but can't tell him any more than that. Chat groans about it because "sEcReT iDeNtItIeS" but agrees. Ladybug gives him a little ladybug-themed remote and shows him a cat toy she has. When he presses the button on the remote, the cat vibrates, so that's how he can warn her if something happens (she stresses seriously to him that it's only for emergencies).

- The next day, Gabriel is telling Adrien that he can go on the trip and Adrien nervously tries to refute by asking about his fencing/Chinese lessons. Gabriel points out that Nathalie packed his bags already and we get Sadrien again (they really did just make Gabriel wait a day to tell him so we could get Sadrien twice oh my gosh--) because he promised Ladybug he'd protect Paris. Plagg encourages him to go and Adrien eventually agrees on the pact of "what she doesn't know won't disappoint her," because Adrien has the akuma alert on his phone and the space macaron to "fly back quickly."

- Cue generic scene of Gabriel monologuing to Emilie ("mY lOvE, iT pAinS mE tO sEpArAtE fRom yOu fOr sO lOnG bUt--") and setting a rose on her coffin.

- Marinette is apparently running late for the bus. Luka is riding her there on his bike and insists that they'll make it because of how important the trip is to her. Marinette agrees, but asks if he means that it's important because of Adrien and tries to deny it. Luka simply smiles (not a sarcastic/mocking one that everyone else gives her) and waits for the bus to stop to explain that the importance he was referring to was this trip being used for getting her some clarity. She smiles, thanks him, and kisses his cheek before stepping onto the bus, continuing to look at Luka before the doors close. She turns afterward, sees Adrien, then blushes uncomfortably and smiles nervously as she walks along.

- There was some mini-plot about Chloe not wanting to go and then being forced to go but it's just there to stall for time really.

- On the plane, Adrien tries to find some media to look at but everything is basically either Ladybug+Chat Noir based or some film about Paris being destroyed. Marinette is looking for her seat and it turns out that she's sitting next to Adrien. Marinette is nervous and Alya teases/mocks Marinette again (get used to this) about "ohhh go sit next to your fRiEnD (get used to this especially), Marinette, for a vERY lOnG and cLoSE flight!"

- Marinette is even more nervous now (hm, wonder why) and sits next to Adrien, but is clearly panicked and struggling to breathe. Adrien tries to ask what's wrong, to which Marinette claims that it's hot. She tries to make things cooler by turning some knobs above her and Adrien puts his hands right over hers and insists that she let him help. Her panic in response ends with her seat flopping back and Adrien landing on top of her.

- She freaks out more and rushes to Alya to say that she can't do it and will need more help being "just a friend" to Adrien. Alya says that she can "just get off the plane" because of how romantic New York is and starts listing off scenarios. Marinette screams in horror and says that she has to "get out of here," to which Alya calls out for Ms. Mendeleiev to say that Marinette is getting airsick and should sit closer to the middle (Marinette literally just admits that she has to get out so I guess Alya's whole thing about getting off the plane was a lie) and Ms. Mendeleiev refuses until the students start complaining that "Miss Bustier would've let her move." Ms. Mendeleiev softens (this plot point goes nowhere by the way) and moves so Marinette can have her seat. Marinette tries to distract herself, but the magazine in front of her has Adrien's picture on it.

- Note: there's a running gag about Gorilla doing nothing for this whole special because he's airsick and has his player continuously going to relax him. It will cut back to him multiples times while they're in New York with him doing nothing but relaxing.

- Cut to the plane post-takeoff. Marinette wakes up at night to Mr. Damocles spilling popcorn on her because he's asleep. He falls over her and she gets up to sigh. She goes past all the ships (DJWifi, Myvan, and Julerose) then goes to the bathroom to clean up. However, the plane jostles and she gets soaked; her shirt is wet and she has toilet paper in her hair. Thoroughly miserable, she tries to go back to her seat, but Mr. Damocles is sleeping on it, so she goes out to the plane's nearest window to look at the sunrise. Adrien shows up out of nowhere to talk about how beautiful it is and the plane jostles to force them together. Alya conveniently wakes up and looks to see Marinette and Adrien together (now standing normally next to each other). Alya wakes up Nino and they watch them together.

- Blatant shipping fuel time: "*softly* You've got something, Marinette." "S-something?" "*now obliviously* Yeah, there, in your hair."

- Alya is annoyed and Nino goes on about how Adrien has a hard time understanding the signals people send him. Alya argues "what signals?? Marinette isn't exactly sending them clearly!" Nino wishes that the trip could "finally help Adrien come out of his shell" while Alya wishes that Marinette "could be more honest with herself and clear about her feelings." They then get a simultaneous idea for "Operation: New York"

- Adrien hugs Marinette in thanks for what she did to get him on this trip and she's nervously babbling about "oh sure what are friends for" and makes some comment about Adrien's cologne. The plane then jostles, forcing them apart.

- A supervillain (Techno Pirate) is attacking the plane. Cue Alya basically introducing everyone (Majestia, Knightowl, Uncanny Valley, and Sparrow) while the plan is being saved. Marinette and Adrien considered transforming but end up not having to (Mr. Damocles goes to turn into his "superhero persona" but the day is already saved once he comes back).

- More exposition on the bus ride around New York as Marinette points to something off-screen and Alya explains that it's a superhero directing traffic because "there's a superhero for everything around here." However, she quickly diverts to asking Marinette about her "friend" (she's done this like thrice by now and two of them have been with airquotes and I'm extremely annoyed). Marinette brushes it off that it was "just as friends" and Alya seethes in frustration.

- Meanwhile, Nino stops Adrien from looking at his phone (he's looking at Paris news) by grabbing his face and turning his gaze towards Marinette, saying that Adrien should "open his eyes and take it all in" (Alya is very non-subtly pointing at Marinette). Adrien turns his gaze elsewhere and agrees that it's beautiful.

- Once the students are in the building they’ll be staying in, Aeon (an android and Uncanny Valley’s civilian form) is scanning all the students with her Special Eyes™️, but notices that two students are missing. She looks to see that Marinette and Adrien are stuck between two sets of double doors because the second set isn't opening, leaving them in a relatively small space. Marinette tries to get it open, but just slams face-first into the glass. Adrien tries to help but she panics at his touch. Aeon opens the door while Marinette happens to be leaning on it, so Marinette falls forward onto the floor and her luggage spills everywhere.

- A male teenager notices Marinette (oddly doesn’t laugh at her which was nice) and recognizes her and the others as "the cool kids who made that sock puppet movie" (from the beginning). Adrien is helping Marinette with her things and their hands brush, leading Marinette to pull away nervously.

- A small distance away, Jessica (Aeon’s friend and Sparrow’s civilian form) is groaning about "watching a bunch of kids" while Aeon points out Adrien and Marinette and says that "they're made for each other". Jessica angrily tells her "not again" (Aeon argues that she "was programmed to help people”) and tells her to stop interfering with people's private lives, to which Aeon relents and agrees to just protect the students.

- Ms. Mendeleiev gives everyone a curfew and they groan about it, but go off to their room anyway. The guy from earlier whispers to them and explains that he and his buds are throwing a party on the roof later that night. He also winks at Sabrina, who blushes and gets teased by Alya (who still finds a way to be like, "and you, Sabrina, might make a fRiEnD *nudges Marinette, who looks very done right now, as do I*"). Chloe then interrupts to complain about the idea and march off.

- Alya and Marinette get stuck in the same room as Chloe and Sabrina (this goes nowhere and is literally only brought up in this one scene). Aeon and Jessica are spying on them and Jessica is, again, groaning about how boring this all is.

- Cut to later that night when everyone is sneaking out. Ms. Mendeleiev hears them and goes to investigate, so Alya+Nino and Adrien+Marinette duck into separate rooms. Adrien and Marinette happened to stumble into Aeon and Jessica's room (Aeon is admiring them like her ship is happening). Marinette nervously greets them and is all "this is my friend Adrien who is just a friend." Aeon leans towards Jessica and whispers that "see? they're made for each other," to which Jessica sighs and just tells Adrien and Marinette how to get to the rooftops without being detected. Aeon waits for them to leave, then asks Jessica why she did that ("I thought we weren't supposed to meddle") but Jessica just says that they might as well have something to watch if they're supposed to keep an eye on them. Jessica picks up her guitar and heads up to the rooftops.

- Meanwhile, Sabrina is sulking in her room when the guy who winked at her earlier opens the window and helps her out so she can come up to the roof. (this also goes nowhere, by the way)

- Everyone is dancing to music when a hotdog superhero appears (Jessica comments that he usually teams up with ketchup and mustard superheroes but is going solo tonight) and offers everyone hot dogs. The hot dogs are magic and make things happen (such as exhaling pretty sparks of light, changing skin color, etcetera). However, by the time Nino+Alya and Adrien+Marinette get to them, there are only two left. Each "ship" takes a single hot dog, but while Marinette tries to just pass it off to Adrien (who then tries to pass it back), Nino breaks it in half and gives it to both of them. Nino and Alya's hot dog gave them high-pitched voices while Marinette and Adrien's makes them fly. Jessica now agrees that Aeon was right and "they really seem to be made for each other."

- Alya approaches at Jessica’s comment to say that the situation is "far from simple." Realizing that Jessica plays guitar, Alya asks her to play a specific song. Jessica does, and Adrien points out to Marinette that it's the song they danced to at Chloe's birthday (excuse me? no it wasn’t) party. Marinette agrees and Adrien asks her to dance again, holding out his hand. The gesture freaks Marinette out and she nearly goes flying off before he grabs her hand and pulls her into a dancing position (just like "Despair Bear," by the way, Marinette hasn't agreed to anything by the time he pulls her into a dancing position). They slowly spin ("dance") together in front of the full moon.

- The next day, Alya is asking Marinette about the dance and Marinette tries to insist it was a friendly dance (Alya is annoyed). Alya then gets sidetracked by the civilian form of "Doorman" (superheroes don’t care much about secret identities in New York) a superhero who creates portals using doors. She leaves to try and get a quote from him for the Ladyblog.

- Cut to later. Jessica looks over and sees that Marinette and Adrien are stuck between two sets of automatic doors (yes, again), with Marinette desperately waving at the sensor to try and get the doors to open. Each time the doors open, however, she tries to go through and the doors slam shut before she gets there, her face smacking against the surface. Jessica groans and Aeon comments that Marinette and Adrien go through "repetitive behaviors."

- Marinette talks to Adrien about how they always seem to "end up together--STUCK together!", to which Adrien is all, "I don't mind being stuck somewhere with a friend like you." (if shipping fuel was tangible, I’d be choking on it by now)

- Jessica comments that it might help if Adrien and Marinette found each other in a "dangerous situation." Alya asks Jessica if she's out of her mind and Aeon comments that "two people confronted with extreme situations often cause their feelings for each other to become strong" (thanks for clarifying how invalid "Oblivio" is I guess??).

- While Marinette is still struggling to force the double doors open and squeeze through, Jessica explains a plan to invent a fake supervillain (who threatens to kidnap anyone who "nobody loves)" and how Alya just needs to get Adrien and Marinette alone in a specific room together. Then, the supervillain would threaten Adrien, and Marinette would confess to show that Adrien isn't unloved. Alya goes through the whole "so stupid it just might work" thing and they agree to help. Nino is impressed and is about to ask how they plan to invent the supervillain, but are cut off by the sound of the double doors. They all look over to see Marinette on top of Adrien, on the floor, and the double doors keep opening and closing on them.

- In a car, Gabriel is explaining some sort of history about the Marquis de Lafayette (Gilbert du Motier) and talking about how the guy had an incredible ability to galvanize people, but he thinks that it was a miraculous at work. Gabriel tells Nathalie to "take care" of Paris while he takes care of New York. He transforms in the car (the license plate says “TSURUGI-1″ for some reason).

- He akumatizes Techno Pirate (who was being driven away by police who I guess must’ve been taking their sweet time) into Techclonizer and tells him to go get the saber that Gabriel and Nathalie were viewing earlier.

- Everyone's at the museum when Alya tells Marinette to go get a picture of the saber. Marinette agrees (suspecting nothing) while Nino pretends to have lost his headphones and asks Adrien to go look for them in a particular room. Doorman (who's in civilian form because everyone knows his identity) is rambling about how much he'd love to get into a specific safe in the Statue of Liberty or something (out of curiosity, not because he's evil) and Alya asks him why he doesn't just make a portal there. He says that superpowers should never be used for personal gain and then talks about how it wouldn't matter because the key is in the Eiffel Tower.

- Adrien and Marinette see each other in the saber room and Aeon closes the doors so they can't get out. Adrien then gets an akuma alert about Robostus terrorizing Paris, but points out that it doesn’t make sense because Markov is with the group. Marinette checks her purse to have Tikki confirm that Chat Noir hasn't contacted her with the cat toy.

- Jessica and Aeon are confused at why nothing is happening between Marinette and Adrien (since they're distracted). Jessica turns the lights off and Aeon makes a hologram of the fake supervillain, only for Hawk Moth's supervillain to bust into the room. Aeon notes that she can't get a read on him, as if magic is interfering with her scanning tools. Jessica and Aeon then touch the matching bracelets they have that instantly transform them into their superhero forms.

- Tikki doesn't know what to do and Plagg is asking Adrien about going back to Paris and warning Ladybug. Everyone else in the museum is finally catching on that something is happening and they flee. Doorman transforms into his superhero self with his own bracelet so he can make a portal for everyone to escape into. Sparrow tries to contact the United Heroes, but her communicator is shot. Uncanny tries to leave via Doorman's portal (Doorman's like "Let the AdULtS handle this!") but the supervillain grabs her and yanks her back. Apparently, his tentacles steal Uncanny's powers, but only some of them(? She can still fly so--?).

- Adrien sees a tower about to collapse on Marinette and transforms, only for Uncanny to plow the supervillain (again, she can still fly) into the pillar that Chat Noir was hiding behind, causing the rubble to fall all over them. Marinette also transforms, then helps Sparrow up, but sees Chat Noir in the process. Chat Noir asks about Marinette and Ladybug says that she got her to safety, but presses on asking Chat Noir about why he's not in Paris.

- Hawk Moth, meanwhile, tells Nathalie to get rid of the sentimonster in Paris. While the teenage heroes are taking the fight with Techclonizer elsewhere, Hawk Moth descends into the room in the museum to steal the eagle miraculous while everyone else is distracted.

- Sparrow asks Chat Noir if they came to help them out and Chat Noir lies and says that they came "in honor of French-American friendship week" (Ladybug rolls her eyes). Ladybug and Chat Noir then charge into battle and Sparrow comments on how Ladybug and Chat "don't need anyone's permission to fight." Ladybug uses the comment to chide Chat Noir because he didn't tell her about going to New York. Uncanny asks Sparrow if she warned the adult heroes and Sparrow says that she couldn't, but they don't need them. Sparrow says that she wants them to prove themselves that they can be just like Ladybug and Chat Noir (cue obvious joke about Sparrow saying, "They're such a great team!" and then faltering at seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir mid-argument).

- Also, as usual, Chat Noir is the one faltering in battle while they're arguing and Ladybug is the one staying on top of things even though she's mid-scolding him.

- "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" "I was afraid you'd get angry!" "And you were right!"

- Chat uses Cataclysm (completely unpromoted) and Ladybug uses Lucky Charm, the latter getting a bicycle pump. Chat asks what she's going to do with it and Ladybug says she has an idea but Chat wouldn't like it (while tapping the bike pump against her hand with a look like "bOY I'M ABOUT TO SMACK U GOOD").

- Chat reiterates that he didn't tell her because he was afraid of losing her trust. Ladybug is basically like, "Uh, yeah??? I can't trust you anymore." Chat, who was in the middle of protecting Sparrow, drops his baton in shock. Techno Piraye targets him, grabbing him and throwing him towards Ladybug.

- Uncanny jumps in front of Ladybug and Chat Noir ends up Cataclysming her by accident, powering her off completely as she rusts with cracks forming in her armor. Everyone is horrified and Majestia (who I presume has psychic powers or some connection to Uncanny despite not showing up earlier to help fight) is heard screaming from up in the sky. Majestia swoops down and punches Techclonizer through a bunch of buildings. Hawk Moth de-akumatizes him and insists that that's enough for now, then approaches in his car and tells the Techno Pirate to get in and leave the saber behind.

- Knightowl descends on the situation, seeing the saber and squinting at it (idk what this is supposed to tell me).

- Majestia is sobbing over Uncanny's... idk, corpse? Uncanny also de-transforms (Ladybug and Chat recognize her and gasp in horror). Majestia's all like, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE" (no, I don't know how she knows that they did anything; also, bold of Majestia to ask that question when she probably just killed a few people in her rage of punching Techno Pirate through several buildings). Chat Noir quietly admits that it's his fault (yeah see she didn't know and just PUNCHED the supervillain so like--????) and Knightowl shows up, asking Sparrow why she (I say “she” but both Knightowl and Sparrow are considered males by the public and use male voice filters in superhero form) didn't call and asking Ladybug and Chat Noir what they're doing there. Ladybug insists that she can help and Knightowl angrily is like, "What?? With your magic bicycle bump?" Ladybug frowns, but is like, "Precisely," then uses Miraculous Ladybug to heal all the damage and thus bring Aeon back.

- Majestia thanks Ladybug, but Knightowl still goes off on Ladybug and Chat Noir. Sparrow tries to defend them, but Knightowl yells at Sparrow for not calling and disobeying (not letting Sparrow get a word in edge-wise). Knightowl demands that Ladybug and Chat revert to their civilian forms and hand her "the source of their powers," which they can have back when they leave town. Ladybug points out that she fixed everything (I presume this includes the people that Majesta may’ve injured or killed) and Knightowl says that if her "power" (she says it very mockingly) is fixing Chat Noir's mistake (dunno how Knightowl heard Chat’s quiet mutter of, “It’s all my fault,” considering that she only came on the scene afterwards), they don't need her. Majestia says it's for the best and is like but what if you couldn't have fixed her or if she wasn't an android??? (gee, I dunno, Majestia, what if she hadn’t fixed the damage YOU did either?)

- Ladybug whispers to Chat Noir that they can't give up their miraculouses. They bail and Knightowl follows them for about five seconds before losing them.

- Ladybug and Chat Noir escaped into the sewers and Ladybug says that they have to get back to take care of Robostus. However, she looks at the news on her yoyo to see that Robostus is gone and Paris is severely damaged. Chat asks if she can just make a Lucky Charm while they're in Paris and Ladybug explains that her power simply makes a magical object that repairs damage caused by a specific villain, but the villain in Paris is already gone, so nothing can be done. They solemnly walk off to separate sides of the sewer (you don't need to see this shot by the way because it's basically a copy of the one from "Mayura").

- Chat Noir says that it's his fault and that Ladybug was perfect as always (I don’t know why the show continues to pretend like Chat thinks Ladybug is perfect when he’s constantly questioned her before), and also that Knightowl was right to try and take his miraculous because he left Paris without telling Ladybug. He also comments that, if Aeon hadn't been a robot, he would've caused "irreparable" harm (how convenient; also, I have no idea what he means by that and need elaboration; Miraculous Ladybug already fixes everything Cataclysm harms - even when Plagg destroyed so much of Paris - so I fail to see why it wouldn’t fix a person).

- Marinette and Adrien de-transform, and Adrien apologizes to Plagg before renouncing him. Marinette is shocked and looks over as she sees the cat being put down on the floor (she doesn't see Adrien; only his arm). He says that he doesn't want to hurt anyone, "least of all [Ladybug]," to which Marinette goes to chase him (”Wait!”) but stops when realizing that she's de-transformed so he’d see her identity. Sadrien runs off crying and Marinette can only tearfully call out to him, getting no response.

- Elsewhere, Gabriel puts on the eagle miraculous and the eagle kwami is summoned. She calls out to "Gilbert" (the Marqee guy) before turning and realizing that the one who put on the miraculous was not in fact her original holder. Gabriel goes on about how he hopes the miraculous can give him what he wants and she (warily) explains that she's "Liiri, the kwami of freedom. My power is basically to free people from anything that prevents them from reaching their full potential, nothing too powerful. [nervous chuckle]". Gabriel points out that it's all he needs to seize Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous and Liiri cowers in fear.

- Ms. Mendeleiev is counting up her students and Nino+Alya point out that Adrien+Marinette aren't around. Meanwhile, Knightowl and Majestia's civilian selves (Barbara and Olympia respectively; Barbara is not anywhere NEAR buff like Knightowl is - to the point where I didn’t recognize her - and I'm disappointed) walk into the building, in the middle of scolding Jessica and Aeon, with Barbara telling them that they were supposed to be watching the students. Aeon basically reveals everything they did, including setting up Adrien and Marinette. Barbara is infuriated and Olympia calms her down. Aeon states that she doesn't understand why they’re upset and quotes the, "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing," line that Majestia always says, to which Olympia says that "doing good doesn't always mean fighting" and how Aeon’s actions put her, Jessica, and the French students in danger. Jessica angrily goes off about how they just wanted something to do because they're "not babysitters" and have nothing to do otherwise. Barbara goes off in return about how they failed to watch the French students, then forbids them both from joining on the hunt for Techno Pirate. Jessica is annoyed and Aeon points out that Ladybug and Chat Noir don't need permission to do things, to which Olympia says that she almost lost Aeon because of it.

- Cut to a rainy scene with Sadrien and Marinette are walking down separate streets back to the student building (I don't know how they conveniently ended up on completely opposite sides at the exact same time but alright, we’ll roll with it). Nino keeps trying to call Adrien but Adrien isn't answering (even though the phone is in Adrien's hand like--??? dude you can ignore your phone but why put it in your hand outside of the sake of a camera angle?). Plagg is sulking in Marinette's purse about how this is his fault for not stopping Chat Noir from leaving Paris. Marinette glumly just says that Chat Noir "made his choice" and "what were we supposed to do?"

- The president is making an announcement on TV about how they’re postponing the French-American friendship event because of how dangerous it is with Techno Pirate running about. The president then transforms into her superhero form and promises that they'll keep patrolling until the supervillain is found.

- Cut to Hawk Moth entering a bathroom, where he's kept his supervillain chained up in a tub (I don't even know anymore). The supervillain demands to be let out and Hawk Moth agrees, also returning the akuma to him. He adds on "an apology" for keeping him locked up in the form of the eagle miraculous, explaining that the transformation phrase is, "Liiri, Wings of Prey!"

- Back to the angst, Alya and Nino catch Adrien and Marinette outside through the windows. Some of the students rush out to see them and Adrien and Marinette stop to stare sadly at each other. A car shows up and Gabriel (in video form on the back of the seat ala "Origins") tells Adrien to get in because it's too dangerous now. Nino tells Adrien to stay and Adrien apologizes to Marinette that her efforts were wasted, repeating the phrase, "I wouldn't have minded being stuck here a little longer with a friend like you." Marinette opens her mouth to say something, but stops and stares at the ground. Adrien's weak smile turns into a frown (I guess he was fishing for expecting something??) and he says that his father was right and that he never should've come to New York.

- Adrien gets in, closes the door, and the car drives off. Alya rushes down the stairs, asking Marinette "What is WRONG with you?" (wow okay we’re doing this now) and "Couldn't you see that he was just WAITING for you to tell him to stay?" (apparently Nino means nothing to Adrien anymore, alright). Marinette tells Alya that "it was his choice" and "what did you expect me to do" (a blatant reference back to what she said about Chat Noir and I'm groaning). Alya angrily goes off about how it didn't matter and what matters is who Adrien is to Marinette; a friend or "more than a friend" (I don’t know how Marinette’s feelings can magically impact how Gabriel feels about taking Adrien home but sure)? She grabs Marinette's shoulders and pressures her, asking if she wants Adrien to leave or stay, to which Marinette turns and rushes off to chase Adrien, screaming for him to stay. She tries to call him ("I already lost Chat Noir, I can't lose him too") but her phone is too low on battery because of course it is.

- Marinette grabs a random bike and helmet off the ground and tries to bike after the car, but doesn't get very far. She tries to make a turn and the bike slips due to the rain, careening away while Marinette rolls and hits the ground face-first. Marinette tearfully looks after the car and whispers, "Adrien, I... love you," before letting her head fall onto her arms.

- Back with the actual plot, the heroes are searching for Techno Pirate when said supervillain (now Miraclonizer) shows himself, pretending to surrender. They're suspicious and Majestia goes in, assuring that "she's the only one he can't harm."

- She approaches (with the other heroes in firing distance) and Miraclonizer unleashes the eagle's power, "Liberation." This causes lights to emerge from his torso and touch all the superheroes, giving Miraclonizer a mental link with them. Visually, the mental link shows his face and the hero's facing each other, eyes closed, then an image of the hero curled up with a link of chains around them, which vanishes after his speech, an example of which is, "Majestia! You're afraid of your own power! I release you from your fears!" The heroes basically all go off from this to do their own thing (Majestia destroying stuff to test the limits of her powers, Knightowl "bringing justice" without morality, etcetera).

- Miraclonizer hooks Hawk Moth up to the TV (Hawk Moth literally says, "hook me up" and I want to die) and Hawk Moth gives a speech to "Ladybug and Chat Noir" about how he's in New York and they need to hand their miraculouses over. Aeon (who is watching this with Jessica) drags Jessica off to try and convince her to help (Jessica says that the adults told them not to move and Aeon responds with something about how "being human means knowing when to bend the rules). They run to the rooftops and Jessica is nervous about how no one is there with them. Aeon points out that Ladybug and Chat Noir exist, to which Jessica reminds her that "they" almost de-activated her (gonna throw blame at Ladybug too, a’ight). Aeon says that this is an akumatization they're dealing with, so there's no chance without Ladybug and Chat Noir. Jessica is like "BUT THEY'RE TEENAGERS" to which Aeon is like "And so are we." This immediately convinces Jessica, whose only remaining question is about how they're going to find them. Aeon says that nobody can keep a secret identity from her, so she transforms and flies off.

- Jessica (as Sparrow) goes to scope out the situation, all like "okay I have basic training and minimal weapons and am going against all these superheroes (also, apparently Majestia is pulling a Majora's Mask and trying to shove the moon into the Earth, raising the water levels)... i'll be fine."

- Uncanny descends in front of Marinette and tells her that they need Ladybug. Marinette plays dumb until Uncanny says that Ladybug's "suit of quantum masking" is meant to confuse human minds, but she is not human (so... glamour confirmed??). Apparently, Marinette didn't even see Hawk Moth's video feed (RIP, Hawk Moth’s efforts) as Uncanny has to explain the akumatization to her. Marinette looks down at the ring in her hand and sadly admit, "I can't imagine being Ladybug without... him," (because girl power) to which Uncanny assures her that she’ll take care of it. Marinette smiles confidently at her and hands over the ring.

- Sadrien is flying in a plane back to Paris when he sees Uncanny out the window. Uncanny breaks into the plane and tells him that he's needed, but Adrien is still feeling sorry for himself. Uncanny is all "to err is human apparently" and Adrien insists that his mistakes are unforgivable and he "couldn't bear to see the disappointment in [Ladybug’s] eyes." Uncanny responds by playing a voice clip of Marinette saying the "can't imagine being Ladybug without him" line, then telling Adrien that, "his lady (ugh) is waiting for him." This immediately breaks Adrien out of his funk and he takes the ring back.

- Adrien puts the ring on and Uncanny is confused at him interacting with Plagg. Plagg reminds Adrien that kwami can't be viewed by tech and thus Uncanny can't see nor hear him. He starts making faces at Uncanny for fun and Adrien follows up by transforming.

- Sparrow is fighting against the heroes and Ladybug saves her. She gets them to safety and explains the whole "break the object" thing, suspecting that it's in Miraclonizer’s handcuffs. Sparrow talks about the necklace and Ladybug realizes that it's a miraculous. Uncanny and Chat (who was briefly in space form to fly there) descend and Ladybug rushes to hug him, telling him to "never do that again." Chat apologizes and says that he was stupid and so afraid of disappointing her that he said nothing. They pull away to fistbump.

- Hawk Moth tells Miraclonizer that it's time to get to the next step. Miraclonizer snatches a device from the superhero president and flies off using the wings that the eagle grants him. He perches at the torch of the Statue of Liberty and presses a button, which activates a rocket. Hawk Moth threatens over the monitors that he'll start a World War if the miraculouses aren't handed over to him, adding that they have five minutes (he even does a taunting "tick, tock--")

- Ladybug is making a plan with Chat Noir, Uncanny, and Sparrow. She uses Lucky Charm and gets a Statue of Liberty keychain. Uncanny is skeptical (and Ladybug can't see anything immediately useful), but then Ladybug asks how the Statue of Liberty was built. Uncanny gives Ladybug a diagram and Ladybug gets an idea. She points out that there's a ladder that leads to the torch platform (where the supervillain is), but Chat Noir doesn't know how they're going to get inside. Ladybug and Sparrow look at each other and say in unison, "Doorman!" Uncanny points out that Doorman only uses his powers for himself now (courtesy of "Liberation"), but Ladybug gets the rest of the idea now, and basically:

- Aeon and Jessica (de-transformed) take a picture of a package they put outside a specific door, sending it to Doorman’s (Dean Gate’s) phone "as thanks for the museum. Doorman shows up, unwraps the gift, and sees the keychain inside. It's enough of a hint for him to go to the Eiffel Tower and Ladybug and Chat Noir follow him through the portal. They let him get the key (which is in a random drawer), then wait until he makes a portal back. Once he goes through, they go through too and capture him. Chat Noir uses his belt to tie him up, then he and Ladybug ignore his begging ("at least let me see what's inside the safe!!!") and rush to the torch platform. Ladybug jumps at Miraclonizer and takes the miraculous, knocking Miraclonizer (who I guess is technically Techclonizer again?) off the platform too (he lands fine). She then throws the miraculous to Sparrow, who lands and slips the miraculous on. Liiri calls her "fledgling" and states that the actual transformation phrase is "Wings of Liberty," (which I guess confirms alternate phrases?), so Jessica transforms and says, "Cool down," which stops the "Liberation" power affecting all the heroes.

- Ladybug and Chat Noir refuse to give Techclonizer their miraculouses. Hawk Moth is all, "can't say I didn't warn them," from whatever place he's chillin' at (some random hotel idk; it’s where he was when he had Techno Pirate in the bathtub - again, what? - as well) and Techclonizer launches the rocket. However, Majestia stops it and throws it into the sun.

- Ladybug and Chat Noir are fighting Techclonizer and Ladybug is knocked back. Knightowl helps her up, then entangles Techclonizer and reels him in. Chat Noir Cataclysms the handcuffs and the akuma is freed. Ladybug does her schtick (apparently they felt the need to show Miraculous Ladybug giving Chat Noir's belt back).

- Jessica goes to return the eagle miraculous, but Ladybug tells her to keep it. Jessica points out to Knightowl that she disobeyed again, then asks if that means she won't be getting her weapons back. Knightowl says that she won't need them with the powers of the miraculous, and that she was wrong about Jessica not being ready. Jessica hugs her excitedly and calls her, "Mom," then realizes what she did and apologizes. Knightowl says it's fine and that, with Jessica's new suit, people now know that Sparrow is a female, not a male, and that the "legendary original Knightowl and Sparrow" (we see flashes of a bunch of former Knightowls and Sparrows) are long gone. Knightowl removes her mask and says that maybe it's time for them to embrace who they really are. Majestia also admits that, even if it still worries them, it's best to let them take chances so they can grow. They then thank Ladybug and Chat Noir and ask them to forgive them for misjudging them. The teens all do a fist bump.

- Meanwhile, Hawk Moth is monologuing about how his theory was correct and that there are other lost miraculouses, and how he'll find them no matter where they are.

- Over on the Statue of Liberty’s torch, Ladybug is asking Uncanny about her knowing their secret identities. Uncanny assures them that she'll just delete it from her memory banks after they leave. Chat Noir (in space form again) flies off with Uncanny while telling Ladybug that he'll see her back in Paris.

- Later, Marinette is watching a news report about how the mayor has put forth action to undo what Robostus has done to Paris, going on about how Ladybug and Chat Noir were actually in New York helping out which explains where they went. Alya walks by and goes on about how everyone is waiting for Marinette for the surprise they planned for Adrien, her "friend" (yes, she literally did the airquotes again). Marinette sadly admits that she "doesn't know" (I presume this is referring to her feelings), which Alya brushes off as, "We're going back to Pairs tomorrow, you can ask yourself then." She grabs Marinette’s hands and leads her away.

- The surprise was them holding up a, "Coucou, Adrien!" sign on the news report (presumably from the friendship event thing?). Adrien smiles from his place on the plane and it cuts to fireworks over New York.

- Sabrina (standing next to the guy who winked and took her to the party earlier) tells Chloe how she's happy that Chloe is finally having fun now. Chloe denies it and says that she's just happy that they're leaving tomorrow.

- The scene cuts to Gorilla, still in the room listening to the relaxing voices+music from his device, then the scene cuts back to the fireworks again, now going off behind a French and American flag.

- Scene cuts again, this time to a car pulling into an alley. Four guys come out and one of them is lightly waving a hand fan. Uncanny and Eagle (yes, she's literally just "Eagle") are watching them (Eagle is twirling something on a string but I can't tell what it is; I presume it's her weapon, it's shaped like a small flute/whistle or something) when they hear a voice above them. The source of the voice (another man) shows up with a tan-ish Miracle Box (wooden design) and says that the miraculous must be returned to the box now that it's been found. He tells her that he's come a long way and that she should give it back without a fuss because he's not in the mood. Uncanny says "no" because Eagle's proven that she's worthy, after which Eagle hops up to the man and suggests that he stay so they can create a new generation of heroes together. The man smiles, perhaps intrigued(?).

- End special.

#category: salt #((because of my comments lol))#special: Miraculous New York #other: ask and answer #other: ml spoilers

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angelofthequeers · 4 years

Text

Miladybug

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

I signed up to be a backup gifter for @mlsecretsanta and my giftee turned out to be @chimpukampu so I hope you like this fic! ❤️💚

AO3 link

“Where’s…Adrien?” Marinette pants when she’s tumbled into her seat, only barely on time for school which, to be fair, is a step up from being outright late. But there’s no familiar blond head in front of her!

“Home sick,” Nino says. “Poor dude’s got a nasty cold.”

“You reckon his dad’ll let him rest and recover?” Alya says, making a face. “Or is he just gonna learn at home?”

“Probably that one,” Nino says.

“Ugh. He’s got the worst dad, I swear. My mum would tie me to the bed with blankets and force-feed me homemade chicken soup.”

Ms Bustier clears her throat, cutting the conversation short. But Marinette can’t concentrate. All she can think about is poor, sick Adrien, and how she should maybe swing by later that night before patrol with a box of delicious baked goods…but no, she can’t. Between her love for Adrien and the feelings for Chat Noir that she’s trying to shove a lid on, it’s the last thing her tangled heart needs, not to mention that she’d probably end up a flustered mess like when she’d given Adrien the Snake Miraculous and then he’ll think she’s totally uncool and won’t want to talk to her and she’ll have blown her relationship with him on both sides of the mask and –

Marinette shakes her head with a soft groan and forces herself to pay attention to the lesson. Dwelling on it won’t do anything except send her brain spiralling, which is never a good time for her.

Once school’s over, she distracts herself until patrol time making a get well soon card for Adrien, even though she probably won’t have the guts to even sign it, let alone deliver it. Besides, the universe will probably kick her in the gut if she does; after all, she’d forgotten to sign her Valentine, and she’d signed Adrien’s birthday present, but her signature had somehow vanished. Tikki perches on her shoulder, munching on a cookie while Marinette sticks a scarlet heart to the front of the pink card and then sprinkles a touch of pink glitter on it.

“What do I even write?” she says when she opens it. “Dear Adrien, get well soon! Love, Marinette.” She groans and thumps her head on her desk. “No! That’s the most generic message ever! And “love”? Gah! That’s too – too – coupley!”

“I thought you wanted to be a couple,” Tikki teases.

“Yeah, but not through a get-well card when he’s sick!” Marinette says. “Ugh, this is a disaster!”

“Well, it’s almost time for patrol,” Tikki says. “Why not head out a little earlier to clear your head? Then you can work on your card when you get home!”

Marinette exhales and lets her shoulders slump. “You’re right, Tikki,” she says. “I’m freaking out over nothing!”

“Hey, I didn’t say that!”

“Yeah, yeah. Tikki, spots on!”

As Ladybug, all her worries seem to melt away once she’s swinging through the sea of lights that make up Paris. Although she could make it to the Eiffel Tower in less than a minute, she decides to take the scenic route and keeps a nice, relaxed pace through the city. At one point, she even closes her eyes and lets herself plummet, laughing at how the wind whips through her hair and howls in her ears, then opens her eyes and throws her yo-yo just in time to stop herself from crashing into the ground.

Even though she’s early, Chat Noir is already at the Tower when Ladybug lands on the platform at the tip, her pigtails a windblown mess and her cheeks flushed warm with blood. He gives her his signature smirk, although it’s lopsided.

“Milady!” He lets out a giggle. “Get it! Because you’re a ladybug! You’re milady…bug!” He squints at her and adds, “You don’t look like a bug, though. Your eyes are…” He laughs again. “Pretty!”

“Uh…” Ladybug lets her yo-yo swing. “Is there an akuma? Did you get hit?”

“What! Noooo! No akuma!” Chat Noir lets himself fall onto his back. “I’m happy, miladybug. Bugaboo. Angel. The light of my life!”

Her brow furrowed, Ladybug edges towards her oddly-behaving partner and nudges him with her toes. He giggles again and looks up at her with glazed green eyes.

“Okay, what happened?” she says, crossing her arms. “What did you do?”

“I’m sick!” Chat Noir beams as though Ladybug had just revealed her identity to him. “I have a coooold. But I’m so hot!” He flexes his biceps and says, “In more ways than one, miladybug!”

“God help me,” Ladybug mutters. “What kind of cold could you possibly have that would make you like this?”

“It’s not my cold!” Chat Noir winks. “It’s – it’s the meds! I took cold tablets!” He frowns and adds, “Why are they called cold tablets if they’re not cold? You don’t keep them in the fridge. Maybe you should, though!” He gasps and covers his mouth. “I’ve found the secret, miladybug! I’ll cure colds! Maybe I shouldn’t be a ps – a physicist. I’ll be a biologist!”

So, Chat Noir wants to be a physicist? Huh. Adrien likes physics too.

“A bi-ologist!” Chat Noir says with a rasping laugh. “Because I’m bi! Geddit, miladybug? And I’m bilingual! I’m learning Mandarin!” He gasps. “Are you bi too? Are we balanced? You on this side –” He holds his left hand out. “And me on this side!” He holds out his right hand. “For justice! Lady Justice! Milady Justice!”

“Okay, okay, no patrol for you tonight, kitty,” Ladybug sighs, sitting cross-legged next to him. He immediately shuffles over and rests his head in her lap, and a deep sound rumbles deep in his chest. “Did you just purr?”

“Mm-hmm!” Chat Noir sighs and nestles his head further in her lap. “Cats purr when they’re happy. And you make me happy, miladybug. You’re my – my catnip! I can’t get enough of you!” He twirls his finger near his temple and says, “You make me gaga when you’re around!”

Despite her best efforts, Ladybug can’t stop a giggle from escaping her. It seems that cold and flu medication sends Chat Noir high as a kite and removes any filter he might have. This could be problematic, although she can’t quite put her finger on why because even without a filter, he shouldn’t just up and spill his secret identity.

Right?

“Are you an angel, miladybug?” Chat Noir sighs. “You’re glowing.”

“That’s just the city lights, silly,” Ladybug says and boops his nose. He purrs louder in response.

“Your eyes are so pretty,” he says. “So – so – blue! Just like my friend.”

Alarm bells start to sound in Ladybug’s head. “Chat –”

“Marinette!” Chat Noir blurts out. Ladybug freezes. “You know Marinette, right? Of course you do! You told me to protect her from Nathanieeeel.” He sighs again and says, “Can I tell you a secret, miladybug?”

“Um, I don’t think –”

“I think I like Marinette. She’s so prettyyyy…and she’s always standing up – everyone stands up! No one can sit forever! But she stands up strongly. And she tells off Chloe. I wish I could be as cool as her.”

“Chat, I think you need to shut up now,” Ladybug says, trying to extract Chat Noir from her lap while also trying to deal with the warmth pooling in her gut at his words. Rather than listen to her, however, he utters the words that knock her entire worldview off its axis.

“She’s so beautiful when she’s positive,” Chat Noir says with a strong purr. “She’s the only person in my class who’s never touched a pretty black butterfly, apart from me.” He wrinkles his nose. “Wait, no, they’re ugly. Hawkmoth is ugly. But not Marinette! She’s beautiful. I’m used to disappointment. But she’s strong. Of course she is. She’s a baker’s daughter!” His eyes unfocus. “I wonder if she could carry me like a sack of flour.”

Ice explodes in Ladybug’s stomach, coating her insides. She’s the only other person apart from him that hasn’t been akumatised in their class? But – no, that can’t be – the only other person in Ms Bustier’s class who hasn’t been akumatised is…

Something behind Chat Noir’s mask seems to shift. The blond hair and green eyes are no longer unfamiliar. Now they’re – now it’s Adrien looking out at her with his drug-glazed eyes and lopsided grin –

No. Way. She’s been rejecting her crush all this time for herself! He’s starting to fall for her civilian identity, and he never would’ve let this slip if he’d known it was her behind the mask, drugged or not! And now he’s just gone and blurted it all out to her and outed his identity! What the heck is she supposed to do?

A soft snore snaps her out of her panicked thoughts. Chat Noir has dozed off in her lap, curled up like a cat and letting out little purring snores with each exhale. Before she realises what she’s doing, her fingers are carding through his hair, bright scarlet against soft gold like a rose on sea sand. Okay. She just has to be rational about this. She needs to talk to someone before she has her looming meltdown.

“Spots off,” she whispers. Pink sparkles wash over her, dissolving the ladybug suit and freeing Tikki. The kwami gasps, her eyes bulging as she takes in the scene before her.

“It’s okay,” Marinette says softly, still combing her fingers through his hair. “Adrien’s asleep.”

“Ad – oh.” Tikki’s large blue eyes are fixed on Chat Noir. “You know. How?”

“He’s high on cold meds,” Marinette says. “He let a few things slip. Things I couldn’t just brush off. Like how we’re the only two people in our class who haven’t been akumatised.”

“That would do it,” Tikki sighs. She darts into Marinette’s purse and emerges with a macaron, devouring half of it in one bite. “And you’re not…upset? Freaking out?’

“Oh, I’m about two seconds from losing my mind,” Marinette says rather evenly, still stroking her kitty’s hair. “I think it’s just a delayed reaction. And I don’t want to wake him up or freak out Paris and make them think there’s an akuma.”

“Poor Adrien.” Tikki darts down to press a tiny kiss to Chat Noir’s forehead.

“It makes sense now,” Marinette says. “Why Chat’s so…Chat. I mean, his timing could use some work, but of course he’s going to be that open when he’s Chat.”

“It’s not like he’s a different person as Chat than as Adrien,” Tikki says.

“Yeah, I know that,” Marinette says. She sighs and leans down to follow Tikki’s example and kiss Chat Noir on the forehead. The inevitable meltdown in the next few hours as she tries to process this is going to be huge. “Adrien has his dorky moments. How did I not see it before? He literally told me it was a ‘knightmare’ after Darkblade was defeated! And you knew!”

“Of course I knew,” Tikki says. “I saw him when you were facing Dark Owl. But are you really upset that I didn’t tell you?”

“No, no…it was my decision to keep our identities a secret. I guess I’m just trying to process.”

“Maybe you should process at home,” Tikki says. “You’re clearly not going to get any patrolling done, and it’s probably best for Adrien if he’s at home to rest.”

“But he’s…so peaceful.” Marinette starts to stroke a finger down Chat Noir’s nose over the shiny leather mask, just like her mother used to do to her as a small child. Chat Noir lets out a loud purr and nuzzles against her thigh.

“The longer you try to suppress this freak-out, the stronger it’s going to be when it sinks in,” Tikki says. “And super suit or not, the best thing for Adrien right now is to be resting at home. It’s not exactly warm out here.”

“That’s…true.” Marinette huffs and carefully shifts Chat Noir’s head so that she can stand up. Chat Noir lets out a tiny mewl when his head touches the cool metal of the Eiffel Tower, rather than the warmth of Marinette’s legs. She can’t help but let a laugh slip out when, absurdly, she realises what Chat Noir might have to say about Tikki’s wording. “That silly cat. He’d say suppurress and then give me that grin of his when I groan. I can’t believe I’m in love with this dork!”

“You’re in love with him?” Tikki says. Marinette braces herself for a freak-out that never emerges. Huh. Maybe it really is waiting until she’s home and her brain isn’t currently trying to process a million past interactions at once.

“He’s Adrien,” Marinette says. “Of course I’m in love with every side of him. And okay, so I might have been catching some feelings for Chat, but I’m just going to ignore that. And bury it deep down. Really deep down. And then let it blow up as I scream into my pillow and you float there and try to calm me down and offer me advice about how it’s all going to be alright and I’ll start shrieking about our three kids and hamster and island home and my parents will just assume I’m going on a lovesick ramble again –”

“Marinette!” Tikki says loudly, cutting off the rest of Marinette’s babbling in her throat. “Maybe you should get Adrien home while you’ve still got some semblance of higher brain power?”

“Right. Right. Of course.” Marinette runs a hand through her hair, accidentally pulling some strands out of her pigtails. “You’re right. Tikki, spots on!”

Once transformed, Ladybug scoops Chat Noir into her arms bridal-style and then leaps across the buildings of Paris in the direction of the Agreste mansion. To be honest, there’s a part of her that’s praying to see Adrien in his room, to maintain this charade of Adrien and Chat Noir being two separate people, even though she knows rationally that after Chat Noir’s rambling just before, there’s no way he could be anyone else. But sure enough, when she swings smoothly through the window into Adrien’s bedroom, there’s no one there.

Well, then. Guess there’s no more deluding herself. Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste are the same person. The boy she’s been turning down is the boy she’s been so in love with for so long.

“He can’t detransform like this, can he?” Ladybug mumbles to herself once she’s laid Chat Noir down on the bed as reverently as someone might set down their new bride. Chat Noir snuffles and curls in on himself, then lets out a tiny snore, and Ladybug’s insides melt into goo at just how…adorable he is.

If she’s honest with herself, Chat Noir’s always had a bit of her heart that Adrien never had. It would’ve been easy – so very easy – to let herself fall for him. But how could she do that when her heart belonged to Adrien? How could she let herself give up on the boy she loved?

Except that now, she doesn’t have to. The two boys who’ve staked claim to her heart are one and the same. It’s not as though her feelings for Adrien have transferred to Chat Noir now that she knows they’re the same person. It’s more like…acknowledging the duality of Adrien and Chat Noir has unlocked her heart, allowing herself to fully love both sides of the same boy, simultaneously so similar and yet so different.

Ladybug blinks and shakes her head. Of course she’d stand there and wax poetic over her sleeping kitty. But how is she supposed to detransform him without waking him up to have him say the words? She can’t really leave him there as Chat Noir in case someone comes to check on him and finds a leather cat superhero where the sunshine prince of Paris should be. She bites down on her lip to stifle her laughter at that thought, to avoid waking him.

“Forgive me, mon minou,” Ladybug whispers. She takes his hand in hers and starts to slide his ring off, ever so slowly, making sure that he doesn’t wake up and start freaking out that someone’s trying to remove his ring. She freezes when he grunts, but his head just lolls to the other side and he continues to snore softly, his exhales whistling just like hers do when she’s all clogged up from a cold. Poor kitten.

In a flash of green light, Chat Noir is replaced with Adrien once Ladybug finally gets the ring off. Plagg comes tumbling out and whips around, no doubt to investigate why he’d been forcibly freed from the transformation, so Ladybug just raises a finger to her lips, Plagg’s Miraculous in full view, and then carefully twists the now-silver ring back onto Adrien’s finger. Plagg watches her silently, his bright green cat eyes rather eerie in the rolling shadows of Adrien’s room cast by the lights outside his window.

“I can’t believe he’s my kitten.” Ladybug sits down next to Adrien, careful not to disturb him, wincing when he forces in a particularly loud gulp of air. She resumes stroking her finger down his nose just as she’d done on top of the Eiffel Tower and he seems to lean into the touch with a soft purr, although that could just be her imagination.

“Thanks for taking care of him.” Plagg’s voice is soft, both in volume to not wake Adrien up and in tone, unlike his usual crassness. “I tried to get him to skip out on patrol tonight.”

“He should have. Silly kitty.” Impulsively, Ladybug bends down and smooths back Adrien’s soft hair to press a kiss to his forehead, her lips lingering on the hot skin. She won’t kiss him on the mouth, not while he’s asleep; that’s a privilege that she has to earn when he’s awake and aware. “I wish I could help.”

“Kid, trust me, when I tell him Ladybug kissed him, that’ll help him plenty,” Plagg says. Then he smirks, his fangs glinting in the dim light. “He’s gonna freak when I tell him Ladybug knows who he is. Maybe he’ll finally shut up about his lady and her silky hair like night and her bluebell eyes –”

“Plagg!” Ladybug hisses as blood rushes to her cheeks. “Don’t be a turd!”

Plagg just cackles quietly. “You should go, Pigtails,” he says as he zips down to snuggle on the pillow next to Adrien’s head. “I’ll watch out for him. Wouldn’t want to be late for school tomorrow, would ya?”

“You and I both know I’ll always be late, Ladybug or not,” Ladybug say. But she still rises from the bed as gently as she can, then turns back to leave one last kiss on Adrien’s forehead. “Sleep well, mon chéri.”

“Gag me,” Plagg mutters. Ladybug rolls her eyes at him before heading for the window, tiptoeing so that her kitten can sleep peacefully. She her yo-yo to catch on a nearby chimney, blows a kiss back at Adrien, then leaps out into the cool Parisian night.

“Don’t worry, Adrien,” Ladybug murmurs as she reflects on the action-packed events of the past hour, praying that she makes it home before it really sinks in and she starts to scream, because the last thing she needs is to scare the living daylights out of Paris. “I’ll carry you like a bag of flour tomorrow. Just you wait and see.”

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makoto-nanami · 4 years

Text

Miraculous Rewrite: Origins Part 1 (Chapter 2)

Hello! I’m back! We introduce a few classmates and how Alice deals with them, and also Alice witnesses Bustier’s 1st class teaching! (I’ll sweep up any salt I spill at the end of Origins Part 2, I planned to do it at the end of each episode salt is involved but the 2 parters make it a bit difficult, sorry is that bothers you!) Hope you enjoy!

Walking into class I notice a red-haired woman, prim and proper in appearance, call on a student. “Nino, why don’t you have a seat in the front row this year?” The boy wearing a cap and glasses, who was sitting in the back row rolled his eyes and gathered his belongings, adjusting his headphones to rest around his neck as he walked down to the front row or desks. I then looked back to the teacher, who I presumed was Miss Bustier, and was about to tell the girl who brought me to the class, ‘thank you, I need to talk to the teacher’ however that was rudely interrupted by a blond girl who wore a scowl when she saw the navy-haired approach a seat on the second row.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” The blond sneered. So that’s her name, my bad for not asking, but what’s this chick’s problem with Marinette? Marinette just grimaced when she heard the other girl.

“Ugh… Here we go again.”

“Is there a problem?” I ask the exasperated girl, watching her turn to blondie.

“That’s my seat.” Is this brat serious?

“But Chloé, this has always been my seat.”

“Not anymore! A new class, new year, new seats!” A smaller girl jumps out from behind this Chloé and sneers at Marinette, but it seems more innocent as if she was just copying the other girl.

“Listen, if you want to sit in the second row so much, why not just sit on the other side?” I try to reason, but I instantly knew I was wasting my breath as the blond pushed her face into Marinette’s.

“So why don’t you just go and sit beside that new girl over there?” She points over to a girl sitting on the first row who perked up at the mention. What am I chopped liver?! “Listen. Adrien’s arriving today, and since that’s going to be his seat, this is going to be my seat. Get it?”

“Who’s Adrien?” As soon as the question left both Marinette’s and my own mouths, the self-entitled brat finally acknowledged my existence. She glared but the two of them laughed at the two of us.

“Can you believe they don’t know who Adrien is? What rocks have you been living under?”

“He’s only a famous Model.” The small girl butted in, being pushed aside by Chloé as if trying to take the full spotlight.

“And I am his best friend. He adores me!”

“So?” I couldn’t stop the word leaving me, great…

“What did you say?” She looked offended at my interruption.

“If this guy is your friend and sweetheart, wouldn’t it be better to sit next to him? Also, if this guy is new, he should be here sooner to choose his seat, you don’t get to chose for him. Another thing, what’s stopping you from sitting on the rows behind you or across the way? Just cause the guy’s famous, shouldn’t mean he gets special treatment.” All three girl’s eyes bulge out at me, did I say something wrong?

“You! Do you know who I am?!” She screeches at me.

“No.” My voice was as emotionless as my face. This brat needs to chill.

“Grrr… Oh just get lost loser! Go on, move!” She shoos us away.

I’m about to lose it, then the girl from before marches up to us, glaring through her glasses at the two girls. “Hey! Who elected you Queen of Seats?” I nodded in agreement with the dark-haired girl, but Chloé didn’t look perturbed by the girl’s interruption.

“Oh, look Sabrina! We’ve got a little do-gooder in our class this year. What are you gonna do, super newbie? Shoot beams at me with your glasses?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know. Come on.” She grabs Marinette by the hand as she walks away, but Marinette didn’t expect the sudden pull and tripped, her box of macarons flying into the air once again this morning, I step forward…

“Sorry, sorry, sorry… huh?” Marinette’s voice soft but breaking, looking for the box but confused when she couldn’t see it on the floor.

“Looking for these?” I offer her the box once again with a small smile after catching it. She looked at me in awe. “I caught them, but I think I might have crushed some when I grabbed it, sorry for being heavy-handed, I thought it would be better than the floor.” She opened the box.

“Oh no, thank you. I little cracked but still edible and way better than all over the floor. Do you want to sit with us, Alice?”

“Ah, no I’m good, I think I’ll sit at the back. Good napping spot.” I laugh, she giggled back and nodded following the dark-haired girl to the front. Miss Bustier clapped getting everyone’s attention.

“Has everyone found a seat?” Damn, guess I’ll have to ask her for details about the school after class.

I take my seat at the back, getting my notebook out. Fu’s lucky I always have notebooks at the ready or this would have been super awkward. I glance at the class from my seat, everyone finding a seat while chatting to their friends, yup… apart from that girl who’s sitting with Marinette and this Adrien kid, everyone knows each other, great. Miss Bustier once again gathers everyone’s attention.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Miss Bustier. I’ll be your teacher this year. I also want to introduce two other students who have enrolled this year. Alya, Alice? Would you like to introduce yourselves?” She smiles sweetly at the class and I stifled a groan, I really don’t want to. The dark-haired girl from before stands up with a confident stance.

“I’m Alya Césaire, hope we get along from now on!” I sigh, getting up to join her.

“Hello, I’m Alice Wattson. Nice to meet you…” I dwindle off on my introduction, feeling uncomfortable at the stares.

“Okay then everyone! Let’s get started!” Miss Bustier claps again, I feel like that’s gonna get old quick. I sit down, but I notice Chloé at the front stressing over the seat in front of her, looking worried.

By the end of class, I am cursing Fu and Eva to their apparently non-existent graves. I hated high school the first time, but this is worse! I feel my brain cells being attacked by the teacher’s naive positivity. The bell rings and everyone starts packing up. “Those of you who have P.E, Mr D’Argencourt is expecting you at the stadium. The rest of you can head over to the library.” I sigh once again, maybe that will be my thing, sighing and sarcastic comments might make this a bit more bearable. I look in front of me and see an athletic-looking guy with a dumb smirk on his face obviously bothering a large intimidating boy in black, trying to get a reaction out of him, something he had been doing throughout the class.

“Kim!” The larger boy yelled, glaring at the boy as he stood up clenching his fists, at the dumb-faced boy, Kim.

“Ivan, what is going on?” Miss Bustier glanced at the two concerned.

“It’s Kim! He... I’m so gonna get…” Ivan struggled to articulate his words, trying to hold his anger.

“Ivan, go to the principal’s office.” What?! Ivan looks surprised but doesn’t say anything, he just walks away in angry silence.

I run up to Miss Bustier, confused at her actions. “Miss, why send Ivan, it was obviously not his fault?!”

“Now, now Alice, calm down. Ivan lashed out, it’s only natural for him to be punished, I understand things may be different in England, but don’t worry I know what I’m doing.” What kind of logic is that?!

“But he wouldn’t have lashed out if you told Kim to st- “

“Here’s your class schedule, you’re in study hall next, it's in the library. I hope you enjoy your time here; I’ll see you in our literature class.” She ignored my protest and walked away, I was about to protest but then something felt wrong… not just the injustice that had happened… something sinister, something that made me feel sick to my core.

I walk into the library and see Marinette chatting to Alya, she spots me and calls me over with a wave. I resign myself to hanging out with these girls, at least I found some nice people to make friends with while I’m here. The feeling from before was getting worse but I covered it with a nervous laugh as I walk over. As Marinette introduces me to her new friend a shooting pain shot through me accompanied by a voice. ‘Free him…’ What was that? Marinette and Alya look at me in worry but as they were about to speak, the building shook, knocking almost everyone to the ground. The library security monitor showed areas of the school like it usually would, however, something very odd was in front of the principle’s office… was that a stone giant?! ‘Akuma…’ The voice echoed in my mind; the word was familiar despite never hearing it before. Don’t tell me… is this the work of a Miraculous?! Alya gasps about to bolt to the door “Come on!” She funnels everyone out of the library, till she sees the monitor.

“KIMMMM!” The giant screamed, his voice ringing a bell in my head. Ivan?

“What’s going on? He had Ivan’s voice?” Marinette fretted.

“It’s as if he’s transformed into a real-life supervillain! GPS, check. Battery, check. I am so outta here!” Alya cheered with no fear in her eyes. Don’t tell me she’s gonna do what I think she’s gonna do? No one can be that stupid… right?

“Wait for a second, Alya!”

“Hey! Where are you going?!” Marinette panicked.

“Where there’s a supervillain, there’s always a superhero close behind! No way I’m missing this!” She shouts back, running out the door, leaving both of us behind. Yup this girl has no self-preservation instinct… I notice that Ivan had moved from inside the school and to the streets outside, he picks up a car and throws it towards the camera causing the footage to cut off.

“KIM!” Marinette looks at me and we both wince.

“So, school’s out… would you like to come to my parent’s bakery and wait this out?” She looks at me worried I might chase after Ivan just like Alya; do I look like I’m stupid enough to run to my death? I mean, I am gonna go after Ivan but still, it’s not like I want to, someone has to watch over the Miraculous! Wait… the Miraculous! I need to find Fu!

“Sorry Marinette, I need to find my mum’s friend, you know the man from this morning? Gotta… make sure he’s safe!” I feel bad for lying to her, but it’s not too much of a lie. She nods but still looks worried. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

As I run back to the massage parlour, I notice a tv in a window showing the news. A shot of the police surrounding Ivan ready to shoot him, what the hell? Crap! He’s gonna get hurt!

“Ready? Fire!” They fire but the bullets bounce off him and a green glow surrounds him as he grows bigger and bigger with each shot. I let out a sigh of relief, but then Ivan throws another car at the police a run-a-way tire hitting one of them in the arm. The screen then changes to a man who seemed to be the mayor of Paris.

“I’m asking all Parisians to stay home until this situation is under control.”

“Mr Bourgeois! Mr Bourgeois!” The news crews clamouring for answers. The screen changes once again, showing a professional-looking woman with vibrant, short, fuchsia hair, interviewing the officer who gave the firing order.

“As incredible as it seems, it’s been confirmed that Paris is indeed being attacked by a supervillain. The police have been struggling to keep the situation under control.”

“Be confident, the strong arm of the law will come crashing down on the… I mean, the other arm.” The officer winces when he raises his arm that was hit earlier, changing to his over to the uninjured arm. I need to find Fu before these idiots escalate things even further!

I rush through the door finding Fu closing the Miraculous box, Wayzz looking doubtfully at the master. “Do you think they’ll be up to it, Master?” No… Don’t tell me… Anger rising up in me.

“I’ve only got it wrong once. It will never happen again. At least I hope not.”

“You’ve chosen the holders?! Without my input?!” What does he think he’s doing? I need to make sure that the Miraculous don’t fall to the wrong hands as the Moth does; I normally would be mildly annoyed at a decision like this, but I could feel the anger rise up from somewhere inside me.

“I had to choose quickly, you’ve seen the results of the Akuma.” He explains like he did the right thing.

“Who.” I demand.

“You shall see in time; it is important that we kee- “

“Who. You will tell me, for it is my responsibility to protect them.” A voice that was unfamiliar to me left my mouth, I felt like I was on autopilot… could it be that man? Fu gasps and looks at me in shame.

“I-I apologise… I acted rashly and didn’t consult you. The ones I have chosen are…”

#miraculous ladybug #ml rewrite #ml spite #ml salt #Marinette needs a hug #marinette dupen chang #ml wayzz #ml fu #alya cesaire #chloe bourgeois #sabrina raincomprix #ml ivan #stoneheart #caline bustier #bustier salt

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youcancallmecirce · 6 years

Text

Secret Santa

Merry Christmas to you, @psyriaart ! I’m your Secret Santa, and here is your gift! ♡ PS: If you have an AO3, please let me know so I can gift the work to you over there as well!

Ladybug carefully opened the large plate glass window and slipped into the empty room as quietly as possible. At least, she hoped it was empty. She’d been observing it for the past twenty minutes, dithering, on the excuse that she wanted to make sure it was empty. There’d been no movement within, and her excuse had worn thin, even in her own mind. If she didn’t do what she’d come to do, then she was going to have to just give up and go home with her tail tucked between her legs.

But—no. She was Ladybug, damnit, and cowardice just didn’t sit well on her shoulders. So here she was, sneaking into Adrien’s room with his Christmas gift tucked safely in the bag slung over her shoulder.

Of course, she could have just given it to him directly, and all of this skullduggery to leave it in his room anonymously would have been unnecessary. She ignored that very Tikki-sounding voice, reassured herself that this was not a cowardly way to go about it, and dropped silently to the floor in his room.

Now she just had to figure out where to leave it.

On his bed? No, too creepy.

His desk? Too impersonal.

The piano? No, too…random.

Ladybug bit her lip indecisively as she looked around the room, trying to decide on the perfect place to leave the gift. A few minutes later, she gave up. She needed help.

“Spots off,” she whispered, catching Tikki gently in her palms as the little kwami left the earrings.

Tikki looked at their surroundings in confusion before meeting her eyes. “Marinette, what are you doing?”

“I don’t know where to leave it, Tikki! I want it to be perfect, not weird or random, you know? And it can’t be too obvious, because what if someone else comes in here before Adrien gets back? What if it’s the cleaning lady, and she throws it away? What if it’s Nathalie, or his fa-father and they confiscate it? What if Adrien does find it, but thinks it’s creepy that someone broke into his room and—”

Tikki’s eyes widened at the panicked tirade and flew up to nuzzle the girl’s flushed cheek comfortingly. “Calm down, Marinette! I really don’t think it matters that much where you leave it, so long as he sees it.”

Marinette blinked. “Really?”

“Really!” Tikki smiled encouragingly, and gave the room a quick once-over. “What about on the coffee table, by the TV? It’s not near the door, so anyone coming in won’t see it immediately, but in plain enough sight that Adrien is sure to see it soon.”

“Oh Tikki, that’s perfect!” She knocked the heel against the side of her head with a groan. “It’s so obvious, why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because you were over-thinking again,” Tikki giggled. “Now, hurry up and leave it so we can—” She broke off with a grimace and dove into Marinette’s over-sized bag, hiding beneath the gift. “Too late,” she muttered, and Marinette’s gaze snapped up to see a familiar black-clad figure flying unerringly toward the still-open window.

“Oh, no!” Marinette looked frantically for a place to hide, but to no avail. “No no nonononono!”

“Just brazen it out, Marinette,” Tikki hissed as Chat Noir hit the floor in a dive and rolled gracefully to a crouch. “He saw you.”

“Princess?” He asked, rising from his crouch. “This isn’t your tower. What are you doing here?”

“Um! No-nothing! I just, ah, was doing a favor! For Adrien!”

“For Adrien?” he repeated, his voice curiously dry.

“Ye-yeah! He um, he asked me to…get a book for him!” She crossed to his desk and picked up the graphic novel sitting next to his keyboard. “See? He forgot it, and asked me to grab it for him.” She clutched it frantically to her chest, and began edging toward the door. “So, it was really good to see you, but I have to get going. Adrien needs his book after all!”

She’d gone three steps towards the door when Chat Noir landed in front of her, and leaned negligently on his staff. She stopped short and stared at him with wide eyes as he smiled lazily. “Chat?”

“I happen to know that Adrien did not send you here for a book.” He quirked a brow and leaned forward to pluck the book from her grasp, tossed it back to the desk, and leaned on his staff once more. “So what are you really doing here?”

She gulped. “I was—I, uh…”

His eyes crinkled in a smile. “Pilfering his phone again?”

“Wha--?” she gasped. “How did you—I mean, no, of course not! I’ve never stolen anything!”

“You’re a terrible liar, Princess.”

“Oh, alright.” She deflated, and tugged the bag around to her front to clutch at it tightly. “For the record, I only borrowed his phone to erase an embarrassing voicemail that I didn’t even mean to leave. And today…” She opened the bag and pulled out the brightly colored package, wincing when she saw the sorry state of the bow. “I just wanted to leave him a surprise for Christmas.”

“Oh!” He straightened, and a faint blush stained his cheeks. “Really? A Christmas gift for m—him?”

“Yeah. Giving him gifts usually end up in disaster, so I thought I’d try something else this time.”

“Ah.” He grimaced, and nodded in understanding. “I see.”

“Exactly.” She sighed, shaking her head. “If even you’ve heard what a catastrophe I am, then this is definitely the right call. This way, I can be like a secret Santa, no humiliation involved.”

She looked nervously over her shoulder at the door to his room, conscious of the long minutes she’d already spent in there. “Speaking of, I think I’ll just leave it on the table there and skedaddle. I don’t want to get caught here by anyone else and make this into a catastrophe as well.” Her eyes lit, and narrowed on him. “Wait a minute, what are you doing here?”

His eyes widened. “Ah, I saw someone sneaking in here, and wanted to make sure he wasn’t being robbed.”

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess.” Her expression eased and she wandered over to the low coffee table to set the package carefully in the middle. “I hope he likes it,” she murmured, when she realized that he’d followed her over.

“I’m sure he will,” he murmured in reply. “I’m certain he will.”

Chat Noir held Marinette tightly as he carried her the short distance from his house to her rooftop balcony, his mind preoccupied with the present currently sitting on the table in his room and with the girl who left it there.

How had she gotten into his room? He would have sworn he’d seen Ladybug when he first glimpsed someone in his room, and it would have been easy enough for his partner. For Marinette? Not so much. And why hadn’t she simply given it to him at school, or at the holiday party his father had grudgingly allowed Adrien to host? It was scheduled for the following night, so it’s not like she’d have to wait long.

Then he recalled again what had happened when she tried to give him his gift last year, and cringed. Maybe this was the better option.

He landed lightly on her balcony and allowed her to slide to the ground, pointedly ignoring the way his hormone-riddled body reacted to the feel of her against him. “Home safe and sound, as promised, Princess.”

“Thank you, Chat.” She rose on her toes and pressed a brief kiss to his cheek. “If you’ll wait for just a moment, I have a little something for you as well.”

He froze in place at the touch of her lips on his cheek, and managed only a stiff nod at her words.

Blushing, Marinette opened the trap door and slid into her room. She was gone only for a moment before she returned with another festive package and pressed it into his hands.

It was smaller than the box she’d left in his room, but just as beautifully decorated. “Chat Noir” had been written in careful script across one of the large green polka dots that speckled the paper, and she’d turned the “O” into a kitty cat smiley face.

He shot her a shy smile, thinking of the other gift she’d already given him—not that she knew that. “You didn’t have to get me anything, Princess. And it isn’t Christmas yet.”

“Of course I did. I give gifts to all my friends.” She bounced a bit on the balls of her feet, smiling. “Open it!”

“Alright.” Still smiling, he split the tape with a sharp claw and opened one end of the package to slide the box out of its wrapping. To his delight, he found a bakery box stuffed full of his favorite treats from her parents’ boulangerie. He immediately opened the box, lifted out a pale pink macaron, and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth with a happy sigh.

Marinette laughed. “Maybe don’t eat them all at once this time, yeah?”

His mouth was still full of macaron, so he just shrugged. He probably would eat them all at once, even knowing the stomach ache he’d have when he was done.

They were that good.

He thought again of the package waiting for him in his room. Would there be more of the same? He couldn’t decide if he wanted there to be, or not. They were amazing, but even he couldn’t eat that many sweets!

As it turned out, he needn’t have worried. The surprisingly heavy box had contained a beautiful, deep green chenille throw that was heavy without being thick. It had been knitted with a very fine chenille yarn, making it both very soft and very warm. There was no packaging, no tag, and no label. Knowing Marinette, it was probably hand-made, and knowing what he did about textiles, he was overwhelmed by the number of hours she’d spent on it—let alone the cost of the expensive chenille yarn. He unfolded it and draped it over his body, luxuriating in the comforting weight of the deceptively thin blanket and wondering how he could possibly thank her for the gift.

Plagg, who’d made a bee-line for the cheese stash in his personal fridge the moment he’d been released from the ring, must have sated himself. He floated over and lifted a corner of the blanket curiously. “This is nice,” he said, running a paw over the material. “But what is this?”

“What is what?” Adrien asked, dropping his end of the blanket to look at the corner Plagg held. An interesting design had been stitched into that corner of the blanket and he frowned, recognizing the design but not immediately placing where he’d seen it before.

When it clicked, he jumped up from the couch and went pawing through his closet, dead-set on finding one particular scarf. After a moment’s panic, he remembered that he’d worn it to school on Friday and found it jammed in his school bag. With a sigh of relief, he took it and found the design that had been embroidered at one end of the scarf.

Though smaller, it was an exact match to the one on his new blanket. What’s more, is that from this angle, he finally realized that the design actually spelled out Marinette’s name. What had she said in the bowler hat competition? I always sign my designs.

It was Marinette’s signature. Marinette had made his scarf.

The next evening, Marinette stood in front of the mirror in her room, critically eyeing the black and green tea-length cocktail dress she wore. It was conservatively cut, yet it hugged her slender body in a way that flattered her petite figure before flaring out at the hips to swirl gently around her thighs. It was made of a buttery soft green underdress, with a black lace overlay that made the green look darker than it actually was. She’d painstaking sewn on tiny Swarovski crystal beads here and there in the lace, making it sparkle when they caught the light. All in all, it was the perfect dress for a semi-formal holiday party, even if it was at the home of a world renowned fashion icon. Besides, it wasn’t the elder Agreste she sought to impress—it was his son.

“You look lovely, Marinette!”

Marinette pirouetted before the mirror and grinned at Tikki’s reflection. “Do you think Adrien will like it?”

“Of course! Everyone will!”

“Thanks, Tikki.” Marinette giggled, and held out her coordinating purse, already stocked with cookies. “Are you ready?”

“I am!” She dove into the purse, but peeked back out. “I can’t wait to hear your parents’ reaction. You did such a great job on the dress, and you look so pretty!”

Tikki was not disappointed. They oohed and ahhed over her creation, bemoaned the rate at which their little girl was growing up, and took enough photos to fill an album.

“Wait, where is Alya?” Tom asked suddenly, frowning. “Don’t you two usually go to these sorts of things together? I don’t want you out there on your own.”

“No, Papa, Adrien is sending his driver to pick me up! Isn’t that sweet? He offered chauffer services to anyone who wanted a ride, just to make sure all of his friends could attend.”

Her father’s expression cleared. “Have I mentioned before how much I like this Adrien fellow? Such a gentleman.” He grinned mischievously and turned to his wife. “I can’t wait to make their wedding cake!”

Marinette flushed hotly, but giggled in spite of herself. “Papa!”

Sabine laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll remind him never to say that sort of thing in front your friends.”

Marinette shuddered theatrically. “Heaven forbid!”

There was a quiet knock at the door, and she twirled to stare at it, excitement spiking.

“I think your ride is here,” her father said dryly when she didn’t move to open it.

“Oh! Right.” She opened the door expecting to see Adrien’s chauffeur, or perhaps someone else from the Agreste staff.

She did not expect to see Adrien himself, standing at her door with a sheepish smile.

Marinette shrieked, and slammed the door.

Tom snickered.

“Marinette!” Sabine scolded, and reached past her daughter to open the door once more. “Hello, Adrien. Come on in.”

Adrien looked at Marinette uncertainly. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Marinette ducked her head, blushing hotly. “I-I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting you, and I panicked.” She glanced up, and smiled. “Would you like to come in?”

“Sure.” He stepped awkwardly inside, and his eyes swept over her. He blinked. “You look…wow. You look amazing, Marinette.”

The heat returned full-force to Marinette’s cheeks at the compliment. “Thank you! So do you. I mean, no! Not beautiful! Handsome! I mean, of course you are, you’re a model, and—”

“You do look very nice, Adrien.” Her mother cut in, her hands landing gently on her shoulders. “Since you’re here, would you mind taking a few pictures with Marinette?”

“Maman!”

Adrien chuckled, and inclined his head. “I don’t mind at all, so long as you share them with me.”

“Of course!” Delighted, Sabine shooed them over to stand in front of the book shelf, and began snapping photos.

Before she could get carried away, though, Marinette slipped out from under Adrien’s arm (omg he’d had his arm around her!) and bussed her mother’s cheek. “I will be back later, Maman!”

Sabine smiled knowingly, but lifted Marinette’s coat from the back of the couch and handed it to her. “Have a good time, dear.”

“Don’t forget your curfew!” Tom added as he draped his arm over his wife’s shoulder, and dropped a kiss on his daughter’s head as she tugged the coat on.

“I’ll make sure that she gets home safe and sound, sir.”

“Thank you, Adrien. Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas!”

Marinette led the way through the door and down the stairs to street level, acutely aware of the boy—the young man, really—who followed close behind her. Was he personally picking up all of his classmates? Or just her? Alya hadn’t said anything about a personal pick up, and she’d certainly had no idea about it.

At the bottom of the stairs, he slipped around her and pulled the door open with a flourishing bow.

She giggled at the overdone gallantry, and he met her gaze with a smile. “Your chariot awaits, my lady,” he said, gesturing to the car parked at the curb.

“A limo?” she gasped, staring at him in shock. Then her brain finished processing his words, and she started, staring after him as he walked to the car and opened her door. Just a coincidence, she thought, catching up with him.

He grinned. “It’s only a small limo.”

With a breathless laugh, she slid into the back seat, and continued to move until he had room to slide in beside her.

Adrien’s enormous driver glanced in the back seat to make sure they were both buckled, and then pulled away from the curb with a grunt.

Marinette shifted in her seat, nervous but also very curious. She licked her lips and forced herself to ask the question that had been burning in her mind. “So…did, um, did everyone get a personal pick up from the host?”

Adrien laughed a tad uncomfortably, and shook his head. “Ah, no. I…I wanted an opportunity to talk to you, alone, and I knew that we probably wouldn’t get an opportunity to do that at the party, so…”

Marinette’s heart thumped hard in her chest, and she stared at him, wide-eyed. “You wanted to talk to me? Alone?”

“Yeah,” he said, softly. Turning his gaze to the driver, he said, “Malcolm?”

The driver, whose name was apparently Malcolm, grunted again. A tinted glass plate rose up between the compartments, affording them a degree of privacy. Marinette started open-mouthed, then turned to look at Adrien with ever-mounting curiosity.

He studied her face as if he was looking for something, and she squirmed under his regard. “Adrien?”

“Right, sorry.” He blinked, and seemed to shake himself. “I wanted to thank my secret Santa, for my gift.”

“Your—oh!” Her eyes widened yet further, and she felt herself flush scarlet. “But I’m not—”

“I was quite surprised to find it in my room, you know.” He tilted his head quizzically, ignoring her denial. “How did you get into the house?”

She floundered, grasping desperately for an explanation that didn’t include a red suit with black spots. “I-I…ah, I um, snuck in through the back door?”

That searching look returned to his eyes as he weighed her response. Then he smiled enigmatically, and reached over to take her hand in his. Her breath caught. “Is this ok?” he whispered, and at her nod, his smile widened. “You’re still a terrible liar, Princess.”

Her eyes blew impossibly wide and she gasped. “You’re…?”

His smile turned sly, and it was 100% Chat Noir. “The one and only.”

“You—but—how? Why are you—” She darted a look at the driver, and shook her head. “Why let me know?”

He winced sheepishly. “I, um, looked at yesterday’s security footage for the area outside my room.”

She paled and goggled at him, her mind reeling. She’d barely recovered from the shock of discovering that he was Chat Noir, and he was hitting her again with this? She gulped, and decided to play dumb in the hopes that she was wrong. “Oh? Anything interesting?”

He gave her a look that communicated quite clearly what he thought of that. “Not now, there isn’t. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to edit digital security footage.”

Damn. She lowered her eyes, and fingered one of the crystals on her dress. “So, now you know.”

“I know that you’re my best friend, and that I’ve now fallen for you twice.” Her eyes shot back to his, and he raised her hand to his mouth, to place a kiss on the back. It was the first time he’d done it outside their masks, and her breath caught. “I know that I want to ask you to be my official date for the party. And I know that I would very much like to catch you under the mistletoe tonight.” He smirked, and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “More than once, if you’ll let me.”

Marinette blinked, struggling to take it all in. This was—this was a lot, and so much of the conversation had happened in subtext that her head was swimming just trying to keep track of the things that hadn’t been said. If she’d followed all of that correctly, then Adrien was Chat Noir; he’d figured out that she was Ladybug from the security footage at the mansion but had doctored it so that no one else could do the same; and he wanted her to be his date for the night.

“Marinette?”

She looked up, and realized that she must have stayed quiet for too long; Adrien’s smile had melted, and he was now staring anxiously. “How are you not freaking out right now?” she blurted, and then decided that that was actually what she really wanted to know the most.

He laughed. “I did all of my freaking out last night, and got it out of my system.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and chuckled again. “There was a lot of freaking out.”

“Oh. That…makes me feel better.”

“It’s a lot, isn’t it?”

She nodded, and chuckled a bit herself. “I’m screaming internally.”

“Okay, how about this,” he said, squeezing her hand. “How about we get out of this car, go inside, and have a really good time at this party. You don’t need to be my date, I promise not to accost you under the mistletoe, and we can talk about everything later. What do you say?”

“I’d say that sounds wonderful,” she breathed gratefully. “But, would it be okay if I accosted you under the mistletoe?”

He grinned. “As many times as you like, my lady.”

@mlsecretsanta

#mlsecretsanta 2k17 #miraculous #ladybug #chat noir #marinette #adrien #marichat #adrinette #callmecirce writes

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