#adrienette x reader | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

princesssmars · 1 year

Text

late night visitors

a ladynoir x reader

most people don't get visited by paris's notorious superheroes at night. luckily, you're not most people.

wc : 1982

contains : fluff. just a bunch of fluff ngl. polyamory. mari and adrien's ages arent stated but they grew up with me in my head so they're about 17/18 here idc.

f/f - favorite flowers

a/n : we love starting a fic and not finishing it until a year later <3 i made this short (?) and sweet before i went overboard. enjoy :)

one thing paris didn’t get enough credit for was its quietness. during the day the city bustles, each arrondissement’s streets filled with tourists and families enjoying the city of love. but you loved it at night. the air grows cold and the roads are deserted, only a few stragglers walking about. the city lights twinkle against the skyline and blend into the clear night sky to create your favorite sight.

you had spent a while sitting on your balcony and just enjoying it, having finished your homework and chores and ready to just be. you let all of your worries about school and friends and villains go and finally relaxed, staying outside for an hour before heading off inside for a night of rest.

tap tap tap.

you grumble, slowly rising from your sleep at the sudden noise you've heard at the other end of the rom. sitting up and rubbing at your eyes, you look around your bedroom to pinpoint where the disturbance came from. from what you can see in the dark nothing fell from your bed, and your closet and bedroom doors are closed so that only leaves one other spot.

tap tap tap.

letting out a huff of air through your nose, you rise from your bed and throw on your robe, quickly noting the alarm clock on your dresser telling you its already past midnight, before moving to the window that looks into your balcony.

not able to see anything, you carefully open the door, shivering and only stopping for a second to again look at the beautiful view of paris before looking around your balcony, only to see a small flower pot that rose had gifted you knocked over.

figuring it to be some dumb bird or a stray, you turn back towards your room just to see a giant pair of bright green eyes staring right into your soul.

it’s pure luck that you're able to muffle your short scream in your hands to not wake and alarm your parents and half the of the arrondissement. unluckily, paris’ beloved hero chat noir is on the brink of laughing his stupid leather-covered ass off.

he somehow manages to calm down, but that means now he’s talking. and god help you when chat noir decided to speak.

"i knew you could be jumpy when scared but you leaped higher than a startled cat! you should've seen it!"

he makes more jokes and lets out little laughs as you stand still in front of him, glaring at him in your pajamas. the fact that your bottoms were covered in pink cupcakes didn't help your case.

“if you seriously woke me up at midnight just to tease and laugh at me so help me god chat,” you squint your eyes in a warning, barely noticing the figure cloaked in red and black sliding up to your side.

“nope, we brought something else,” you hear whispered into your ear. not flinching this time, be it because you were too pissed off or less on edge from the last time. you turn and smile softly when soft baby blue eyes meet your own. “how was your day, mon cheri?”

you hum as your hands find their way around her shoulders and hers wrap around your middle, “better now that you're here, can't say the same for others though.” ladybugs body rocks with a silent laugh as chat looks at the two of you shocked.

he goes off into one of his usual dramatic rants about how the “loves of my life have left me behind for each other! the stereotypes are true!” as you both watch him in amusement.

“alright fine, you big oaf. get in here,” you sigh, moving your arm from around ladybug to open in his direction. he puts on his model-worthy blinding smile and rushes into the hug, squeezing the both of you and raising you off the ground. sometimes you forgot how strong they could be.

during the day, marinette and adrien were the pinnacles of perfectly normal teenagers. it’d been an honor to not only see them grow up from stumbling middle schoolers bestowed with unfathomable power to where they are today.

when you first met mari you thought she was weird, to put it frankly. you’d reflected on how nervous she would get around you and adrien and how you caught her following you a few times, much to her embarrassment at the memories. but after giving her a chance at the behest of alya you found out how amazing she could be. she was incredibly smart, excelling in her studies and being the group's designated tutor. it was only during one of your late-night tutoring sessions, the blue-haired girl smiling at you sweetly and praising you when you got a problem wrong, that you realized you had feelings for her.

and adrien was so radiant it was scary. you figured since he was rich and childhood friends with chloe bourgeois of all people that he’d be another snob for you to ignore. but then that day happened when chloe was jealous of all the attention you were getting on your new hairstyle and dumped a tiny carton of milk on your head. normally you didn't let her get to you, but you couldn't help but tear up and run to hide in an empty classroom. it wasn't until a little later that a soaking-wet adrien sat down next to you, telling you he was sorry for what chloe did, and said “if she’s going to bully my friends, she’ll have to do the same to me.”

after that, it was hard not to harbor feelings for the two of them, and you were so glad when they confessed not only to each other but to you as well. you weren't expecting the whole superhero reveal thing, though. but it warmed you inside to know they trusted you enough with this secret.

“let’s head inside, its getting colder and i don't want you to get sick.” ladybug pulls out of the hug, holding the back of her hand up to your head.

“i’m fine, bug,” you assure her, pulling her hand away and smiling at the way her cheeks tint pink. “what’d you bring me?”

ladybug waves her hand to chat, the boy coming up behind you before your vision goes dark with his hands covering your eyes. you hear the sound of ladybug’s yoyo, then the familiar whssh of her body traveling through the air.

“can you give me a hint at least?” you plead. its been a solid three minutes of waiting for marinette to come back and the excitement is making you antsy. not to mention your leather-clad boyfriend standing right behind you.

“no can do, babe. we both know you'll figure it out and then ladybug will figure out that you've figured it out and then she figures out its because i told you and then-”

“ok ok! i get it! ill wait patiently.”

luckily you don't have to wait long, chat removing his hands to show you marinette standing in front of you holding a bouquet of f/f and a box of your favorite pastries.

“i made them this morning so they'd be fresh in case something happened, thank god we only had to deal with some thieves.” marinette hands you the flowers, the pair of them thankful when you bring them up and take in a deep inhale of their scent, holding them close to your chest.

“i wouldn't call ten men breaking into the louvre just any regular thieves, my lady.” chat chuckles.

ladybug shrugs. “didnt seem so tough to me.”

she shrugs. “didnt seem so tough to me.”

“c'mon you two, lets head inside before some insomniac catches a picture of you two.”

they follow you inside, the both of them able to sneak well after years of practice. you put the flowers in a spare vase on your dresser, gently placing them inside with a smile. you hear a slight smack followed by a 'ow!’ and a laugh. you turn to see your girlfriend scowling at your boyfriend, whose mouth is stuffed with one of the pastries.

“i made them for y/n! at least let her have the first one.” ladybug chastises him, setting the box down on a coffee table before sitting on your white chaise.

chat ignores her, too entranced by the deliciousness of her baking. “whatever you say, buggaboo.”

you smile, loving to watch how they interact with each other. they worked so well together, and sometimes when you admired them it seemed like they were made for each other. if it wasnt so sweet you’d be more jealous, but they never made you feel excluded.

“ill go put these in your kitchen so you can have them for breakfast.” chat puts some of the pastry on a napkin and leaves it on the table for you before picking up the box and slinking out of your door with a wink.

you send him an appreciative smile, looking to the side to see ladybug still slightly pouting.

“its fine bug, i appreciate it no matter what,” you sit down next to her, reaching up to take her mask off as her baby blue eyes look at you fondly. “ill have to repay you somehow. just tell me what and its yours.”

mari looks at you silently for a few seconds more before brining up her hand to cup your face and bringing you in for a sweet kiss. mari's kisses were some of your favorites, the girl always making sure to assert herself as ladybug and it travels into her intimacy.

you pull away reluctantly, her looking at you with a lovestruck grin.

“you already repay me by being mine, mon cheri.” she whispers, placing a gentle kiss on your warm cheek. you start to flirt back when a force plops onto the chaise next to you, a mop of blonde hair landing into your lap.

“i second what she said, my love. only if i get some kisses too obviously.” adrien says, his mask now off to show off his dazzling emerald eyes.

you roll your eyes in playful annoyance but relent, leaning down to give him a kiss as well. adrien’s kisses are just as amazing as mari’s but they feel…desperate. not in the way he kissed you when he underestimated a villain and nearly lost his life, rushing back to your apartment and kissing you before holding you in a tight embrace for an hour.

he was desperate for physical touch, the reminder that he’s yours and your his and that you wont leave him. but no matter how much the two of you pretend to be exasperated at his constant touches and flirting, you want to assure him that you’ll always be here for him no matter what.

the kiss ends and you nearly giggle from the sight of his dopey grin and hooded eyes, quickly widening when mari roughly grabs his cheeks and kisses him dramatically.

“there, happy not, kitty?” she asks, the boy laying limp across your lap.

“yup. perfect.”

after a minute of mari teasing chat for his dopey reaction to your kisses and adrien pointing out how she acts the exact same, the time of night catches up with you and you feel your eyes start to droop. just when you feel the lull of sleep taking you away, a strong pair of arms lifting you up and placing you in bed. when they start to pull away, you tiredly reach your arm out to hold their wrist, whispering a quiet “stay.”

thankfully your loves cant say no to you, the two of them resting on top of the covers as they cuddle you from either side.

its quiet as they stay with you, and you’ve never loved the quiet of the city more.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug x reader #marinette dupain cheng #marinette dupain cheng x reader #marinette x reader #ladybug x reader #adrien agreste #adrien agreste x reader #ladynoir #ladynoir x reader #adriennette #adrienette x reader

492 notes · View notes

starfinss · 2 years

Text

Coup de Grâce — Miraculous 2/2

𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮: Miraculous Ladybug

𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨: Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir + Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug

𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨: SFW

𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵: 7,599

𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺:

Coup de Grâce (Noun) A final blow or shot, given to kill a wounded person or animal.

When Adrien starts to put two and two together, he realizes Lila Rossi’s treatment of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng is far worse that he’d ever imagined, and the high road is no longer (and frankly, may have never been) an option. He decides to take matters into his own hands. Game, Set, Match.

Adrien woke the morning after the gala to a phone call.

It was before his alarm, and therefore before Adrien would be answering anything, so he declined the call, rolled over, and closed his eyes again, fully intent on going straight back to sleep.

It rang again.

“Adrien, please, turn off your phone,” Plagg whined, and Adrien grunted, declining the call again.

And, as Adrien expected, it rang again.

Plagg made a soft, disgruntled sound. “I’m going to eat your phone.”

Adrien sat up, brushing his mussed hair out of his sleepy eyes before picking up the phone and finally answering.

“Hello?”

“ADRIEN AGRESTE—”

Adrien pulled the phone an arm’s length away from his ear, startled completely awake by Alya’s shouting. She’d undoubtedly seen Jagged Stone’s livestream, and she indubitably didn’t like what she saw. Why she was awake and screaming at him before six in the morning, Adrien didn’t know, but she was making it very clear that this was his problem, and it was his problem now.

“—She never even TOLD ME—“

Adrien pulled the phone away again, exchanging a glance with Plagg before finally taking a deep breath and pressing the phone back to his ear.

“Alya,” he said, “calm down.”

“Calm do— CALM DOWN?! Don’t you tell me to calm down, you knew about all of this, didn’t you? That she… that SNAKE was lying to me? I can’t BELIEVE I thought Marinette was ever jealous. She knew all along, and I should have trusted her.”

Alya sounded like she was on the verge of tears, and Adrien couldn’t blame her. He’d been the one to tell Marinette to be the bigger person, and that hadn’t turned out well at all.

“Alya,” Adrien repeated, “I feel horrible, too. I told Marinette to take the high road, and Lila ended up bullying her—”

“Wait, wait, hold the ABSOLUTE phone, Agreste, Lila WHAT?! All Marinette said was thats she and Lila didn’t get along, but excuse me— you’re telling me that this BITCH has been bullying my best friend?”

“Yeah,” Adrien said miserably, “I overheard Lila in the locker room with Marinette. Threatening her, calling her names. It was horrible.”

“And you didn’t confront her?!”

Adrien sighed. “What do you think last night was? I couldn’t just tell her off in the locker room, she’d be onto me, no matter how badly I wanted to. I’ve talked to Lila about the lying before, but she never stops. I had to make it stick, and that meant being sneaky.”

Alya was silent for a second before she spoke again. “At LEAST tell me you comforted her. I dunno, gave her a hug, anything? Marinette is sensitive, something like that— going on for that long— oh, God.”

Her voice sounded equal parts miserable and exhausted, and Adrien knew how she felt. He’d felt the same when he finally realized what had been going on.

“Of course, I gave her a hug,” Adrien said, mildly indignant, “I’m not a monster.”

“God, her heart probably was on the verge of exploding.”

Adrien blinked. “What?”

“Nothing, never mind,” Alya said quickly, “I had an inkling of what was going on, Lila threatened Marinette in the bathroom a few months ago, but I stupidly thought she was stretching the truth a little. I believed her, though, I knew she’d never make something like that up. The way she said Lila was acting was… it was scary, Adrien. It seemed almost impossible that she could say those things, Lila always seems so… nice, so genuine.”

Alya scoffed, her voice tight, and angry, and so, so bitter. “But I guess that’s another one of her lies, isn’t it? I’ve been less inclusive of Lila since she makes Marinette uncomfortable, like, you know, not inviting Lila over, or just having time with me and Marinette, but she never told me that Lila was— oh my God, I’ve been such a bad friend.”

“No,” Adrien said, “Lila had everyone fooled. She’s a good liar, I’ll give her that. What matters now is being there for Marinette, I don’t doubt that Lila will try and take this out on her. We have to protect her.”

Adrien paused, “also, why are you calling me this early?”

Alya scoffed tearfully. “You think I got a wink of sleep after seeing that? All I could think about was how I didn’t believe Marinette, my best friend, when she was being bullied. I should’ve stuck with the feeling I got when I knew there was something she wasn’t telling me, because she so obviously wasn’t fine, Adrien, she must’ve felt so alone, and I should have believed her.”

“Then make it up to her,” Adrien said, “apologize, be a good friend, and call Lila out the second you see her at school.”

“Done and done. So much more than done,” Alya snarled, “I’m burying that girl in the fucking ground. She’s dead, Adrien, d-e-a-d, DEAD.”

And with that, she hung up, leaving Adrien sitting, dumbstruck in the darkness of his room.

“It is way too early for all of that,” grumbled Plagg, “what’d she even want, anyway?”

Adrien flopped down on the bed. “You probably heard most of that. She wasn’t exactly quiet. But I’m pretty sure Lila’s life is in danger.”

“Good,” the Kwami scoffed, “she deserves a little misfortune. You have no idea how crazy that girl was driving me.”

Adrien chuckled dryly. “I may have an inkling.”

Plagg fell asleep again in a few seconds, but Adrien wasn’t able to, so he got out of bed and got ready for his morning workout routine. After said routine, he took a shower, longer than usual since he had the time. He was even able to watch a few of his favorite compilation videos of Ladybug before Nathalie came upstairs to fetch him for breakfast.

Said meal passed uneventfully, with little conversation between Adrien and his father. Adrien was still annoyed with him for inviting Lila as his date without running it past him, so that was fine by him. It was only when he was getting into the car to go to school that Nathalie told him he was no longer to associate with Lila Rossi, and that she was no longer welcome in the house.

Adrien pretended to be confused, and when asked why that was, Nathalie simply told him it was ‘bad for PR’ before shutting the car door. Regardless, Adrien accepted the verdict, much more easily than Nathalie expected, Adrien gathered, from her perplexed expression.

That, Adrien decided, was something he could live with.

He was barely in his seat before everything went sideways, and the bell hadn’t even rang yet.

“Dude, what was that?” Nino cried, sliding into the seat beside him, “the class chat is going insane, haven’t you seen any of it?”

“Adrien, we need to talk,” Came Alya’s voice, from somewhere over Adrien’s shoulder.

“No,” Adrien said, turning to Nino, “I haven’t looked at the class chat, I had it muted since last night at the gala since it’s not exactly good etiquette to have your phone buzzing nonstop. And we will talk, Alya.”

Alya looked like she hadn’t slept, and, from what she’d told Adrien, she hadn’t. Her hair was unwashed, tossed into a ponytail, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She looked a bit like she’d gotten dressed in the dark, or, and Adrien didn’t at all blame her if this were the case, she just didn’t care about looking nice today. She had ass to kick, and nobody said there was a dress code for that.

In Adrien’s case, ass kicking, as well as anything that he considered a good time, involved black leather, as well as tossing himself from building to building and hitting things with a stick, but that was just him.

“I can’t believe that she’s been lying,” Nino sighed, clearly wounded, “all this time, to all of us. What else has she— and with the bullying— How deep does it go? Has she ever told the truth at all?”

Alya scoffed. “Fat chance of that.”

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival Marinette, who seemed just a little more upbeat than she had been the day previous. She’d clearly seen the class chat, and with how big of a fan Adrien knew she was of Jagged Stone, she’d undoubtedly seen the stream. Furthermore, she was more than smart enough to know what Adrien had been doing.

Alya sprang from her seat like she’d been ejected from it, tugging Marinette into a fierce hug. The other girl started, but she hugged her best friend back.

“I’m so sorry,” Alya muttered into Marinette’s shoulder, “I’m so sorry that I didn’t believe you, if you don’t forgive, me I understand, I—”

“Alya,” Marinette said softly, her expression blissfully happy, “no, stop, I forgive you. For her credit, she was a good liar. But— I expect you to buy me a whole box of macarons. Y’know, to make it up to me. And I get to pick the movies we watch, for a whole month.”

“Done,” Alya said in an instant, her relief clear in her voice, “super done.”

Adrien decided not to mention that Marinette lived above a bakery, as that would ruin a sweet moment, and that was the last thing he wanted.

“God, M, why didn’t you tell me?” Alya sighed, and Marinette shrugged.

“I dunno, I thought maybe I was being dramatic, and I— I wanted to solve it myself. So I just said that we didn’t get along.”

Alya scoffed. “I was an idiot to have believed that. But I was an even bigger idiot to have believed Lila.”

“Is Lila even here today?” Adrien asked, and Nino chuckled bitterly.

“She’s here,” he said, leaning back in his seat and folding his hands behind his head, “hiding out somewhere, who knows. Little miss pants-on-fire probably wants to do damage control. Not that there’s anything left for her to control. She’s already been removed from the class chat. She’s done-zo, man.”

Adrien tilted his head. “How do you know she’s here? Did you see her?”

Nino chuckled. “Yeah, on my way in. She kept her head down, didn’t look at anyone. I didn’t approach; she isn’t worth my time. Marinette, for what it’s worth, I’m super sorry, too. I should’ve believed you. If there’s anything I can do to make it up, let me know, yeah?”

Marinette smiled, her cheeks gently pink, and she nodded.

“From now on,” Alya said, resting her head on Marinette’s shoulder, “I listen to you. Not some fake bitch with a fake life, girl. And you’re totally allowed to be mad at me, I was a horrible friend.”

The next ten or so minutes was full of apologies from classmates as they arrived, sans Chloé, who, of course, loudly claimed she knew Lila was lying the entire time, a declaration that convinced no one, earning a chorus of exasperated groans. Rose, contrastingly, burst into tears, with not even Marinette’s repeated assurances that she was forgiven providing any comfort. She finally stopped wailing after Juleka peppered her face with kisses, her hiccuping sobs turning into delighted giggles.

It was when Lila Rossi herself entered the classroom that everyone went silent.

Adrien’s eyes passed across his classmates, taking in the downright venomous looks they were giving Lila, but none of those held a candle to Alya. The expression on her face was something Adrien could only describe as apocalyptic fury, her eyes blazing behind her spectacles, her lip curled back to reveal her teeth in a menacing snarl. She probably would have already pounced on Lila if Nino wasn’t physically holding her back from doing so.

“You have some nerve—“ Alya started, but Nino clapped a hand over her mouth, much to her fury.

Lila barely acknowledged the other girl’s anger, her face a perfect mask of impassive and casual, a polite smile glued to her lips. She seemed completely nonplussed by the eyes on her, infuriatingly nonchalant, and if Alya was kept back any longer, Adrien was pretty sure she was going to start foaming at the mouth.

“Oh, Marinette,” Lila said, as though she’d just remembered something while she placed her things down at her desk, “can we talk? It’s nothing big, I promise.”

Marinette shrank in on herself, halfway hiding behind Adrien where he stood beside her.

Softly, and low enough that nobody else could hear, Adrian leaned over to her, just a little, to speak into her ear.

“Say yes,” he whispered, “don’t worry, I’ve got a plan. I’ll be right there with you.”

Marinette looked like she was about to bust into a million pieces, her face the color of a boiled lobster, but she nodded, straightening back up to her full height. A mask of calm slipped over her face, all the worry and fear previously in her expression melting away as if it was never there at all. She was suddenly the picture of confidence, and as Adrien studied her, he realized that this somehow seemed…

Familiar.

“Okay,” Marinette said, her voice even and calm, “I’ll bite. The locker room, in say, five minutes?”

Lila giggled, and something passed behind her eyes, something that made shivers rake down Adrien’s spine. But, just as quick as it appeared, it was gone. Adrien swallowed the swell of unease that caught in his throat, keeping his face blank.

“Sure,” Lila said, pleasant as ever, “Locker room. It’s a date.”

And with that, she turned on her heel, disappearing through the classroom door.

“I have a plan,” Adrien said, after a few seconds of tense silence had passed.

Alya yanked Nino’s hand away from her face. “If that plan involves strangling her, I’m all in.”

“No,” Adrien said, “but it does involve dealing the final blow, if you’re interested in that.”

Alya smirked. “Since when have you been so devious, Agreste?”

“Since someone started bullying my friend.”

And since the high road didn’t work, I’m fighting dirty.

Alya seemed to approve of this. “Okay, okay. Now, what’s the plan?”

The plan was simple. And it all started with Marinette.

Adrien walked alongside her down the hallway, his hand resting on the small of her back to try and soothe her unease, but that only seemed to make her more tense. The mask of confidence hadn’t slipped, but he could tell she wasn’t looking forward to confronting Lila, even with a friend alongside her.

Marinette stepped into the locker room before Adrien did, and the second she did, Adrien heard a heavy thud, and then a gasp of pain.

He’d never burst a door open so quickly in his life.

There was Lila, her face so different from what she usually looked like that she was almost unrecognizable. There was no hint of her usual kindness or soft, silly humor, or the ever present sparkle of sly mischief only visible to those who really looked. Her lips were curled back an a cold, unfriendly sneer, with teeth bared like she was a predator who had caught its prey. And her eyes…

There was nothing behind those eyes.

And that was what scared Adrien the most. Because now, though some small part of him suspected it before, he knew that Lila felt absolutely nothing for the people she hurt. She didn’t do this because she wanted people to like her. She didn’t do this for any conceivable reason that any regular pathological liar would; because she couldn’t help it. Lila Rossi lied because she could, for her own personal gain and for the pleasure she got from doing so. She was a master manipulator. This was a game to her, and she hated to lose.

She simply found joy in tormenting those who kept her from getting what she wanted.

And Adrien thought Hawkmoth was a monster. Lila Rossi didn’t need superpowers for that.

Lila’s fist was clenched at her side, the other drawn back, but then there was Marinette, sitting on her knees and clutching her cheek, and Adrien knew what she’d just done, what line Lila had crossed, and he didn’t even know if it was the first time she’d done so. With a rage he’d never experienced before, Adrien stalked forward to stand in front of Marinette, using his superior height to tower over Lila, staring down his nose at her, his disgust crystal clear on his face.

The emptiness in Lila’s eyes was rapidly replaced with false shock, then fear, and betrayal, and Adrien had no idea how she was so good at pretending to feel after she’d just struck someone in the face with a closed fist, after she had spent her entire time in France making false friendships and hurting everyone she spoke to. He wondered with bitter bemusement what ludicrous lie she was going to use, what she could possibly say in order to get out of this situation.

Adrien expected her to lie. He didn’t expect her to launch herself into his arms, crocodile tears tracing her cheeks, with false, hiccuping sobs shaking her narrow shoulders. He didn’t expect her to cling onto him like he was her saving grace, her manicured nails digging into his skin through his shirt as she held onto him with a vice grip.

“Oh, Adrien,” she wailed, her voice full of sorrow, “Marinette hit me, she just hauled off and hit me! I just needed some help with—”

Everything slowed down. Adrien had been nice to this girl. He’d been good to her, given her the benefit of the doubt, tried to give her every chance in the world for a shred of retribution, to try and prove that she was better than this, that she could be happy without building herself a fragile, falsified house of cards. He tried. And she went and hurt the people he cared about.

Adrien was done. He was done being nice. He was done letting her stoke him like he was an animal in a petting zoo whenever she felt like it, putting her hands where they were very much not welcome, and he was done being polite about refusing her advances, or chucking awkwardly as he pushed her hands away from his body, only to be forced to endure again, and again, and again.

You know what they say about a house of cards. All it takes is a single push to make it all fall down. This was Adrien’s push.

“That’s enough, Lila,” he said, with no hint of malice in his voice, “you can stop now.”

She looked up at him with watery eyes, her face the perfect imitation of someone who was so utterly betrayed, but Adrien was not buying it. He knew what she really looked like now.

“S-stop?” She hiccuped, “stop what? Adrien, please, Marinette, she’s been bullying me since I got here, I know she hates me, and she set you up last night, right? She put you up to all that— that stupidity. Just tell me that’s what happened, and I’ll forgive you, Adrien.”

Adrien shook his head, face still calm. “No, Lila. That isn’t what happened. You know that.”

Her eyes grew frantic. “Y-yes, yes it is! She put you up to that, and you didn’t mean it.”

“Lila. Listen to me—”

“YOU DIDN’T MEAN IT.”

Adrien knew exactly what she was doing. She was seriously, after he knew every single breath she took was a lie, trying to gaslight him. Had she done this to Marinette? The mere thought of it made his anger swell to dangerous levels.

“You wouldn’t do that to me, would you? You wouldn’t want to hurt me.”

Guilt tripping, gaslighting, what else was she going to try? Adrien may as well have been a statue, his expression just as stony as one. His eyes remained fixed on her face, unimpressed, the only indication that he was even listening to her being his eyebrows as they rose into his hairline.

“Lila, stop,” he said, finally, gently pushing her off of him, “that’s enough. No more games. No more nothing. Nobody slandered you, either. Nobody told the entire student body that you were best friends with Ladybug, or that you saved Jagged Stone’s cat, or that you got an expensive necklace from the prince of Achu. You did. All I did, all anyone did, was believe you.”

Lila blinked back her false tears, still trying to sell the wounded victim act, but the only thing it accomplished was making Adrien angrier.

“Just tell me you didn’t mean it,” she whimpered, as if she hadn’t heard what Adrien had just said, “you didn’t mean to force me to be on that livestream. You didn’t, right?”

Adrien started at her, perplexed and mildly amused. “Lila, I didn’t put you on livestream. Jagged Stone did. I didn’t tell him to do that. I don’t control him. You got yourself into this mess by lying, I did not do this to you. Stop looking for people to blame, and take a look in a damn mirror. I’m done with this, I’m done with you.”

He stepped forward, forcing her to take a step back, her tearful expression flickering, but Adrien didn’t care. He was on a roll.

“Because you don’t just lie, Lila. You hurt people. You enjoy hurting people, and that is sick. Something is wrong with you for enjoying tormenting others,” Adrien spat, the temperature of his voice dropping into single digits. “You bullied Marinette because what, she didn’t believe your lies? She saw through you? You felt the need to hurt her, someone sweet, and kind, and just purely good because of a stupid reason like that? Of course you did. To protect your falsified reputation, you took it out on her.”

Lila shook her head rapidly, and Adrien was mildly impressed she was continuing the charade. Her dedication to her act was admirable, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

“No!” She cried, “Adrien, I love you, don’t you know that? I’ve been in love with you since I first saw you. Marinette has been bullying me because she—”

“Save it,” Adrien interjected, “don’t you even try it. If you think I will believe a word you say you’ve got another thing coming. I gave you several chances, because I hate believing that someone is completely bad, and I hoped to God that you weren’t always a horrible liar, that just maybe you could change, but I was wrong. You’re worse than a liar. You’re a bully. And I will not be friends with someone like that, ever.”

Several emotions passed over Lila’s face, and Adrien thought that this might be his first glimpse of what she really felt. He could see the mental gymnastics going at the speed of light behind her eyes as she wiped at her face with the heels of her hands, raising her gaze to meet his once more.

“Does it even matter to you that I just told you I love you?”

Adrien stared at her, and before he could open his mouth to speak, Marinette did it for him.

“Love?” She said, her voice wobbly with emotions, but the scorn interlaced into her tone was almost palpable, “don’t make me laugh, Lila. You don’t lie and manipulate and gaslight someone you love. This is you, seeking control. Because that’s what you want, right? You don’t want love, you want someone you can break down into whatever you want, someone you can own. That isn’t love.”

“Don’t listen to her, Adrien!” Lila sobbed, “I do, love you, I do! You know I do. I love you more than anything.”

Adrien shook his head, his lips pressed together in a firm line. “No. Marinette’s right. This isn’t love, Lila. You need to stop. That’s enough.”

The tears stopped. It was so abrupt it was like someone had flipped a switch, and Lila stood terrifyingly still for a handful of seconds before a new emotion overtook her face.

Rage.

In a flash, she was on Marinette again, screaming profanities and insults, and Adrien rushed forward, past caring about being gentle as he yanked her off of his friend. She was fast, though, as she was suddenly on him, shoving him into the lockers, his back hitting the one of the metal handles with a painful clang that would undoubtedly leave a nasty bruise. Lila’s face was a twisted, feral grimace, her eyes swirling with selfish rage, her breath expelling out from between her grit teeth in seething bursts.

“Fine,” she snarled, “I lied. Yeah, maybe I do like fucking with idiots like Marinette. People like her, with those big, stupid soft hearts, it’s the most fun to watch them crack. To watch them fall into despair, wondering ‘why me’ when there isn’t any reason other than I felt like it. Everyone worships me. I tell those stupid sycophants what they want to hear to get things to go my way. Is it so wrong to want to be in control?”

Lila was unrecognizable, her eyes a horrifying concoction of mania and malice, her mouth split open into a wide, wolfish grin. Her hands were wrapped around Adrien’s upper arms, her nails cutting through his shirt painfully, and she leaned in until her nose was nearly pressed to his.

“Liar Lila, that’s what you wanted to hear, right?” She sneered, “well, I can lie some more. I can ruin you, Adrien Agreste. You’re going to regret siding with her. Watch me tell the principal, the police, that you and that bitch jumped me, a poor, defenseless girl. Watch me tell ruin your spotless reputation, watch me say you touched me. They’ll believe me. I know they will. Because if they don’t, they’re blaming the victim. I hope you liked school, Adrien, or having friends, or fans, or respect. You and Marinette deserve each other. You can be pariahs together.”

Adrien remained unfazed, despite the severity of her threats. In fact, he smiled. And as his grin grew wider, as did the confusion on Lila’s face.

“Why the fuck are you—”

“Alya,” Adrien said, “now’s good.”

The shutter of a camera went off like a gunshot, and Lila’s eyes went wide with horror as she jolted back and away from Adrien like he’d burned her.

“Nah,” Alya said as she finally, finally stepped into the room, “that’s it for you, miss pants-on-fire.”

Adrien watched Alya’s eyes roll as Lila’s eyes welled up with tears again.

“Alya!” She cried, “I was just defending—”

Alya rolled her neck, then her shoulders as she stepped forward, phone in her hand, undoubtedly recording.

“You,” Alya said, her voice dripping with tranquil fury, “can shut the hell up.”

“You don’t understand, Marinette isn’t your friend, she lied to you, I—”

Alya moved more quickly than Adrien had ever seen her move, shoving her phone into her pocket, the blink of the red light telling Adrien the phone was still recording audio.

“Oh my God, Lila, shut up,” Alya spat, her voice saturated with venom. “Didn’t I just tell you to shut up? You what? You lied? You bullied my best friend? Don’t you dare talk to me about Marinette, you two-faced, back stabbing cockroach. I thought we were friends. I can’t believe I ever thought a single word out of your filthy mouth was the truth. You played me and the entire fucking class for a fool, and you will regret that.”

The visage of a helpless, tormented girl drained from Lila’s face in an instant, replaced with her sneer, and she squared her shoulders, stepping towards Alya.

“Regret what? Your friend made herself an easy target. And she’s already so sensitive that—”

Alya did something Adrien was expecting her to do, but it still surprised him nonetheless: she hauled back, and in a flash, she slapped Lila across the face. The impact of the strike sent Lila stumbling back, her eyes wide as her hand rose to cup her cheek. She was stunned to silence, both from the slap and from the terrifying fury rolling off of Alya in crashing waves. Her face had given way to bug-eyed shock, her jaw slack, opposite arm limp by her side. If Adrien didn’t know any better, he’d think that this had never happened to Lila before: she’d never had to face the ramifications of her actions. And Hell hath no fury like an Alya scorned.

“I am talking,” Alya snarled, “mouth closed, attention please.”

Helpless, Lila nodded.

“Like, seriously?” Alya said, waving her hands around in indignation, “and I thought Chloé was bad, but she looks like a fucking humanitarian compared to you. I can’t believe I ever put you on my blog in a positive light. I hope you know that this recording is going to every goddamn person in school. Hell, maybe I’ll post it to the school website, maybe my blog. You know what, I think I’ll do just that. Maybe even Adrien’s fan page. I’ve sure the people over there would love to hear you threatening him. And don’t even think of speaking a single word unless it’s an apology to Marinette. Everyone has had enough of you.”

At last, Adrien saw the first genuine flicker of fear in Lila’s eyes. She backed up further, roles swapped drastically from predator to trapped prey as Alya stalked towards her like she was about to devour her whole, and if she wasn’t stopped, she probably would. But Adrien wasn’t going to stop her.

“Apologize,” Alya said, no, ordered, “by tonight. I’ll have Max add you back to the class chat, just for a little bit. Own up to all your shit, apologize to Marinette, tell everyone what you did, or I will do it for you. And if you ever touch another hair on Marinette’s head ever again, you know you’ll have me to worry about. Now get out of my sight.”

Lila stood still. Her eyes were wide with shock, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she her gaze passed from Alya, to Marinette, then finally landing on Adrien. He stared back at her, expression frosty. She would get no more help, no more second chances from him. Genuine, defeated tears welled up in her eyes, no more of the play acting dramatics to be found as she swallowed back a sob. Without another word, Lila turned, keeping her head down, and ran out of the room.

Silence. It was quiet enough in the locker room to hear a pin drop, interrupted only by the rhythmic sound of Alya’s labored breathing as she tried and failed to calm down. Adrien turned to face her, and watched as tears of her own beaded at her lash line, reappearing even as she blinked them back. She wiped her face furiously before reaching down to end the recording on her phone. In a few taps, Adrien’s phone buzzed, undoubtedly with the audio recording that had just been taken.

“Adrien,” Alya said, “thank you.”

Adrien looked back at her, puzzled. “What for?”

“Sticking up for her, dumbass. Sorry I called you a dumbass,” Alya sniffled. “I mean, thank you for seeing through Lila’s tricks, for supporting Marinette when I—”

Alya bit back another sob, and Adrien wanted to step forward, to try and offer some form of comfort, but she held her hand up.

“I’m not the important one, here,” Alya said, “Marinette is.”

Adrien turned towards where Marinette was sitting, still on her knees, her arms wrapped around herself. Her left cheek was red, undoubtedly in the early stages of a forming bruise. Tears were welling up in her eyes, too, but she wasn’t bothering to brush them away, letting them spill down her cheeks in soundless cries, but Adrien could tell that among the cacophony of stentorian emotions that were thundering in her head, that one in particular was present beyond a shadow of a doubt: relief.

Kneeling beside her and pulling her forwards and into his arms felt as natural as breathing, and the second he was touching her, it was like a dam broke. It was like everything was hitting her at once, with soft, sniffling sobs spilling out as she finally just let it hurt. She pulled Adrien closer to her, burying her head in the crook off his neck, a spot where it fit like it was always meant to be.

“You’re okay, now,” Adrien whispered, and she clung to him more tightly, “she can’t hurt you again. I won’t let her.”

Marinette let out a gasping sob as her fingers curled into the cloth of Adrien’s shirt, just to hold onto something, and he let her, rubbing soothing circles into the small of her back with one hand as his opposite arm wrapped securely around her shoulders, holding her close.

Adrien smiled when he felt Alya move in, wrapping her arms around the both of them, pressing a soft, affectionate kiss to the crown of Marinette’s head, whispering her apologies and promises to do better into the midnight of her hair, and Marinette lifted her chin, leaning up to press her forehead against her best friend’s.

Alya quietly excused herself after that, undoubtedly to upload the audio recording she’d just taken to every social media platform she had an account with, leaving Marinette with Adrien as he continued to whisper words of comfort. She cried for a long time, and Adrien’s heart hurt for her. He knew what it felt like to be alone, to be helpless. Marinette didn’t deserve to feel that way, nobody did.

He wondered if Ladybug ever felt this way. She was always so strong and confident. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her cry, not that any part of Marinette was weak for crying, it was human to cry. Even if Adrien had never seen Ladybug cry, he knew she probably did. It made his heart, his entire soul ache, just the thought of his lady being sad or lonely. The thoughts of her and the beautiful girl in his arms blurred together, and, without even thinking, the words just… slipped out.

“It’s gonna be okay, bugaboo.”

Adrien hadn’t even realized he’d said anything until a few seconds had passed, and Marinette was staring up at him with wide, shocked, teary eyes, an odd mix of recognition and utter befuddlement intertwining behind her bluebell hues.

“You—” She sniffled, “you called me— You called me ‘bugaboo.’”

For all of Adrien’s eloquence, manners, and high society etiquette, he had no idea what to say to that.

He stared back at her like a deer in the headlights, his eyes wide and terrified because he was truly fucked. He’d slipped up, and there was no Ladybug to put things back the way they were, nobody to backpedal and make Marinette forget that he’d just Freudian slipped while she was crying in his arms and he was trying to be comforting— Oh God, Plagg was going to tease him about this for the rest of time.

“I—” Adrien floundered, “j-just uh, forget—”

“N-no,” Marinette said, suddenly panicking, more tears welling up, “no, no that can’t be right, nobody calls me that— I mean nobody calls me that— Unless— Except…”

Adrien had no idea what she thought she knew, or what she was even talking about, but he watched as realization rapidly dawned on her, realization that was completely lost on him.

Her voice was thick with emotion when she finally spoke, a watery smile spreading across her lips, her eyes glossy with unshed tears.

“I thought,” she said, her voice adopting a laughing edge, despite her tears, “I told you not to call me that.”

Adrien stared back at her blankly. What did she—

Oh.

There it was.

It was hitting him like a big semi truck, knocking him flat on his back like a fifty foot tidal wave.

Because it was so fucking obvious.

All those times Marinette seemed to pop up just after Ladybug vanished, how she seemed to know things only Marinette knew, why she got so bent out of shape when Lila claimed that Ladybug was her best friend. Or why Adrien always had a particular fondness for the constellations of freckles on Marinette’s face, just as he did with Ladybug’s. Why Ladybug always adopted Marinette’s stammer when she spoke to him in his civilian form.

It all made sense. All of Plagg’s weird double entendres, all of the winking and nudging his Kwami did when regarding both Ladybug and Marinette.

The confidence she wore like a second skin, her grace and poise and sass that Adrien always told himself was just a coincidence because he saw Ladybug in everything. The way Marinette’s smile reminded him of the same heaven that Ladybug’s did, and again, it had to be a coincidence, because it had to be another cruel trick of Adrien’s chronic bad luck if his lady was here, right in front of him, all along.

Marinette. Marinette. Marinette.

Tears of his own welled up in Adrien’s eyes as he stared at her, awestruck and punch drunk in love as he raised a palm to cup her face, so gingerly, like she was made of glass and precious jewels.

“You,” he whispered, voice drawn taut with emotion, “you. You’re my lady.”

Marinette’s eyes darted away, even though she leaned into his touch, betraying her own hesitance.

“A-are you disappointed it’s me?”

Adrien laughed. He didn’t mean to, but the notion that Marinette Dupain-Cheng could ever be in the same sentence with the word ‘disappointing’ was laughable. Among all of Adrien’s firm admissions that Marinette was just a friend, he saw her as a cut above the rest. Nino was his friend. Marinette was Marinette. She was talented, beautiful, and kinder than anyone he’d ever met in his life. Internally, he’d been struggling for his slowly growing feelings for her, alongside the ones he had for Ladybug for so long he’d grown tired of trying to suppress them.

Being disappointed it was her was absolutely laughable.

“Disappointed?” Adrien parroted, “God, no. No, Marinette, I’m glad it’s you. There’s nobody else I’d rather have as my lady. I’ve loved you since— Since the moment I laid eyes on you. Every waking moment has been thoughts of you, but I understand you’re in love with another boy. I value you as my friend before all of that, I’d rather you be happy and remain in my life than force my feelings on you. It’s Luka, isn’t it? He’s a great guy, and—”

It was Marinette’s turn to laugh, and Adrien blinked at her, almost owlishly.

“Silly, oblivious kitty. So dense.”

Adrien stared, affronted. “Me-ouch.”

“It’s you.” She said, blinking back tears, “Adrien, the boy I love, the one I kept rejecting you for, is you. I’ve been crazy, insane, stupid for you ever since that thing with the umbrella, the day we met. I love you so much that all I think about is you, all I want is you. I’ve tried dating, and sure Luka is wonderful. But he wasn’t you, and as much as I care about Luka, it just doesn’t feel right. I’ve wanted you since day one, Adrien Agreste.”

It took Adrien’s brain a few seconds to catch up with her words, because things like this didn’t happen to him. He was waiting for her to laugh her signature nervous Marinette laugh, speedily telling him she was joking, or for his alarm clock to wake him up, or for anything at all to interrupt this, but he blinked, squeezing his eyes shut once, twice, and his lady remained, enfolded in his arms, those incredible eyes still fixed on his face, a soft, painfully endearing smile playing at her lips.

This was real. She was real.

“I—” Adrien gasped, at a loss for words, “I— you—”

“Yeah,” Marinette giggled, tearfully, “I love you, too, you stupid cat.”

In that moment, after everything Adrien had been through, it all felt like nothing at all, no more than fleeting moments, because here she was, in his arms, telling him what he’d wanted to hear for two years, telling him she loved him just as much, just as fiercely as he loved her. All this time, they’d been chasing each other’s shadows, so desperately smitten with one another that nobody could hold even half a candle.

Adrien made a sound that was an odd mix of a laugh and a sob as he pulled her achingly tight against him, tucking her head into the crook of his neck, reveling in the way she fit against him like she was made to, how soft her skin was, how she smelled like sweet sugar and freshly baked dough. She was perfect to him, with all her flaws and misgivings, they were and always had been something he could more than happily live with, as Ladybug or as Marinette.

“Please,” Adrien whispered into her hair, “can I kiss you, Marinette?”

Marinette stiffened, her face luminescent. “If want to— I mean, if you don’t— I mean—”

Adrien chuckled warmly, his heart seizing in his chest. “Never change, Marinette.”

One of his hands slid down her cheek to find her chin, tilting her face up, and he watched her eyes flutter closed as he leaned in, slowly, finally meeting her lips with his own. It was like everything he’d ever held back was spilling out, a symphony of emotion and sensation and pure, perfect adoration. One of Adrien’s hands slid down to lace into the wisps of hair at the base of her skull, the other cupping her cheek, his thumb smoothing over the gentle curve of her cheekbone, and he could feel her in his blood, thundering through his heart, consuming him whole.

Adrien angled his head to deepen the kiss, pulling back just slightly only to dive back in, kissing her with everything he had, and she was giving back just as much, clinging onto him, her fingers in his hair, and her touch felt like perfection incarnate, like everything he’d ever been missing.

They pulled apart only with great reluctance, resting their foreheads together, blissfully happy and oh so in love.

“Hey, Miss Busiter is looking for—”

Alya’s voice tore them from their focus on one another, but they didn’t separate, even as Alya stared at them with wide eyes, a slow, bordering on manic grin appearing on her face.

“Oh, my God,” she hollered, “it is about damn time.”

Marinette floundered in a way that Adrien could now call utterly adorable without forcing the word platonic down his own throat, making him smile like a total dope, pulling her tighter.

“A-Alya!” She cried, wiping her remaining tears with the back of her hand, “I— we were just—”

“She knows what we were doing,” Adrien laughed, his smile widening when Alya, characteristically, snapped a photo of them still pressed close together.

Marinette sighed. “Yeah, well, that’s… Gonna take some getting used to. Yeah, Alya, this is exactly what it looks like.”

“As much as I’d love, and I mean love to celebrate,” Alya said, her grin earsplitting, “you two are still students. You can hold hands and cuddle and all that after school. Oh my God, Marinette, we can go on double dates! This is so great! We— We’ll talk about it later.”

Marinette laughed, the first truly genuine laugh Adrien had heard from her in weeks, and it made his heart do a funny, jumpy thing in his chest, his stomach twisting into knots. He should have realized who she was earlier from her laugh alone. Unable to bear to let go of her, Adrien kept their hands intertwined as they stood up from the floor, legs stiff from sitting for so long, but they hardly cared about that, not now.

Because everything, every bit of pain was worth it, if it meant being with her. And from the dreamy, adorably dorky way she was staring at him, Adrien was absolutely positive she felt the same.

The classroom erupted into cheers when Adrien and Marinette entered with their hands joined, their proximity far too close to be any kind of platonic, and during break, when Marinette finally asked Adrien to a movie without putting her foot in her mouth, Alya clapped her on the back so hard she went toppling forwards.

But that was fine. Adrien was there to help her up.

They got that double date, Nino and Alya dragging them to some cheesy horror flick that ended up being more funny than scary, and even when Marinette did get spooked at the odd spooky scene, Adrien was there to smooth his thumb over her knuckles. He was there for her. And if Lila came back, as she absolutely would, Adrien would be there, too. She was far from done, and Adrien knew that. He’d done enough damage to send her off for a good while to lick her wounds, but he knew there was only a matter of time before she popped back up like a particularly contagious chest cold. Only this time, they’d be ready.

And Adrien would never let her hurt his lady ever again. That was a promise. So was the absolute pure, sparkling elation they both felt as Adrien walked Marinette home, hand in hand, the setting sun on their backs, blissfully happy.

Adrien Agreste was walking on sunshine all the way home.

32 notes · View notes