#and marinette complimented them so they Must look nice

[purrincess-chat]

Call It What You Want CH 2 (Era's Fest (Love-Square Version) (Final)

It's New Years Day!! (iykyk) Here is chapter 2 of my fic for @theerasfestlovesquareversion As a reminder warning for those that maybe want to skip it, there is a mild sex scene toward the middle of this chapter. I've marked it on AO3, but if you prefer reading on tumblr, it begins around the time that Adrien says he needs a distraction and is over at the next *** break. It's very short and T rated for sure, but if that's not your cup of tea, totally fine.

Anywho, I hope you all had a good New Year! Please check out and support the other works from the Era's Fest and show them some love. I'll see you all again sometime in the near future hopefully with something new. ;)

Read on AO3

Chapter 2

Marinette led the way to a quiet apartment across town, and Adrien quirked an eyebrow as she fit a key in the lock of apartment 613. He followed her in as she flicked on the light and hung her keys on a tiny hook. Seeing his bewildered expression, she flashed him an apologetic smile.

“My grandma rented it for me as a birthday gift. She thought I was graduating university this year. My parents refused to let me live here, but she already signed all the contracts.” Marinette shrugged. “It’s small, but no one should find us here.”

“You mean, you’ve had an apartment since your birthday, but we’ve been putting up with Felix interrupting us at my house for months?” Adrien placed his hands on his hips.

“Well, it’s kind of out of the way. Besides, you only ever get frisky when we’re alone in your room.” She brushed his nose with her fingertip, and his heart skipped a beat. “Make yourself comfortable. I think my grandma has some tea in one of the cabinets.”

Adrien settled on the small pink couch while Marinette rummaged through the kitchen. The entire apartment was one room, but it had everything she needed. A kitchen, a small sitting area, a bed tucked in the corner. The empty walls lacked Marinette’s signature decorative charm, but even still, Adrien felt at ease there. It was just the two of them. No cameras, no microphones, no questions. Safe. It was safe.

“It’s all so strange,” he said. “I’ve never had to be on the run before. When you spend your childhood being marketed to make people like you, it’s terrifying when they don’t anymore. It’s a long fall off the pedestal.”

“It’s not fair. You shouldn’t be blamed for the actions of someone else. I mean, you were fighting against him every day, for crying out loud,” Marinette said around the clanking of glasses as she dug through a cabinet.

“Yeah, but it’s not like we can tell people that.” Adrien sighed.  

“Well, for what it’s worth, I don’t hate you.” Marinette peeked over the counter to offer him a smile.

Adrien leaned against his fist on the arm of the couch. “My reputation’s never been worse, so you must like me for me. I just wish the rest of the world could see what you do.”

“Well, I can’t make you any promises, but I can make you a drink.” She held up two glasses and a bottle of white wine. “Looks like my nonna strikes again. We really should get her memory evaluated.”

“A drink sounds nice right about now.” Adrien stood up. “Although, last time we drank you made fun of the way I say m’lady.”

“Oh, come on, you should take it as a compliment that I got drunk and made fun of the way you talk.” She giggled as she poured. “It just means I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Adrien rolled his eyes and took a glass. “If you weren’t so cute, I’d have been offended, but your impression of me is adorable.”

Marinette mimicked one of his theatrical bows, looking up at him with a smirk. “Why thank you-”

“Don’t.” Adrien sighed.

“M’lady,” she purred.

Adrien took a sip of wine, shooting her a playful glare over his glass. “Bold talk coming from Miraculous Ladybug herself.” Adrien mimicked her transformation stance. “Lucky charm!”

“At least I didn’t come up with my own theme music.” Marinette shot back. She brushed past him, taking a sip of her own glass and heading for the balcony.

Adrien followed, pressing a playful kiss to her cheek before leaning against the railing. It was late, and the city was asleep, the calm a direct contrast to the storm waiting for him back home. It was in the silence that Adrien realized just how impulsive and rash it was to leave without telling anyone, but what else was he supposed to do? He just wanted to put an end to all the endings, but he knew he couldn’t run forever.

Marinette seemed to notice his change in mood and linked her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder. At least he did one thing right. Even if it was just for a little while, being with her mended his broken bones. She didn’t need fancy stuff, and truthfully, neither did he. Out on the balcony with the girl of his dreams and a cheap bottle of wine — it was enough.

“What would you do,” he asked, swirling his glass thoughtfully. “What would you do if…if my whole world ended down tomorrow?”

Marinette turned to face him, eyebrows knitting together. “Adrien, it will all work ou-”

“Just, answer the question. Please?” He cupped her face. “If the world never forgives me for what my father did…if my ship sinks completely, what would you do?”

She squared her shoulders, taking a deep breath. “I’d ask you to dance with me.” When Adrien’s eyebrows raised at her reply, she continued, “I’d kiss you as the lights went out, swaying as the room burned down. I’d hold you as the water rushes in. I’ll be there if you’re the toast of the town, or if you strike out and you’re crawling home.”

Adrien had never loved her more than that moment when her earnest, ocean blue eyes were looking in his. His heart fluttered, and he felt like he might sink and drown and die. How could he help himself when she said such beautiful things to him? He leaned down to kiss her, lacing his fingers in her hair. Everyone thought they knew Adrien Agreste, but they knew nothing about his true character. No one bothered to look behind the curtain, preferring to spin whatever narrative they found suitable, but the girl in his arms had seen every side of him. He was hers to keep, and more frighteningly, he was hers to lose. The truth of the matter was he didn’t know what would happen when he went back home. Would he go to London? Would the public put down their pitchforks and proof? He didn’t want to think about it.

He pressed his forehead to Marinette’s with a sigh. “I need a distraction.”

“What kind of distraction?” Marinette asked.

“Any kind. I just…don’t want to think right now.”

“Mmm.” Marinette took a sip from her glass. “Well, as you pointed out when we came in, we do have the place to ourselves, and you conveniently omitted how I made up for making fun of you last time we got drunk.”

“Me-ow, m’lady. You whisked me away in the dead of night and brought me to a secluded apartment. Now, you’re getting me drunk, so you can lure me to bed.” Adrien smirked, holding up his wine. “What kind of cat do you take me for?”

“Oh, well, if you’re not in the mood, I guess I can go back inside and-” Adrien caught her waist as she turned to leave, pulling her back in. “You know, I only made this dress, so you could take it off.”

Adrien’s heart jumped up to his throat, and he took a big gulp of wine to wash it back down.

She smirked behind her glass. “What was it you said earlier? ‘It was going to be a graduation gift, but now’s as good a time as ever’?”

She ran a hand up his chest, sending a shiver down his spine. God, he loved her. She tugged his collar gently, pulling him back into the apartment. His lips found hers, hands moving down her arms and over her hips as they clumsily stumbled over to the bed. Hands shaking with anticipation, he fumbled with the zipper on her dress while her tongue danced around his own. Finally finding his grip, he tugged it down, pulling at the fabric until the dress fell to her ankles. She didn’t waste time unbuckling his belt, and Adrien kicked off his pants as they fell into bed.

Heart pounding, he kissed her neck as she straddled him and lifted his shirt, only pausing to pull it over his head. It was far from their first time, but every time with her felt like the first. The excitement, the anticipation, the warmth of her bare skin against his own. The taste of her lips was Adrien’s idea of luxury. No amount of money in the world could take him quite where she did. She was everything he’d waited for growing up, the one he trusted more than anyone: The queen of his heart, body, and soul.

“Marinette,” he sighed her name like a prayer as she kissed his jaw, running her hands down his abs to tease the rim of his underwear.

She pulled back, flicking her gaze down with a smirk. “Ladybug boxers? I didn’t realize you were such a fan.”

“What can I say? She really has my heart.” Adrien winked.

Marinette met his gaze again, eyes sparkling and warm. Her lips curled into a smirk as she pushed him onto his back, pinning his hands to the mattress, and he gazed up in awe of her beauty. The apartment might be small, but with dark fair falling loose around her shoulders, Marinette was a mansion with a view. His heart pounded as she unclasped her bra and tossed it on the floor, freeing his hands to worship her bare breasts and thighs. The Ladybug boxers and Marinette’s frilly underwear followed suit, and all the pieces fell right into place.

It was enough, for the moment, the softness of her skin, the taste of her lips. Their shaking hands twined, hips moving in perfect sync, turning her bed into a sacred oasis in the middle of a drought. For a few minutes, Adrien’s deepest blues were painted golden, and all he saw was her. She was all he wanted, and no matter what lied ahead of them, he’d never let her go.

***

“The world moves on another day, another drama, but for the people of Paris, all they think about is karma. Gabriel Agreste, former head of the Gabriel fashion brand and the supervillain Hawkmoth, was found guilty after only one day of his scheduled three day hearing. Agreste confessed on the stand to his role as Paris’s supervillain Hawkmoth and was sentenced to life without parole-”

Adrien clicked off the TV, leaning back in bed with a sigh. Marinette slept peacefully beside him in the shirt he’d been wearing the night before. Part of him wanted to curl up beside her and sleep forever, but the morning light trickling in from the windows was a reminder that time marched on. His problems wouldn’t disappear overnight, and the storm was still raging on.

He’d left his phone at home on purpose, so no one could find him. His aunt was probably beside herself with worry, but if Adrien was going to run away from the noise, he wanted to do it on his terms. He could apologize later, but as the birds chirped and the cacophony of traffic sounded below, he knew he’d have to face the world eventually. No one could run forever.

For the better part of his childhood, Adrien had been locked away and hidden from the world. He wasn’t keen on returning to that arrangement, especially not after spending so many years in the sun. Not after meeting his friends and the girl of his dreams. He was tired of running. Sometimes it was better to turn around and face challenges head-on. To strike like a snake hunting its prey. The public all had their receipts and reasons to hate him because of what his father did, but Felix was right. Adrien’s friends would always have his back, no matter what. The right people knew the truth, and that was all he needed. So, they could light him up for all he cared. He had everything he needed.

Marinette’s phone was on the kitchen counter, and Adrien slipped out of bed to retrieve it. He swiped in her passcode — their anniversary — and scrolled through her contacts. With another glance back at Marinette sound asleep, Adrien slipped out onto the balcony, closing the door behind him. Nadja Chamack answered on the third ring.

“Nadja, it’s Adrien Agreste. I’m ready to talk.”

***

An hour later they were dressed and in a taxi headed up town. Marinette squeezed his hand three times, her eyes seeming to ask if he was sure about this. He could tell it was going to be a long road, but he had hope that it would be worth it in the end. Running felt wrong. He was still a hero, even if no one but Marinette knew. Fighting the bad guys was his job, and whether Adrien ran or stood his ground, people were going to talk. He might as well speak his truth and go out on his terms.

When they pulled up to the news station, Adrien’s heart dropped to his feet. Standing just inside the lobby was Aunt Amelie, arms crossed. They locked eyes, but Adrien stood his ground, holding tight to Marinette’s hand. He was sure of this, and he’d do everything he could to convince her. She seemed to realize his resolve because after a moment, she lowered her gaze with a nod.

“I’d ask where you’ve been, but I’m just glad you’re safe,” she said.

“I can’t go to London,” Adrien said.

Aunt Amelie offered him a weak smile. “I know. I didn’t come here to make you.” Adrien’s eyebrows raised, and she continued, “I only wanted to protect you. You’ve been through enough already, but I can’t protect you forever. If this is what you feel is right, then I’ll stand by your decision.”

Adrien pulled her into a crushing hug, leaning his head against hers, and she squeezed him just as tightly. He couldn’t fault her for wanting to shield him from the public outrage. She’d stepped in when every other adult in his family had failed him and taken him in as if he were her own son. He understood her actions, but having her approval meant the world.

“Thank you, Aunt Amelie. For everything,” he said.

“I’ll always be here for you, no matter what happens.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek, wiping a tear before it could spill over.

“Me as well.” Marinette stepped forward to place a hand on his back. “Good or bad, we’ll be right here.”

“M. Agreste? Your dressing room is ready,” the receptionist said.

“Go. You’ve got this.” Marinette nudged him on. “See you after, okay?”

Adrien took a deep breath and squared his shoulders before following the security. His father had taken a lot of things from him over the course of his life. His freedom, his image, his agency. But as the elevator doors closed, Adrien felt a surge of calm wash over him. Gabriel Agreste had no power over him anymore, and he never would again. Healing would take time, but no matter how harsh the fallout became, Adrien was done running. This time he would stand and fight, and he was taking his reputation back with him.

***

In the months following Gabriel’s conviction and Adrien’s interview with Nadja, Adrien and Marinette had taken to keeping to themselves. The disgruntled masses had dwindled over time as his father’s trial became old news, and Adrien could finally breathe a bit of fresh air.  Upon graduating, Marinette moved into the mansion with Adrien and his family while she attended university. Adrien was taking a gap year to figure out what he wanted and mostly just enjoying his freedom. Nobody had heard from him for months, but he was doing better than he ever was. Occasionally, he’d hear an insult or two on the street, but with the girl of his dreams walking with her head down beside him, the insults just rolled right off. They could call him what they wanted to. He had everything he needed by his side.

On New Year’s Eve, Adrien and Marinette hosted a party for all of their real friends who stuck by them, locking the gates to the rest of the world who didn’t. Bass beats rattled the chandelier in the dining room, everyone swimming in a champagne sea as midnight approached. Even Felix had come out of his hovel to socialize. Things weren’t perfect, but they were as good as Adrien could have hoped.

“Pre-countdown shots for everyone,” Alya said, presenting a tray of shot glasses. “You especially haven’t had nearly enough to drink, Adrien.”

“I’m trying to stay in the moment,” Adrien said.

“Well, this moment is taking a shot.” Nino placed a glass in his hand.

“Okay.” Adrien chuckled. “But let me propose a toast first.”

“Fine, make it quick.” Alya rolled her eyes.

“Here’s a toast to my real friends who didn’t care about the he-said-she-said earlier this year.” He wrapped an arm around Marinette’s waist and pulled her closer. “And here’s to my lady for never reading what they call me. And here’s to my aunt, who had to listen to all the drama. And, lastly, here’s to my father…because forgiveness is a nice thing to-” Adrien trailed off with a laugh. “Sorry, I can’t say it with a straight face, but seriously, here’s to you guys!”

“Cheers!” His friends all clinked their glasses together.

“Alright, 1, 2, 3, let’s go bitches! Happy New Year!” Alya shouted, and they all tossed their shots back.

Adrien winced against the burn, but the tingly buzz that followed was nice. He kept hold of Marinette’s hand as their friends moved back to the dance floor for the countdown, pulling her instead out to the foyer.

“Ya know, it might be the alcohol talking, but you’ve never looked more gorgeous,” he said.

Marinette smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and stretching up to kiss him. “You’ve barely even had anything tonight. That’s the first shot you’ve taken.”

“Must be you then.” He nuzzled her cheek, then more soberly added, “I’m just feeling a bit…reflective of everything. I want to remember everyone who stood by me when my world was falling apart. To hold onto the memories. To hold onto you.”

“Adrien.” Marinette cupped his face, and he leaned into her touch.

“Just promise me that you’ll never become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere,” he murmured.

“Of course, I won’t,” Marinette said. “I’ll always stay even when you’re lost, or I’m scared, or you’re turning away. I want your midnights, your Sunday mornings, your Wednesday afternoons. I’ll be here tonight cleaning up bottles with you after everyone goes home. It will always be you and me against the world.”

Adrien touched his forehead to hers, unable to contain his smile as the chants from their friends grew louder.

“10, 9, 8…”

“I love you,” Adrien whispered.

“5, 4, 3…”

“I love you too.” Marinette stretched up until their lips brushed. “Happy New Year, Adrien.”

He closed the distance between their lips, savoring every aspect of that moment. The chorus of cheers from their friends in the other room, the pillowy softness of her lips, the taste of champagne on her breath, even the glitter sparkling on the floor when he pulled her into his arms. For a long time the mansion had felt more like a prison than a home, but after the storms had past, new life had been breathed into every aspect of his life. On his darkest nights, she was always there building fires just to keep him warm, and the towering walls that had once caged him in were now full of warmth and togetherness.  It was a new year, a new life, and although the path forward was uncertain, he knew the people around him would always be there for him. And as for the public’s opinions on his family’s reputation, well, they could call it what they wanted to. He had everything he needed, and they were enough.

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #adrinette #adrienette #post reveal #chat blanc timeline #ml eras #miraculous eras event #my writing #cats taylor swift agenda

[cassarilladraws]

So, Adrien shows up in a Chat Noir Hoodie...

Ship: Lukadrien Rating: T Words: 1845 Status: Complete Read it on Ao3 ///////////// Recently the Ladyblog had begun selling hero themed clothing. Adrien had bought at least one item inspired by each of the heroes. The proceeds went to charity and the designs Marinette had come up with were all really nice. So he found himself with a nice little collection of superhero merchandise in his closet. Adrien had plans to hang out at the Couffaine’s place one evening. As he went through the clothes he paused at the Chat Noir inspired hoodie. It was his favorite design. Marinette really captured his energy as a hero well. Since his suit was what he wanted the hoodie felt like an extension of that. However, he never wore the specific hoodie out. It was reserved for hanging out in his room where no one could see him in it. Aside from the one time he wore it on patrol, just for kicks. “You know, you should wear it out.” Plagg said. Adrien sighed. “I love the design! It’s awesome. But don’t you think people might get a bit suspicious?” “Adrien, people are blind.” Plagg pondered for a moment. “You’ve been seen wearing things inspired by every hero BUT yourself. It might be more suspicious of you to not wear Chat Noir things.” “You might be onto something.” His hand grabbed the hanger again. “Just don’t let me get too comfortable wearing it out.”

Later, Adrien walked onto the familiar houseboat. The hoodie was comfortable and warm in the crisp autumn air. Some of his other friends were wearing hero inspired designs as well. He was happy to be out of the mansion and hanging out with his friends. Nino was wearing a Rena Rouge inspired design proudly. Someone asked why he admired the hero and he was absolutely showering her with praise. Adrien immediately looked to Alya, he knew she was Rena Rouge and that her boyfriend was well aware of that. Others, including Adrien, joined in on admiring Rena as a hero. He was glad she was hearing all of the nice things people were saying about her. In his peripheral vision he caught a glimpse of her wiping a tear from her eye when she thought no one was looking. He knew how much it meant to her. “Nice hoodie, Adrien.” Luka said with a knowing smile. Adrien felt himself get nervous at Luka’s expression. “Thanks! Marinette did an amazing job with the designs.” “She did. All of them really seem to capture the hero’s personalities.” Luka agreed. Marinette had heard them. “Thanks guys, I’m really glad you like them!” “So…” Luka’s smile looked downright dangerous now. “What is it about Chat Noir that you admire? You must be a fan of his, right?” “Oh, me? A fan?” Adrien faltered. “You could say that. I mean he’s been protecting Paris for a while now, with Ladybug of course.” “Yeah, I know that but what do YOU admire about him specifically.” Luka lifted an eyebrow. “Well…I…” Adrien could feel a blush beginning on his face. “I for one admire his bravery.” Marinette offered. “I don’t think Ladybug could ask for a better partner.” Luka’s attention had been on Adrien but Marinette’s words warmed his heart. Being aware of just who Marinette was made the meaning hit twice as hard. He wished Adrien knew so he could recognize the the weight behind her words. “He is brave and selfless.” Luka added. “A little too selfless at times…” Marinette murmured. Luka looked directly into Adrien’s eyes. “Yeah, Chat Noir could be a bit more careful out there.” Adrien had to keep himself from huffing aloud. He’d always jump into danger if it would keep someone else safe. He would do what he felt was necessary. “He is one of the strongest and most incredible heroes that Paris has.” Luka complimented him more. “Oh definitely!” Alya agreed. “Chat Noir has saved me a lot of times and he also knows how to encourage you when you’re feeling down. Have you seen the clips on the Ladyblog of him comforting akuma victims? He really has a way with people.” Adrien blushed as other people joined in with compliments. The dim lighting that evening at least made that easier to hide. “But surely there must be things you admire about the hero, right Adrien?” Luka narrowed his eyes at him. “I mean, you are wearing his merch so you must think a lot of him.” Then it clicked. Adrien knew exactly what Luka was doing. The realization was two-fold. First, Luka wanted Adrien to be encouraged as a hero. But that wasn’t all. Luka also wanted to see Adrien get flustered. Adrien was more than aware that Luka knew his identity. The blue-haired boy thought he had the situation under control. Perhaps he forgot exactly who he was dealing with. “I wear things inspired by all of the heroes, Luka. My favorite design is the Viperion one, actually.” Adrien looked directly in Luka’s eyes. “Oh?” Luka’s eyes widened. Suddenly Adrien's demeanor shifted like a cat about to pounce. “Yeah, he’s brilliant. He looks great in that suit too.” There were other people around him talking about the different heroes, some may have even been talking about him, but Adrien’s focus was on Luka. The guy who was playing a dangerous game. He was Chat Noir after all. If anyone could turn around this attempt to fluster him, he could. “You know who else looks good in their suit? Chat Noir. Not to mention the fighting skills, he must really work hard at it.” Adrien praised himself. He could feel a slight blush on his cheeks the whole time. But there were things he’d allowed himself to be proud of. Encouraging words from Plagg, Luka, and Ladybug were some of the reasons he felt he could. He still had his self doubts, but for the moment he decided to let loose and give himself a pep talk while also getting the reward of seeing Luka’s plan fall apart. “And the guy is funny to boot. I mean how could you not admire someone like Chat Noir?” People around him agreed. Luka looked at him dumbfounded for a moment. The cheeky grin and wink combo that Adrien shot Luka’s way was the final straw. “You know what Adrien, I think I need your help with something.” Luka reached for Adrien’s wrist and pulled him away from the others, down the stairs, and out of sight. Adrien laughed as he was drug behind him. “Oh, what can I help you with my very good friend Luka?” “Oh my gosh, shut up.” Luka groaned and let go of his wrist. “You are killing me!” “You’re the one who tried to get me all flustered!” “Me!?” Luka pointed to himself. “I only did that because YOU are the one that showed up in Chat Noir clothing! And I have to act like there’s nothing to that? Like everything is the way it's always been?! Come on!” Adrien posed and flicked the tiny bell shaped zipper. “Oh so you like the look?” “I do.” Luka stepped closer. “But you know what looks even better on you?" “What’s that?” “The confidence.” Luka smiled softly. “You should be proud of yourself.” “You like that huh?” Adrien closed the distance some more and glanced at Luka’s lips. He leaned towards him before suddenly stepping back and tapping his chin. Luka huffed at his antics. “What?” “Well, my very good friend Luka…” Luka facepalmed at that. “I’m begging you to stop.” “Last I checked, Viperion has a boyfriend.” Adrien gestured with his hands explaining the situation as if Luka didn't already know how complicated things were. “We can’t have Luka who Ladybug knows is Viperion being seen with someone else. Ladybug might start to suspect something about your boyfriend’s identity. Which, may I remind you, she doesn’t want to know.” “No one can see us down here.” Luka closed the distance a little again. “You are just being a tease.” “Am I? Or are you trying to seduce me? What would your boyfriend say?” Adrien said in a sing song voice. He leaned towards Luka again playfully. Luka reached forward and pulled Adrien’s hood complete with sewn on cat ears over his head. “Oh would you look at that? My boyfriend is here after all.” “Guess he is.” Adrien smiled and looked to Luka’s lips again. Adrien then found himself being pulled forward by fabric of the hoodie. Luka's lips crashed into his. The kiss was deepened by Adrien's hand finding its way into Luka's hair and pushing them closer. For the first time they were kissing without the masks. Although the hood hid their faces, it was still one they would both cherish forever. When the kiss ended they touched their foreheads together. “I love you, Luka” “I love you too.” Luka pulled back and took both of Adrien’s hands in his. “What is it?” Luka sighed and glanced at the floor of the ship before looking back to the blonde. “Times like these, make me want to tell you who Ladybug is. It feels like if I did, you two would be closer to her knowing who you are. Then, we wouldn’t have to hide our relationship anymore…” “Listen, it’s just as tempting for me to want you to tell me. But ultimately, I’d rather her tell me on her own terms. It’s what she wants and I know you want to respect her wishes or you would have already told me by now.” “You’re right. But I also want to be with you and not just with the masks in the way. It kills me to be around you and have to act like nothing has changed between us.” “It's torture. Sometimes I wish I didn't feel as deeply as I do. It would make things easier.” Adrien said somberly. The grip on Adrien's hands tightened. "Never, ever, apologize for that. It's one of the things I admire about you." Plagg poked out from Adrien's hoodie pocket. "Sheesh, you are both hopeless romantics!" "Guilty." Luka shrugged. Adrien laughed. “Here's an idea. You could just tell me who Ladybug is, I reveal myself to her. She gets mad that we forced a reveal and kills us both. We could be together forever as ghosts! Who cares if we’re wearing masks or not then?” Luka chuckled at that. “It’s a solid backup plan.” “For now, we should probably be getting back to the others.” Adrien started up the stairs then turned around and kissed Luka again quickly. “One more for my very good friend.” “Ha. Ha. You’re hilarious.” Luka rolled his eyes. “You love me.” Adrien winked at him. “Oh, I do.” Luka followed behind him. "I really do." While Luka and Adrien might have to finish the evening pretending there was nothing more between them. Viperion and Chat Noir would see each other in the morning. With a patrol that would no doubt start with a breakfast date on a rooftop. They both found themselves really appreciating Ladybug’s patrol schedules lately. ///////////////// Note: I really like imagining them not having secrets between each other, dating, but also realizing that they can only be open about their relationship on one side of their "lovesquare." If they don't they risk Ladybug finding out Chat Noir's identity and she doesn't want to know because she sees it as too risky. Secret relationship it is. This is an AU now because I have no chill. Thanks for reading! ///////////////// ko-fi

#Lukadrien #Miraculous #Chat Noir #adrien agreste #Luka Couffaine #Viperion #Adrien and Luka #Cassarilla Writes #Lukadrien Secret Relationship AU

[mercurialrain]

Day 7: Selkie

When Felix got the invitation from his younger brother telling him that he simply had to come to the beach house and meet Adrien’s new girlfriend, Felix was admittedly intrigued. While Adrien was now in his early 20s, he had yet to (in Felix’s opinion) emotionally mature into a person that could have a girlfriend. Maybe Felix was curious about the type of girl that would stay with Adrien even with these glaring issues, maybe he wanted to make sure that she wasn’t taking advantage of him. Whatever the reason he gave, he went to the beach house. 

The beach house was modest and didn’t speak to their family’s wealth, but Felix found that more comforting. The gray exterior walls were battered from years of standing up to the ocean and the roof was missing a few tiles, giving the house a well-lived in look. He made his way up the driveway, gravel crunching beneath his feet, and knocked. 

The door swung open almost immediately. “Felix! You came!” Adrien launched himself at his older brother, almost knocking Felix off of his feet. 

“Of course I did. I had to see this mysterious girl you were bragging about.”

Adrien’s eyes brightened. “Oh yeah! Marinette! Come meet Felix!”

The girl stepped around the corner, and Felix forgot how to breathe. She was small, but taut with muscle in a way that spoke to extensive exercise. Her pale skin perfectly complimented her dark hair that swayed at her lower back as she moved. She turned to look at him, and he swore he could see the ocean in her eyes. Those eyes seemed to hold so much in them, but he couldn’t decipher most of it in the time that he was looking. 

She held out a hand and he took it, silently wondering at the lack of a greeting. 

“She doesn’t talk much, or really at all, but she’s great company! We’re so lucky to have met, right, Marinette?” She gave him a measured look, then nodded once, sharply, like she couldn’t bring herself to nod any more. 

Something was strange here, Felix decided. Whether it was the girl herself or her relationship with Adrien, something was wrong with the situation. 

And he intended to find out what. 

- - - - - -

It proved to be more difficult than he thought. Adrien rarely let Marinette out of his sight and even if they had been apart, Felix wasn’t sure if she would talk to him. 

But one day, Adrien received a work call, one that he couldn’t put off until later. He left the room, his phone pressed to his ear, and Felix saw his chance. 

“Hey, did you want to go to the beach later?”

Marinette turned to look at him, studying him as she so often did. “I cannot.”

She could speak! “You can’t? Why?”

“My skin is here and so here I must stay.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, contrasting the bizarre sentence. 

“Your skin? What?” 

Before she could answer, Adrien came back into the room, all smiles and apologies for the call and immediately drew Marinette to his side. Felix only studied them, a plan forming in his head. He would get answers one way or another, even if Adrien was reluctant to give them. 

And Felix knew just how he’d do it. 

- - - - - -

Fortunately for Felix, Adrien still couldn’t hold his liquor and was already completely drunk after only a few drinks. Felix only felt a slight buzz, which meant that he could enact his plan with his judgment mostly unimpaired. Marinette was absent for once, though he was sure that she was in the house somewhere.

“So, Adrien, how’d you two meet?”

“What?”

“You and Marinette. How’d you meet her?”

Adrien suddenly got a shifty expression and held a finger up to his lips. “Secret.”

Felix resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Come on, you can tell me, I’m your brother.”

Adrien seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded. “Ok. But you can’t tell anyone, ok?” “Cross my heart.”

“So I was walking on the beach one day. It was nice, the sand was really warm and the water was cold, although I didn’t really like how the grains of sand stuck to my feet. And then the sand got under my nails and that was worse-”

“Adrien.”

“I look over and I see a seal! I thought it was weird because-because seals don’t come here, but then the seal turned into Marinette! She left the sealskin behind and went to go do something, so I picked up her coat to admire it and decided to keep it. She followed me back here and now we’re dating!” He punctuated the last sentence by thrusting out his glass, nearly smacking Felix in the forehead with it. 

He wasn’t paying attention. He was trying to digest what Adrien had told him. A seal that turned into a woman, who couldn’t leave without her skin? The fantasy stories he read long ago bubbled into his brain, whispering the word selkie over and over again. 

Felix stood up, leaving his brother talking to himself about seals and sand. He went straight to his cousin’s room, straight to the hiding place he’d had when they were kids. True to form, the sealskin was there. He pulled it out, feeling the softness and looked up to see Marinette in the doorway.

She tilted her head at him, as if expecting his questions. 

“Is this yours?”

“Yes.”

“And whoever has this has you?”

“Yes.”

Felix stared at it for a moment longer, his mind briefly picturing a life with Marinette beside him before shaking his head to get the image out. Before his brain could whisper more insidious thoughts, he crossed the room and thrust her coat into her arms. 

She stared at it, then him, and for the first time, emotion entered her expression. She wrapped the skin tightly around her shoulders.

“Why?”

“We know what it’s like to be held against our will. I don’t know if he realized that you were only here because of the sealskin, but you shouldn’t be a prisoner because of either his stupidity or stupid desires. You deserve to be free.”

Felix wasn’t expecting her to grab his face and kiss him soundly, but he wasn’t complaining until she pulled away all too soon. 

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I cannot repay this debt, but I have given you a blessing. The sea will never trouble you so long as you shall live.”

He touched his lips, wondering if she’d be willing to give him another blessing. “Um, thanks.”

She turned to leave, hesitated, then turned back. “If you should like to see me again, all you must do is go down to the beach and wish for me. I will hear you.”

Felix smiled. “Perhaps I will. But for now, go be free, before Adrien sobers up.”

Marinette nodded and with a genuine smile, sprinted out of the sliding glass door and down the beach, diving into the water. 

He watched, knowing that he’d have to deal with a heartbroken and pissed Adrien in the morning, but finding that he regretted nothing. She deserved her freedom and Adrien still needed to grow up a little bit more. He needed to focus on himself, not on a girlfriend that didn’t love him. 

Though, a small part of Felix whispered, perhaps she could come to love him.

#felinette #marinette dupain cheng #felix graham de vanily #felinette spooktacular #I wrote this while exhausted and sick I hope it makes sense

[flushed-for-the-trolls]

Why I dislike Marinette

It may shock anyone reading this, especially knowing why people usually dislike Marinette, but my reasons actually aren’t for her actions in canon. Well, of course I take issue with what Marinette does. My issues are more with the creators of the show and her more toxic stans. The issue I have with Marinette is the fact that her actions are usually framed as just, or okay when they should be called out to teach a lesson to people watching. We can argue about favourites, but when Lila lies and she’s punished by LB, and when Marinette lies or does even worse things, it’s clear there’s a bias in favor of Marinette. Marinette has flaws... But the show rarely calls them out as flaws. LB is bossy and CN is just a sidekick? Well the show compliments that by making her a GUARDIAN, able to dispense Miraculouses at will, and CN is having less of a spotlight. Is Marinette an uninteresting character? Spruce her up by making all of Adrien’s drama about HER instead! LB needs to look dependable and smart? In AntiBug, even though Chat is in the top of his class of Fencers, being taught by the best Fencer in all of Paris, he gets bested by Chloe. CHLOE, you know, the girl that’s so clumsy she incapacitated herself in Lady Wifi when she got tangled up in her own Yoyo? Yep, Chat’s such a doof that he’s useless without LB at his side to steer him like a guard dog.

I hear people say that the creators hate Marinette, or love Adrien when that’s just straight up false, Adrien goes through retcons and character assassinations. Hell, the whole Lukanette side romance started out because Gabriel Agreste, Adriens ABUSIVE father prevented him from going, and what does Marinette do? Oh, that’s right, she makes it about HER, what’s her reward for valiantly surviving the next 5 minutes moaning about how “‘tis not to be after all!”? She gets Luka, she gets another option immediately. None of this is considered a flaw of hers, her selfishness rarely gets called out as such and when it does, it’s even rarer that the lesson ACTUALLY sticks with Marinette. She’s uninteresting, does bad things and she’s the main character, not Adrien, a deep complex character that could go through a whole bunch of character arcs and personal growth, the kid that’s the SON of the main villain, as if that’s not bad enough, his “destined” soulmate is Marinette, a selfish girl that sabotages her love rivals chances, absolutely atomizes his personal boundaries like it’s going out of style, and as LB, keeps him in the dark, inadvertently hurting him, in spite of all of this, he must end up with her, hell, Chat Blanc features that Retcon I mentioned earlier, where Adrien, despite knowing LB committed an actual criminal offense still loves her, and dates Marinette, a girl he’s never ONCE considered dating before because the show writers clearly are obsessed with the ship, and favor LB/Marinette.

I think with all these examples, it’s clear the show favors Marinette to an absurd degree, and will happily sacrifice Adrien so he can be a good little doggie.

Now onto the fandom and how it holds Marinette on a pedestal. Marinette’s actions are often excused “She’s a teen,” “she’s under a lot of stress,” “I used to do that too!” (That one is very concerning when it comes to the stalking tbh). They’ve got so many excuses for the things she does. Rarely can this part of the fandom admit that the girl they like the most has flaws she needs to work on. What happens when they see Chat flirting with LB or he destroys an inanimate object in a fit of rage at being sidelined repeatedly? “What an incel neck-beard nice guy!” “He should get his Miraculous taken away” “He clearly doesn’t care about Paris!” “#Marinette Deserves Better” 

Can you blame us when we’re jaded on criticism directed at Adrien? Most of the time it’s worded like we’re all sexist pigs and Adrien is the worst character in the show, why would ANYONE want to listen to what some of you have to say?! Even if it’s valid at it’s core, the dress-up of the message makes it hazardous to deal with and it only makes people hate the message because some of y’all can’t act like respectable people when you deliver it!

Adrien is treated like shit by both the show creators and the fans. What’s the point in swiming in the Adrien hate? Lord knows ya’ll can pump out enough to last until the heat death of the universe so it’s not like you need us to contribute.

So yeah, that’s why I hate Marinette, the show makes her insufferable and only a small subset of fans will actually acknowledge how terrible she is, the rest will ignore it or turn it into a sexism issue where it doesn’t even exist, and it makes Marinette more terrible by proxy.

#ML fandom #ml fandom salt #ml fandom critical #marinette salt #Venting #vent post #leave adrien alone challenge #adrien deserves better #Adrien Sugar #ladybug salt #Miraculous Ladybug salt

[majesticarlette]

Can I request a luka couffaine x reader soulmate au? Either the red string au or the seeing only the color of your soulmate's eyes till you meet them. They meet at either a rehearsal or a show for kitty section and it's really fluffy and cute?

Cyan Macaron

Luka Couffaine x Reader | ONE SHOT 🌷

"(Y/n), are you alright?" You snap back to reality when your mom spoke to you. "Yes mom, I'm okay." You were fantasizing about scenarios on how you'll meet your soulmate someday. You can't help it, almost all of your friends met their soulmates, and you? No luck. "Can you please fetch the macarons I ordered from Sabine after school?" Your mom asked. "Okay, mom, I'll get going." You picked up your things and headed out. "Take care!" Your mom yelled.

You were currently crossing the street, you're pretty early today. No running happening like some of school days. You texted Marinette that you'll drop by at their house for the both of you to walk together to school but she's not replying. 'She must be still sleeping' you started running to buy you some time before school starts because you know for sure you'll be late if you kept walking; knowing Marinette, she'll just get ready once you wake her up.

"Marinette! (Y/n) is here!" Ms. Sabine spoke up while you were waiting for her downstairs. After a few minutes, Marinette came down. "Let's go." "You're still in your pajamas." You giggled. "Oh- I'm sorry! Wait a minute!" She hurried upstairs and came down again after a few more minutes.

"So, have you met your soulmate yet?" You asked her. "No! I haven't yet." She lied. "Aww, I wanna know who's the perfect person for Ms. Clumsy-feet." You joked and the both of you chuckled. Little did you know, Marinette already met her soulmate but she's keeping their relationship from the public for safety. "I hope you'll meet your soulmate soon too." She responded to you and you just smiled at her. "I wonder what your eye color is, Mari." "You're going to find out next time. So, go get your significant other!" She patted your back.

"Hey, guys!" Alya waved her hands. "Hi, Alya." you and Marinette chimed. "I thought the both of you are gonna be late again today." Alya spoke, you noticed Marinette waved at Adrien and he smiled at her. "Hey, still can't get over your crush, huh?" You nudged her and she just rubbed the back of her neck. "I'll see you guys after school." You went to your classroom, Ms. Mendeleiev's class. Just like an another day at school, you did seat works and listened to lectures.

After the last lesson, you stretched your arms and rested your head on your desk. Someone spoke and touched your arm, you quickly looked at the person hoping for something. "Oh, it was just you, Jean. Can I help you?" "Yeah, about Ms. Mendeleiev's lecture earlier, did you write notes?" You handed your notes to him immediately. "Give it to me tomorrow, okay?"

"(Y/n)! Let's go." You spotted Mari and Alya at the doorway. You waved Jean good bye and joined your friends. "Let's go to Juleka's today." Mari invited you. "Why?" "Kitty Section is going to rehearse." "Kitty Section? The one who performed on TV?" you asked. "Yeah!" "You should come and see them, you still haven't seen them up close, right?" You nodded and then you remembered that you have to pick up your mother's macarons from Marinette's bakery. "You guys go ahead." "Hello, you don't know where they live." Alya spoke with her arms akimbo. "Liberty, right?" you checked. "Yeah." "Catch ya later!" You flee the scene and ran towards Marinette's. "(Y/n)!" Alya shouted but you were already far away. They shook their heads and chuckled.

There was quite the line at the bakery even though it's already afternoon. You waited until your turn, "Hi, Ms. Sabine, my mother's macarons, please." She handed you your mother's order and paid her. When you turned around you caught a glance of the person behind you, your eyes widened when you saw his eye color. His eyes has a luminous vivid cyan color. After seeing him you were astonished, you shifted your gaze and you could also see the other customers' eye color 'Wow.' He also looked at you and you could also see he was surprised. You came back to your senses and you were about to leave when he grabbed your arm. "Wait." He motioned at Sabine signaling her that he'll be back soon, Sabine caught on what was going on and smiled at the two of you.

The both of you went outside, he was about to say something but you spoke. "Wow, your eyes... They look like this cyan macaron." You held up a macaron compared them which made him chuckle. "I-I'm sorry, I was just so surprised." You apologized, embarrassed from what you said. "It's okay, you're quite adorable." You could feel your face heating up and you were flustered by his sudden compliment. "I'm Luka, and you?" "I-I'm (Y-Y/n)." You're quite nervous. "Nice to meet you, (Y-Y/n)." The both of you chuckled, you then remembered what you're going to do. "Oh no! I have to go, I'll see you next time." You ran heading home. "Wait! I haven't asked for your number yet..." Luka's tone of voice lowering as he realized you're getting far away.

"Where were you?" Your mom asked. "Come on, mom. I was just minutes later than usual." You placed the box of macarons on the table. You approached your mother's figure and asked her permission to go to Liberty. "Mari and the others invited me to watch a rehearsal of Kitty Section. Can I go?" Your mom faced you with her poker face then crossed her arms. "No." "Mommm." You whined with a giggle, you know your mom's messing with you. "I'm just kidding, of course you can go." "Thank you." You hugged her and went on your way.

While walking, you facepalmed. 'Nice going, (Y/n).' You realized that you just ran away and left your soulmate at the bakery earlier. You didn't even get his number, maybe you'll just meet him again from luck? Bummed out, you continued walking ignoring notifications on your phone. But it still continued ringing and all, you finally checked what it was.

Marinette's been messaging you about where you are, the rehearsal already started. (I'll be there.) you texted and ran. You spotted the lights from the ship and you knew you're at your destination. You ran and entered the ship. Nino patted an available seat for you and you sat on it. The band are wearing their costume, masks and all. Must be for the show. While sitting there the for the entire song, you didn't noticed Luka the whole time but there he was staring at you.

The band finished their song and all of you clapped, you're about to approach Juleka and the others when the person in cyan attire spoke on the mic. "I dedicate this song to... the person who's my soulmate." He looked at you and you noticed those cyan eyes. "Luka?" you uttered a loud. The gang caught on what was happening and chant their own cheers and squeals to the both of you. Luka started singing and playing his acoustic. You never imagined that this is how your soulmate meeting was gonna be, well... You met at a bakery but still didn't expect a song about you.

You were smiling the entire time. "What's my eye color, (Y/n)?" Marinette asked. "Bluebell. They're beautiful." "Yours are beautiful too." she accidentally uttered. "What?!" you whisper-shouted, she laughs nervously. "I'll get back to you later." You squinted your eyes at her. "This is my moment for now." You pretended to be angry and you guys just laughed at yourselves.

Luka finished his song and approached you. He lifted his mask and looked at you, he offered his hand and you took it then stood. He kissed the back of your palm, 'I can die now.' you thought. He kissed your cheek and offered himself for you to embrace him which you gladly accepted, no questions asked. The crowd cheer at the both you.

"You're now a song in my head that I'll never forget."

#luka x reader #luka couffaine #luka couffaine x reader #miraculous ladybug x reader #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug imagine #miraculous lb #miraculous soulmate au #reader insert #luka couffaine imagines #miraculous fandom

[ilikekidsshows]

Hi! I loved the Adrinette analysis you made...do you think you could make a similar one for Ladybug and Chat Noir over seasons 1 to 3?

I knew I was leaving myself open for this ask, and I kinda dreaded it, because 80% of Ladynoir screen time is dedicated to defeating an Akuma, meaning the characters have something else to focus on rather than progressing their relationship, and most the relationship stuff is just Marinette being really stubborn and refusing to properly look at her partner. In other words, there's significantly more screen time, but also proportionally less stuff going on in Ladynoir than in Adrinette because the characters are superheroes on the job and one party is actively resisting any development happening. It's also a very different kind of arc and relationship to Adrinette where the goal is just the two of them getting closer and more comfortable with each other. Ladynoir has that as well as all the trust issues and superhero team dynamics. Basically, this post is definitive proof that Miraculous has had plot development before season four, and it has had a lot of it. I got almost dizzy with it while compiling this.

Once again, I’m trying to go in a somewhat chronological order to properly track the relationship.

In 'Origins', we only get one-sided Ladynoir stuff. Marinette is new on the job and completely focused on solving the Akuma problem and nothing else. Meanwhile, Adrien actually takes note of his partner. He sees her flounder but ultimately put together a clever plan. He sees her lose faith but ultimately pick herself up and deliver a really badass speech at Hawk Moth. It's really no wonder he fell in love. The number one thing he learned about Ladybug is that she can fail and the second thing was that she could pick herself up again and grab the win anyway. I've brought up earlier in the Top Adrinette Scene discussion that Adrien is very scared of failing, because his father does not forgive failure, so Ladybug being someone who can turn a failure into a win understandably makes his heart go pitter-patter.

Meanwhile, Marinette barely noticed her partner. As I said, she was fully focused on solving the problem, but she was also getting distracted by her own insecurities. Marinette's first experience with Cat Noir was that he was kinda smooth and seemed to be much more confident than Marinette. Her second experience was that he tended to leap before he looked, but was perfectly willing to listen to her say-so. We have a very brief attempt at flirtation from Cat Noir, that Ladybug barely seems to even notice.

In 'Bubbler', Cat Noir actually gets to flirt with his Lady. He's clearly intent on getting her to notice what he's getting at, but Ladybug seems mostly exasperated with him. At this point their partnership is new and Marinette is most likely thinking back to their first case, when Cat Noir was so patient and supportive and not this...much. She still doesn't tell him to quit it, though, meaning she’s trying to accept him being a lot.

'Stormy Weather' has Cat Noir continuing in his attempts to get Ladybug to notice him and this time she responds playfully when they're not right in the middle of a tense situation. She's getting used to this being Cat's way of interacting with her and keeping the mood light.

'Lady Wifi' has the pair discussing the secrecy between them, with Adrien actively making the decision that honoring Ladybug's wishes concerning keeping their secret identities is more important than knowing the identity of the girl he's in love with, that doing so is the proper way to love her. 'Lady Wifi' is also the first time Marinette panics at the idea of something romantic being suggested about her and Cat Noir, when Alya says Adrien might be Cat Noir, that Cat Noir might be the boy she's repeatedly told Alya she's in love with.

'Copycat' shows us for a fact that Ladybug has no idea that Cat Noir's flirtations with her are genuine, and Cat Noir is growing tired of his feelings going entirely unnoticed.

Because of his growing frustration over not being able to communicate his feelings to Ladybug in a manner that she'd take seriously, Adrien goes the extra mile to write her a love poem in 'Dark Cupid'. When he receives a response that appeared with no sender, just a ladybug, he entertains the thought that Ladybug answered his poem and does in fact return his feelings (not realizing that Ladybug would need to know his identity to deliver such a note to him specifically, but Adrien does generally worry less about secret identities than Marinette). 'Dark Cupid' is also the first occasion of Marinette's by-now patented plan "Pretend to be in Love with Cat Noir" to solve problems, except that she was absolutely certain that a True Love's Kiss could occur between them, so there isn't even much room for pretending, but Marinette's denial is so powerful, she'll try.

In 'The Mime' we see Cat Noir actually testing Ladybug's receptiveness to a date, by suggesting that they could have gone to the play together if they didn't have to detransform. Ladybug replies that she has other plans before zipping away, and Cat Noir merely smiles after her. His feelings are growing, and he might still be remembering the love note he got. In fact, this is probably why he says "We are meant to be," in 'Gamer'.

In 'Animan' Ladybug actually does some of her own flirting with Cat Noir by giving him chin scritches. We also see a very straightforward gesture of affection from Cat Noir to Ladybug, when he hugs her in relief after the battle. Ladybug smiles softly at him, seeing that her partner cares about her well-being, while Cat Noir jumps back, embarrassed over his own reaction, or perhaps even afraid of censure. Adrien isn't the type of person to suddenly grab people in a hug, most likely because such "overly emotional" displays are discouraged in the Agreste household. This is the first occasion of Adrien projecting his father's supposed reaction to a thing he does on Ladybug, so he runs away from her.

In 'Simon Says', Cat Noir clings to Ladybug when faced with Gabriel looking at him weirdly (he's trying to figure out if he's Adrien, but Adrien himself never realizes his father was suspicious of his identity). At this point, Ladybug has started to become something of a security symbol to Adrien specifically against his father.

'Reflekta' is the episode where Cat Noir reminds Ladybug that he doesn't just deliver quips and he is actually a hero in his own right, even with diminished capabilities, in response to Marinette almost leaving him behind because he couldn't use his Cat Noir powers, because he'd "just slow (her) down", and then it turns out she couldn't have won without him. However, with the scene of Cat Noir taking the hit, Ladybug also starts on the process of realizing exactly how important her partner is to her success. Noticeably, it's while they're plotting together that Ladybug responds to his flirtation by flirting back, even if not very well (protip, Marinette, demeaning someone isn't funny to anyone but the person doing the demeaning, the other person is not suddenly lacking a sense of humor). Cat Noir is also a bit softer with his overtures in this episode, his cheeky flirtation gaining a bit more intimacy.

In 'Antibug', we can see the lessons Ladybug learned in 'Reflekta' sticking, with Ladybug listening to and valuing Cat Noir's input, unlike how the last time he tried to give her advice in a Chloé situation in 'Evillustrator', when she acknowledged he was right but couldn't bring herself to follow his advice. She also flirts with Cat Noir of her own volition, when she rings his bell. Cat Noir also keeps showing genuine warmth towards Ladybug instead of being just cheeky, when Ladybug compliments him. They affirm their bond after taking down Antibug.

The events of 'Reflekta' and 'Antibug' together influence what happens in 'Volpina', where Marinette is very suspicious of a new superhero showing up, without ever suspecting she could have been an Akuma in disguise. Cat Noir is her partner, and Cat Noir is her only partner. She’s not only learned his value, but has grown possessive over him. There's no need for any outsider. This jealousy over Cat Noir is actually something Marinette doesn't get over during the first three seasons the way she learns to deal with her jealousy over Adrien.

By the time 'The Collector' happens, Adrien has developed enough trust in his partner to ultimately believe her over her suspicions about Gabriel being Hawk Moth. This episode also has the first time Marinette voices concern over Cat Noir's emotional well-being instead of merely physical, who, of course, can't tell her what's wrong because it would break the secret identity clause.

'Prime Queen' has some very nice mutual Ladynoir flirting at the start of the interview. However, they're both mortified when Nadja comes out with the pictures. Cat Noir is confused, because he had no idea that their relationship could even give that impression, he must have been feeling like he hasn't been making much progress in getting closer to Ladybug. Meanwhile, Marinette goes defensive for the first time since 'Lady Wifi' only, this time, even more so. She even runs out on Cat Noir when he, very understandably, wants an explanation why he head to learn from a reporter that she'd planted one on him instead of from her. The episode confirms that Marinette will refuse to, in any way, discuss anything romance-related in relation to Cat Noir, even when there's an innocent explanation, like breaking an Akuma's spell. She's so defensive it's suspicious.

We also have another occasion of Marinette "pretending" to be in love with Cat Noir to solve a problem. While Cat Noir purrs either over the confession, having her close, or both. Marinette also jumped at the chance to "pretend" to confess her love so eagerly, that it left Prime Queen unimpressed. Still, Marinette refused to commit to the "ruse" enough to kiss Cat Noir while he's actually conscious and aware of it, because then she'd have to deal with the aftermath of kissing him.

'Dark Owl' has the first true test of faith between Ladybug and Cat Noir, when both of them have to trust the other not to look while they have to recharge. Although, considering 'The Collector', this is actually the first test only for Ladybug. At the end of the episode, Adrien also genuinely asks Ladybug out on a date for the very first time when they unexpectedly have free time from Owl-sitting, but Marinette preferred to skip off to spend time with Alya since she hadn’t gotten to see her while being so busy with The Owl's antics for so long.

'Glaciator' has Cat Noir planning an actual outing for Ladybug. The thing is, before 'Glaciator', Marinette's response to Cat Noir asking her out has always been that she has other plans, no can do. However, in 'Glaciator', she specifically says: "We'll see," and then she ends up ghosting him because she forgot to even send him a message that she didn't feel like going anywhere. At the same time, Gabriel purposefully stands him up for dinner, causing Adrien to project onto the Ladybug situation so hard that he doesn't think Ladybug even sees him as a real friend. Considering Adrien was under the same impression about Marinette in 'Puppeteer 2', it is typical for Marinette to send these kinds of mixed signals (which is fitting, considering how clear communication seems to be the biggest bullet point in her character development agenda).

On the upside, Cat Noir's compromised emotional state led to him being more frank about his feelings to first Marinette and later to Ladybug, finally making Marinette understand that Cat Noir is actually in love with her and how sensitive her partner can really be and that she can hurt his feelings. Notably, in this episode, Marinette particularly enjoys employing her "Pretend to be in love with Cat Noir" gambit, this time even going as far as kissing him, after finding out he's actually in love with her. Indeed, at the end of the episode, her rejection to Cat Noir is entirely focused on her having feelings for someone else (as well). She never once said she doesn't love him, and, in fact, never claims so in the English dub.

In 'Sapotis' we also see a brief glimpse of Marinette's jealousy over Cat Noir when he welcomes Alya onto the team so warmly but, because Rena Rouge was a teammate Marinette herself chose and trusts, she doesn't feel threatened enough to express it more than by merely keeping an eye on their interaction. 'Sapotis' also starts the arc of Cat Noir starting to lose faith in Ladybug having his best interest in mind when Rena Rouge appears out of nowhere and he's expected to just accept that no-questions-asked.

'Gorizilla' notably has Marinette repeatedly voicing her belief that Cat Noir will show up, something Adrien appreciates a great deal, going as far as blushing over something so simple. He's astounded by the fact that his Lady has faith in him, but it seems he still believes it despite the notion being strange to him.

'Frightningale' really drives home the arc going on in this season. 'Riposte' was the first time we saw Ladybug and Cat Noir seamlessly working together to neutralize an Akuma, but in this episode, they move in perfect synch while fighting Frightningale while handcuffed together. Cat Noir and Ladybug's teamwork has reached phenomenal levels.

I've repeatedly said that 'Syren' is less about Cat Noir and Ladybug's relationship and more about Fu's relationships with his two chosen. Still, this is the episode where Marinette gets put on the spot and comes through for her partner and Cat Noir learns that Ladybug keeping secrets from him wasn't of her own volition, but because of Fu, restoring his faith in her completely.

It's most likely because of the trust Ladybug showed towards him in 'Gorizilla' and their perfectly synchronized teamwork in 'Frightningale' that Cat Noir tries to confess to Ladybug again in 'Frozer'. These two episodes could give Cat Noir hope that he might be winning Ladybug over, especially since, as I said before, Ladybug has not said she doesn't have feelings for him. But she, of course, rejects him, although it's notably with more wistfulness than the last time, especially when she comments how she doesn't think it's possible for the "other boy" to not be a concern. 'Frozer' takes place during the arc in season two that covers Marinette's growing frustration at her inability to progress with Adrien the way she wants to and the discontent shows in her interaction with Cat Noir as well.

The change in how Marinette regards Cat Noir's input in fights between season one and two is especially noticeable in 'Style Queen' and 'Maledictator'. Both times Cat Noir is absent in a fight and this influences how Marinette approaches fighting the Akumas. In 'Style Queen' Marinette tries to play it sneaky but also needs to be saved by Plagg's intervention in his holder's absence. In 'Maledictator', Marinette's plan involved siccing the brainwashed Cat Noir on the Akuma's goons. Cat Noir has become necessary to Marinette, which is why he's able to galvanize her during 'Heroes' Day' by reminding her that the two of them against the world is what's always worked.

Season three as a whole revolves around Adrien losing faith that Ladybug could ever return his feelings the way he wishes and Marinette getting several warning signs about how she could lose Cat Noir. I might even go as far as saying that this season has negative Ladynoir development (in that their relationship grows more frayed and brittle instead of stronger).

A big reason for this new development direction is 'Reflekdoll', which, according to the production codes, happens early in the season. In this episode, Ladybug and Cat Noir learn the worst possible (false) lessons about themselves and each other and they carry those lessons for the rest of the season. In my 'Reflekdoll' conflict analysis, I wrote that Ladybug basically "learns" that Cat Noir is fae-like in that he isn't bothered by mortal things like stress or heartbreak. Cat Noir, meanwhile, "learns" that, while it doesn't matter if Ladybug makes a mistake because she can always fix it, him making a mistake makes him fundamentally less worthy as a hero and a person, so he could never be as valuable as Ladybug even as a person and not only strategically.

'Weredad', meanwhile, is the quintessential evidence episode for Marinette being both possessive and in denial about Cat Noir. She's literally pretending to be in love with him to him, while totally denying to herself that she feels anything for him, all the while she's feeling jealous over him seemingly moving on from her to be in love with her. The reason it's so important that no one but Marinette herself and Tikki know what went down in this episode is that Marinette's denial would never last if someone actually questioned this whole mess.

This is also an episode where we can clearly see the aftermath of what 'Reflekdoll' did to Cat Noir. He's once again projecting his situation with his father onto someone else (this time Tom), but he's also blatantly refusing to fight Tom at full strength, because he feels that it's his fault he got Akumatized, allowing himself to get hurt severely because he feels he's not that important, that he might even deserve it.

'Oblivio' has Ladybug once again do the whole: "How dare you say I'm in love with Cat Noir I am quitting this conversation right now!" routine. Cat Noir also got actual confirmation that something about him made his Lady want to kiss him when their memories had been wiped.

'Desperada' has the semi-infamous scene of Ladybug saying she doesn't need Cat Noir and, while she learns the valuable lesson that yes she flipping does, this is also the episode where Adrien repeatedly fails to use the Snake Miraculous correctly, having to give it up to someone else, feeling like an undeserving failure *turns to look at 'Weredad' and then at ‘Reflekdoll*.

'Kwamibuster' is an episode where everyone keeps telling Ladybug not to trust Cat Noir and she believes it to the degree that she sees him as a bigger threat than a Kwami-targeting Akuma. In other words, Cat Noir being treated like a part-time hero again in season four is because of 'Kwamibuster'.

'Gamer 2.0' is actually an important episode for the Ladynoir dynamic. This is the episode where Marinette takes on way too much responsibility (voluntarily) and is really stressed about it, while Cat Noir dismantles that stress with his good humor and positive outlook. This episode enforces the lesson that was stated outright in 'Reflekdoll': "Everyone has their role", and Cat Noir's role is to be the jokester who makes Ladybug feel better. Also, Cat Noir doesn’t even hesitate to make a sacrifice play for his Lady, because he’s less important.

'Timetagger' foreshadows that Marinette's words of affirmation are losing their effect. She repeatedly says things like "I trust Cat Noir", "You're irreplaceable", "You know you're the best", but she doesn't know how to express her regard to Cat Noir in actions. And it's important to note that Adrien was raised among liars and manipulators. Even if he doesn't doubt Ladybug's intentions, he might doubt the depth and truth of her feelings for him. Because Ladybug is so nice, she might lie about valuing him to make him feel better. Words aren't enough when words are the only thing between you and your insecurities. This is also an episode that feeds into Cat Noir's worthlessness arc, with Bunnyx repeatedly insisting that Ladybug in the future is just awesome, while Cat Noir broke her Miraculous. Even Ladybug shoots him down at the end of the episode when he tries to ask for extra affirmation, claiming he "already knows he's great".

In 'Puppeteer 2', Cat Noir's hope from 'Oblivio' that Ladybug might be starting to be won over by him comes back to bite him when the wax Ladybug gets close to him by pretending to be coming onto him. He only realized she was a fake because she smelled wrong, something that comes back to haunt him in 'Ladybug', when he's faced with a perfect copy, whose only difference to the original is that she's apparently in love with him. The villains clearly know he’s so in love with Ladybug it sometimes blinds him.

With the villains using this clear weakness as an in, it's no wonder that Cat Noir finally makes the decision to move on from Ladybug in 'Heart Hunter'. He tries one more time to test her interest to see if she'd be jealous of him dating and, when she's merely overjoyed, he decides to finally move on to Kagami. However, when faced with the actual reality of Cat Noir giving his attention to someone else instead of her (instead of in addition to her), Ladybug actually finds herself hurt and questions the lack of "My Lady" in Cat Noir addressing her, but she instantly denies it when Cat Noir notices. Denial denial denial...

Aaaaaand that's a wrap! Putting this together made me realize just how interconnected the show really is but no one notices because there aren’t any secret identities being revealed, people getting together or lore being revealed. Even something that seems like a breather episode like 'Gamer 2.0' has a larger role in the arc of developing the relationship between our main heroes.

#miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug #ladynoir #lovesquare #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ml meta #long post #REALLY long

[soulmate-game]

Harley's Plea for Help ch. 6

Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6-- you are here

Yet another night of barely any sleep, but this time Marinette didn’t have the coffee-angel Red Robin at her rescue. No, instead she had to go completely uncaffeinated until she and her class got to Wayne Enterprises. Madame Mendelieve could only sigh as she watched Marinette scamper off to the café as soon as they made it past the initial security of the building. A couple of her classmates chuckled or snorted at her familiar behavior.

It was the same barista at the register as before, but this time Marinette felt too tired to properly order or be adventurous in looking for new flavors.

“I feel like death. I don’t care if it tastes like pure bean oil today. Flavors will take away from the amount of coffee you can shove in one cup, right?”

The poor barista blinked, eyeing the deep bags forming under the poor girl’s eyes. She sighed. “I had hope yesterday that you were just a normal caffeine addict. Now I see we actually have a second Mister Drake,” she said it as if she was mourning at Marinette’s grave before poking a few buttons on her touchscreen order station and turning her head. “One Insomniac CEO, but not for the boss!” She called out. The barista making the drinks paused for a second with wide eyes.

“We have another one?!” He asked, shocked. “Piece of advice?” He turned to Marinette. “Get some sleep.”

“Sleep is for the dead,” Marinette deadpanned back. “I got stuff I need to do today.”

The guy just shook his head and sighed, making the drink as Marinette paid and left a good tip. The drink came out fairly quickly, and everyone behind the counter stopped for a moment to stare as she gulped down the hot drink with no concern for her tongue or throat. A satisfied sound left her as she finally pulled away from the cup.

“This is really good!” She complimented, turning to the Baristas with a still-tired smile. It would take a minute or two for the coffee to have full effect, but she already felt better. “A little too bitter for my usual tastes, but perfect for days like today. Thanks!” She waved at them before turning around and seeing that her class was already gone again. Before she could fully process that though, a hand slapped down onto her head and ruffled her hair.

Surprised (really, not a lot of people could sneak up on her anymore. Just how tired was she?) she let out a high pitched squeal.

“You’re a good kid,” the soft, slightly scratchy voice that said that made Marinette’s shoulders drop and eyes widen. Tilting her head back she was greeted with the widely-grinning face of Jason Todd. He was once again in the uniform of a security guard.

“Wha— Uh,” Marinette couldn’t quite find the right words right away. She was too stunned. Jason just chuckled, jerking his head to indicate the same door her class had gone through the day before and leading the way over there. Marinette scrambled to catch up.

Once they were far away enough from prying eyes and ears, Marinette cleared her throat.

“Um,” she started. “Did… I mean, do you..?”

“Yeah, our mutual friends had a chat with me last night,” he confirmed casually. He sent her a meaningful look even though his grin never left his face. “Like I said; you’re a good kid. And I’m not goin’ anywhere. You’re not responsible for the things your parents have done, you know.”

The girl at his side hummed noncommittally, not fully convinced but also not wanting to argue.

“You’re not,” he repeated firmly, stopping in the middle of the side-hallway. They could see her class at the other end getting checked in, but didn’t make a move to join them yet. “I mean it. The stuff that happened to me, none of that was you. Hell, you were a little kid back then. And there’s nothing you could have done to stop it, either. I’m not gonna hold anything against you just because you’re his child. You didn’t ask to be,” he shrugged. “Besides, I get it. Biological relation doesn’t equal family. Trust me,” his grin was gone and a tired one replaced it. “I know that better than most people.”

The pigtailed girl could only gulp, taking a deep breath as she forced down the tears that wanted to bubble up. She had had this conversation with Adrien a few times, but even then she had been convinced that he just didn’t understand. He was just being nice. But this— Jason’s words were more valuable than gold to her. He had no reason to be nice, so it had to be at least partially sincere.

“Thanks,” she whispered once she was positive she wasn’t going to break. She lifted her cup up and took a long sip of her coffee. The slight burn against her tongue helped ground her. “That means more than you know.”

Jason chuckled. “Nah. The fact that you stood up for me to the Bat,” his grin returned to his face full blast, making dimples appear on his cheeks. “Now that, you have no idea how much that means to me. You must have some serious guts to lecture that guy, too. Is it too late to adopt you for myself?”

That tore a quick laugh out of her, making her classmate’s head whip over to the opposite end of the hallway where she and Jason were. She quickly quieted herself, but her eyes danced with amusement as she looked up at Jason. “You’re too young to be my parent anyway, but I wouldn’t say no to a brother,” she joked. Jason’s eyes sparkled.

“Good, exactly what I was aiming for!” He slipped a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. “That’s my number. Call me if you ever need anything, got it?” He turned to resume leading her back to her class and she quickly slipped the paper into her pocket before anyone saw and got the wrong idea. “And I mean anything.”

Marinette just smiled and nodded. By then, they were close enough for Alya to smirk and ask; “What took ya so long, girl?”

“Oh,” Marinette shuffled a little on her feet before an observation gave her a last minute idea and she straightened up with a wide smile. “We just got distracted talking about motorcycles!”

Jason’s eyebrows raised for a quick second before he settled his expression again and played along. He had figured that not many people knew about her biological family. That part made sense. But she had been a total mess just the day before when she had tried to lie about Paris’ little villain problem in front of Bruce. How was she able to actually come up with a good lie this time around, when she had been just as much put on the spot? He wondered to himself about what was different about this situation to allow her to lie more easily. Maybe Bruce not being there was part of it— she seemed easily flustered by famous people.

Think of the devil, because no sooner had that thought finished developing in Jason’s mind before Bruce Wayne walked into the hallway with a paparazzi-ready smile. Jason rolled his eyes and sunk to the back of the group silently, sinking back into his job and keeping an eye on their surroundings. He listened as Alya laughed softly and elbowed Marinette even as the group turned their attention to Bruce.

“You and your bikes,” Alya teased. “If someone knew enough about motorcycles, I bet you’d marry them on the spot.”

“Nah,” Marinette whispered back. “If they gave me a really nice one though? That’s marriage potential for sure.”

The two girls laughed for a second before focusing back on the tour. Adrien wasted no time making his way to Marinette’s side, silent questions in his eyes. Jason watched with interest as the two seemed to silently communicate with one another. It was obvious that Adrien was calling her lie, and Marinette was essentially silently telling him that she would explain later. It was so seamless and subtle that if Jason hadn’t been extremely familiar with that kind of communication already, he wouldn’t have noticed it. Once again his eyebrows rose a tick on his forehead, and he made a mental note of the interaction. That kind of silent conversation wasn’t an easy thing to do with people. It was most commonly seen in married or otherwise long-term couples, childhood friends, family, or hero partners. The childhood friends and family sections were already ruled out from their background check on her and Harley herself had mentioned that even though Marinette had once crushed on Adrien, she had unofficially adopted the boy as her brother since then. Though, their time as close friends was only documented as having lasted about a year. That wasn’t quite enough time for that sort of effortless silent communication to be possible.

Of course, Jason had his suspicions already. But there was no rush, either. The Clown was on the move and more important to focus on for now. He could focus on the puzzle that was Marinette and Adrien later.

Bruce took over the tour as he had the day before, and the class was instantly riveted once again. If the fact that they were being led through the building by the very man who owned it wasn’t awesome enough to get everyone’s full attention, the man’s personality was. He came off a little carefree and very kind, but there was an obvious undercurrent of just how much he loved his company that showed that he did take it and his job seriously. Just, not too seriously either. And he interjected everywhere he could with personal stories and anecdotes and little bits of his family history that the normal tour guides might not have known. It was not long after he announced that he was going to take them to a lower lab set aside specifically for their class’ tour, so that they could do their first interactive activity, that jason found the opportunity to sidle up next to Marinette on the opposite side from where Adrien walked alongside her.

“So,” he said casually. “How’d you know I ride a motorcycle?” he smirked to show he wasn’t upset as he looked down at her curiously. Marinette blinked, taking her attention away from Bruce to look over at Jason. Once his words registered, she smiled widely and pointed to one of his pockets. The corners of his bike gloves flopped over the edge.

“I noticed those. I figured you’d have a negative reaction that might give us away if my lie was too off the mark, and I do have a habit of saying stupid things if I don’t have a clue or something to play off of. I also had to make it believable for the class, and they all know that my Nonna has played a huge part in my love for motorcycles. I plan on getting a license to drive one when I turn sixteen later this year,” she told him softly. “I tend to gush whenever I see a cool bike, so I knew they wouldn’t question it.”

Jason huffed a little bit of laughter under his breath. It was like the trope of a character looking at random items in the room to come up with a fake name, but somehow it had actually worked for her. She was quick-witted and clever, he had to admit. And observant.

“I was running late, so I must have left them in my pocket when I was changing,” he admitted, unbothered. “Ah, here we are,” he nodded to return the two teen’s (he had noticed Adrien paying close attention as he and Marinette had their conversation) attention back to the tour. Bruce opened the door for the class with a flourish, gesturing for everyone to go in.

“Since these first few days are going to be tours and lessons about working in general, your first activity of your trip is to solve various problems we’ve given you based on real situations that WE employees have been in before. Split up into groups, and choose a table. Each table has a different problem covering a different industry. Reporting, Science— specifically research and development, business management, and entertainment…”

—*—*—*—*—*

“It’s straight,” Adrien assured her, trying to keep himself from laughing as Marinette straightened his tie for the millionth time. “I promise. And you look fantastic.”

Marinette stepped back, nodding at Adrien’s appearance in approval. “I know. We both look great, but…” she fidgeted and then stepped forward to go right back to over-straightening his tie. Adrien snorted, grabbing her hands before she could touch the poor thing again and lowering her arms to her sides.

“Calm down. Like you said, we both look great. You don’t have a single hair out of place, the outfits you made us look amazing, and my tie is at a perfect ninety degree angle to my collar. Take the model’s word for it,” he teased with a lopsided grin. “We look ready for the front cover of a magazine. So just take a deep breath, because we should get down to the lobby soon to wait for the ride he’s sending for us.”

“Right,” Marinette nodded. She followed his advice and took a deep breath. Once she was suitably calmed, she opened her eyes and nodded at him. Adrien smiled and held out his arm, making Marinette snort as she took hold of it gently and let him lead her to the elevator.

Bruce had not specified whether the dinner was going to be casual or formal, but with the fact that his kids were going to be present and it was at his own house, Marinette had a feeling it was going to be more of a casual thing than if they had went out to a fancy restaurant with a black tie dress code. At the same time, this was the Wayne manor they were talking about. She didn’t want to be underdressed, either. Not to mention that it was her design skills that had played a huge part in her winning the contest in the first place, so she felt like she had to show her work again to prove that they had chosen the right person.

A playful wolf whistle greeted the two of them when they got down to the lobby. Alya was, to no one’s surprise, the perpetrator. She stood in the lobby with Alix, Nino, and Max, who all had known about the dinner and agreed to be there to see the two of them off and put Marinette’s worries to rest. The four of them jogged over, Alix smiling and adding her own soft whistle of appreciation.

“You guys look great,” the short skater assured them, taking the time to skate slow circles around them to make sure that nothing was wrong with their outfits. “I think you’ve outdone yourself, Mari! Very cool.”

Alya nodded eagerly, bouncing in place with a wide, beaming smile on her face. “Ah! The both of you look ready to kick ass and woo rich people!” she added. Max pushed his glasses up on his nose with a small grin.

“There is a ninety-five percent chance of your work impressing all of the Waynes,” he said in his own version of encouragement.

“You guys got this!” Nino shot them a thumbs up. “They beat me to all the stuff I wanted to say.”

Marinette beamed, laughing along with her friends as she allowed herself to relax a little. Adrien’s outfit was of her own making, a subtle way for him to rebel since his father had sent him with his own Gabriel brand suit should an appropriate opportunity to wear it come up. Adrien had no plans of ever putting his father’s suit on his body. In an effort to spice up formal men’s wear a bit without making the whole thing white and silver like Gabriel wanted, Marinette had made him a classic silk shirt in black, with short sleeves that fell at that perfect halfway point between his elbow and shoulder. The sleeves had thick cuffs in a dark forest green, with decorative straight stitches on the seams in a bright magenta pink thread. On top of that was a corset-style sleeveless vest with a deep V. The majority of the vest was the same black as the shirt, but with dark green hand-stitched swirls that were just barely bright enough to be contrasted against the black. It created a very subtle pattern that would be hard to see in the wrong lighting, but would make it look that much more expensive and elaborate in the right lighting. The lapel of the vest was in the same dark forest green as the cuffs of his shirt, with a few decorative swirls embroidered on the very corners. The piping of the corset-vest made three curved lines on either side of his waist, curling from mid-rib cage to his waist. It gave him a slightly more feminine twist to his outfit, making his waist look smaller even though it wasn’t actually pulled very tight on him— it was mostly the illusion made by the piping rather than the actual tightness of the garment. The two outside piping lines were done in a magenta pink, while the middle piping line was once again in dark forest green. Unlike most corset-style vests, this one had no buttons or zipper on the front at all. Instead, it was closed only by corset lacing in the back, the laces done in such a dark shade of green that it was almost black, while the eyelets that the laces were threaded through were that same magenta pink as the piping and decorative stitches elsewhere on the outfit. The tie that Marinette had spent so long making sure was straight was almost entirely soft lace, but it was layered in such a way with layers of sheer green and pink lace that it looked like it was a constant swirl of the two colors. If someone got close enough to see the pattern of the lace tie, they would notice that it was a pattern of cats chasing a butterfly.

Underneath the artistic top of the outfit were black dress pants, once again with thick forest-green cuffs on the bottoms. But instead of the decorative stitching, the pant legs flared a bit at the ankles for just a little extra drama. Magenta-pink Oxfords peeked out of the wide cuffs. The green detailing made Adrien’s eyes pop, while the pink accents gave his boyish charm a little more of a feminine touch that almost seemed to highlight his naturally sensitive and charming nature.

In contrast, Marinette wore a sleeveless pink pantsuit. It was the same shade as the pink accents in Adrien’s outfit, and had a built-in corset as well that went only around her natural waist. The corset boning on Marinette was a solid black, while the rest was just the same base pink as the majority of the suit. The black of the boning seemed to flow downwards, changing from boning into thick hand-embroidery in thread of the exact same black. The embroidery flowed down the sides of both legs, in the shape of tree branches and apple blossoms. Pale green accents in the form of swirls at her high neckline and a pale green lace capelet that was the only thing covering her shoulders helped tie her outfit in with Adrien’s. She also wore pale green low kitten heels and her black hair up in a braided bun. With how her pant legs were form-hugging until they flared out slightly at the heel, and the lack of sleeves exposed her toned arms and shoulders and emphasized her strength there without making her look unbalanced or too masculine for the rest of the outfit’s style, she looked ready to rock the business world. Her bright blue eyes clashed with the green details of the outfit just enough to bring attention to them, assuring that people who met her eyes would not be able to easily look away.

The quick snap of a phone’s flash went off, drawing everyone’s attention to Madame Bustier. She was beaming at all of them, and had just taken a picture of her two students all dressed up. She waved her phone happily. “I’m sending this picture to the both of you. I’m so proud of you guys!” she gushed.

Marinette and Adrien both blushed deep red, shifting in their spots. They were confident in their looks, and Adrien was just as proud of his pseudo-sister, but neither of them was very good at handling so much positive attention aimed only at them. Especially not from their extremely sincere friends and teacher.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng?” An older gentleman with a British accent turned everyone’s attention to him. The first thing Marinette thought was that he had kind eyes. He also had soft wisps of white hair on his head, carefully trimmed and slicked back. Of course, Marinette and Adrien also couldn’t miss the high quality and perfect press of his carefully maintained suit. Once he had shown all the proper credentials to Madame Bustier, he introduced himself to the two well-dressed teens with a shallow bow. “I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler for Wayne Manor. I am to escort the both of you there for supper tonight.”

“Oh! Thank you so much, Monsieur Pennyworth,” Marinette said, walking up and shaking his hand. Adrien was right by her side the whole time, matching her smile watt for watt and shaking Alfred’s hand with just as much enthusiasm.

“Yeah, thank you for having us over. I know it was technically Bruce who invited Marinette, but you’re probably the one that has to do all the work. So, thank you. We really appreciate it,” he told the man sincerely. Alfred’s answering smile was soft, almost fond.

“Yes, I admit I am in charge of most of the work for tonight. But you shouldn’t worry, it’s no different from any other day at the manor,” he said lightheartedly, a little bit of good natured snark shining through his otherwise proper behavior— “Every last one of the Waynes would die in less than a week without me to keep everything in order,” he joked. “Allow me to lead you to the car.”

Marinette and Adrien followed behind Alfred. She didn’t know if it was the calming aura he put off, or if it was the gentle way his eyes sparkled that made her want to look after him. But whatever it was, she found herself wanting to protect this kind old man already. Which is why her eyebrows slightly pinched together. Before climbing inside the luxurious town car he had brought for them, she couldn’t help but turn to Alfred and ask;

“I hope you aren’t overworked. I don’t want to overstep, Monsieur, but isn’t the Wayne family rather large for one person to look after on their own?”

Alfred laughed gently at that, his eyes once again softening. “Do not worry about me, Miss Dupain-Cheng. They are family to me. And though, yes, you are correct in assuming they are a handful, they are also wonderful people. They help me where they can, but taking care of themselves is not their forte. Being able to do that for them is my greatest joy.”

The wrinkles in Marinette’s brow smoothed out and she smiled. “That’s so sweet. You’re making me want to meet them all even more.”

Something about that twinkle in Alfred’s eye made her feel like he was laughing at some joke she didn’t hear. “I’m sure all of you will get along swimmingly.”

—*—*—*—*—*

“I FOUND HER FIRST!”

Alfred had barely opened the manor’s doors to let Marinette and Adrien inside before the chaos started. Or rather, before they were let in on it— it seemed as if the chaos had already been going on for a while.

Jason skidded across the floor in a mad dash, having to grasp the doorframe he was running out of so that he could turn the corner sharply and veer towards them.

“Tell them, Marinette! I found you first, you’re my sister now, don’t fall for any of their Jedi mind tricks!”

Marinette just blinked, a little caught off guard. It hadn’t exactly sunk into her head until right that moment that ‘Wayne Family dinner’ would include Jason. Her mind was still catching up to the fact that she was seeing him out of his security guard uniform for the first time. He wasn’t dressed up at all, in a well-loved brown leather jacket over a white shirt and dark wash jeans. He still had his motorcycle gloves on. Marinette looked down at first herself, then Adrien.

“Are we overdressed?” She asked with a grimace. Jason huffed.

“Of course not, you guys look amazing! But seriously, tell them that I claimed you as my sister first and none of them are half as cool as me.”

Marinette and Adrien traded glances before laughing together.

“If we’re being technical here,” Adrien drawled mischievously as he straightened out his vest. “I met Marinette first, and she adopted me as her brother long before we met any of you,” he pointed out with a sharp grin.

“Ha!” a younger man laughed pointedly, following after Jason. The newcomer was dressed more formally, in a dress shirt under a very luxurious looking burgundy designer sweater. Under that, he wore black perfectly-pressed slacks and nondescript oxfords. His collar showed signs of housing a tie earlier, but he had clearly taken it off sometime earlier. His hair hung slightly long, framing his face with two long locks while the back of his hair slightly stuck up in all directions in natural tufted curls. Like Jason, his hair was jet black and he had bright blue eyes. He was also about half Jason’s size, much shorter and leaner than his adoptive brother. “He’s got you there, idiot,” he snarked smugly at Jason before turning to the two guests. “Miss Dupain-Cheng, Mister Agreste. I’m Tim Drake-Wayne, it’s nice to finally meet both of you,” he introduced himself as he walked over to shake their hands. “And your outfits are amazing! Did you make them, Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

“Marinette,” she corrected with a lopsided grin. “My last name is a mouthful, and I prefer to just go by Marinette anyway. And yes, I made both of these outfits before we left Paris,” she admitted, trying her best to seem professional. She had already ruined her chances of that with Bruce and Jason, but this time she was prepared!

“They are just as impressive as the rest of your work that I’ve seen. And call me Tim, it’s only fair,” and then he smiled.

Damn his boyish grin. He wasn’t someone Marinette had a crush on— he wasn’t her type— but damn he was unfairly charismatic and charming. His smile temporarily short circuited her brain. That was exactly the kind of boyish smile that had started her crush on Adrien, and that she was unfairly weak for. Now she felt a deep-seated urge to protect this boy and his smile or so help her, someone would be sent to the ER if he was hurt and it wasn’t gonna be her. And she didn’t try to dissuade herself from that strong protective urge, her mother had already assured her that all the Waynes were trustworthy and that Tim in particular shared a lot of her bad habits. She could allow this little bit of vulnerability. Hopefully.

“... I’ve only known you for two minutes, but if anything happened to you I would kill everyone in this room and then myself,” she breathed. Adrien elbowed her hard, making her yelp.

“You said that out loud Mari,” he deadpanned. A deep flush immediately came over her face, and she covered her mouth with both hands.

“Oh shit. I’m so sorry— but you— just forget I said anything. Please!”

Tim was visibly shocked, his eyes wide and mouth agape. Jason snorted, overcoming his own brief moment of shock pretty easily.

“Careful there,” Jason chided good-heartedly. His gaze met Marinette’s with a slight weight in it though. “You barely know the guy. He’ll annoy you out of your mind soon enough.”

Marinette caught the hint, wincing and changing the subject. Jason could see that she had done exactly as her mother had warned— she had gotten attached to Tim almost immediately. And while he wanted to believe Marinette when she said that the same wouldn’t happen with Joker, that she was not going to repeat her mother’s mistakes…

He couldn’t help but worry. Joker was a slippery bastard, and good at getting past people’s defenses.

Tim eventually led them all to the dining room, where several people were already sat waiting for them.

“We decided it would be best if we didn’t all swarm you at the door,” Tim explained, grinning at her kindly. “Take a seat wherever you want, Alfred is probably going to be done with dinner soon.”

Marinette and Adrien both nodded, going to sit by each other’s side. Adrien put his hand on her knee when they sat down, and traded a meaningful look with her.

“Calm down,” he whispered. “We’re not in Paris. And if you slip, I’ll catch you. Promise.”

Marinette’s shoulders relaxed a little. Yeah, she could trust Adrien to make sure she didn’t slip up too much. Get too careless. He’d watch her back like she did for him. She’d be okay. They’d both be okay.

“Thanks, Adrien. I needed that.”

—*—*—*—*—*

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[miraculouscontent]

A genuine question, but do you have any theories as to why when Marinette is crushing on Adrien she's awkward, stuttering, and almost always anxious (I mean as soon as she started crushing on Adrien that's what happened), while with Luka she's pretty much her regular self?

Because she isn’t actually in love with Adrien; she has a celebrity crush on him.

Love isn’t about stammering or getting weak in the knees at the sight of the person. Love is about being able to be oneself around someone and feeling comfortable around them. That’s why Marinette is “normal” around Luka but “weird” around Adrien.

Many of Adrien's other fangirls act similarly around him to Marinette, with the only difference being that they pursue Adrien directly whereas Marinette is too nervous to approach out of fear.

And to touch on that specifically; with Adrien, Marinette is afraid of being rejected because she’s not good enough. She’ll go on and on about how much of a “disaster” she is, which tends to be associated with her crush on Adrien or her screwing up around him. Her “crush” on Adrien is damaging to her self-esteem.

Marinette in “Gamer”: Um, no no no, I... No, you're so good. I mean, I'm the one who's not good. I mean... I'm lucky, that's all.

Her crush should be making her feel good about herself; it should make her feel loved and respected, which is how Luka makes her feel.

Luka in “Frozer”: Personally, I think a girl like you deserves to feel more like this. (plays a happy tune) And whoever made you feel this way is nothing but a--(plays a bad tune)

Marinette: (giggles) Thanks, Luka.

He made her feel so confident in herself that she almost immediately felt okay asking him to come with her to the ice rink. Heck, in that same episode, Marinette says this about her crush on Adrien:

Marinette: Whenever I talk to him as a friend, I hardly stammer at all. That's a sign right there. Right?

Notice how the show never tries to add a “but...” to that or explain it away; the girls’ argument doesn’t even try to refute it outside of Alya claiming Sunk Cost Fallacy as if that’s a legitimate reason to not give up (it’s not).

For more proof, look at how Marinette talks to/about Adrien:

Marinette in “Copycat” at Adrien’s answering machine: Hey, hot stuff--

-

Marinette in “Animan”: Oh, [Adrien]'s such a—

Alya: Smartie, hottie, suavísimo, yummy-tastic spellbinder?

Marinette: All of the above.

-

Mylène in “Reflekdoll”: Are you okay, Marinette?

Marinette: Yeah, he's too hot— I mean! I'm overheating in here, aren't you?

Look how so many of those are about appearance. It’s about Adrien being attractive. The moment Marinette falls for Adrien in “Origins” is in the atmospheric moment of the umbrella scene where he’s saying nothing and just staring into her eyes while the lighting makes him look all “pretty” (because I’m sorry, her falling for him based on what he says/does makes next to no sense). The reason she has so many pictures of him isn’t even about obsession: it’s about thinking he’s the hottest thing since the sun.

“Captain Hardrock” didn’t do that with Luka. Yes, Marinette initially stammered at Luka because oh no, he’s cute! but then had calmed down after Luka opened up to her and showed her a piece of himself.

Marinette in “Captain Hardrock”: What? Luka? No way! You're being ridiculous! Pff! Sure he's cool and nice and everything... but there's only one statue that drives this compass crazy!

Cool and nice. See that? It’s not, “he’s cute,” or anything shallow like that. Cool and nice are direct compliments that reflect Luka’s personality.

And what about the webisodes; the things that should be able to contain as much detail as possible so there’s no room for error or slip-ups?

Marinette in “Marinette and Adrien”: [Adrien]'s so amazing that I completely freak out every time I talk to him! I mean, seriously…he's super smart, he plays the piano, he's a great fencer, he speaks Chinese, and he's so cute too!

“Smart” is the closest thing to anything personality-based (but is also something forced onto him by Gabriel because he has to get good grades); anything else is just something he does or - again - how attractive he is.

Marinette: Adrien is a model for his father, Gabriel Agreste, the best fashion designer in Paris, and probably the world. But he never brags about it, because he's perfect!

One would think we’d be getting somewhere with “he’s humble,” but then Marinette slaps on “perfect;” you know, that line that “Lies” seemed to reject from Kagami as if it’s like how dare you think that the boy we constantly portray as perfect isn’t actually perfect?

Marinette then goes on to say that Adrien’s “major flaw” is that he gets along with Chloe, but where did that lead in the show? Adrien scolding her and making her feel bad about herself for being happy that her bully is gone, because Marinette can’t feel like she’s more right than him because he’s “perfect.” He just makes her feel inadequate.

And the “perfect” line isn’t restricted to webisodes:

Marinette in “Reflekdoll”: Huh? Uh, sure! You're perfect— I mean, it's perfect!

-

Aspik in “Desperada”: I hope I don't disappoint you, Ladybug.

Ladybug: I know you won't. You're perfect--uh, perfectly capable of defeating Desperada!

And she’s fawned before over how amazing Adrien’s life is, even without the webisodes. Literally the episode that last aired (”Lies”) had Marinette sighing over Adrien and talking nothing more about him than how amazing his life is; nothing about his personality.

It’s not about Adrien; it’s about her being starstruck by his attractiveness and how much of a celebrity he is with all these things he was forced to be taught (meaning they’re not a part of his character that he wanted; he was forced to do them in one way or anything) and how incredible being him/his girlfriend must be. Even when she calls him “nice,” one has to recognize that Adrien has to put up a polite image. Look at the difference between Adrien and Chat Noir, the latter of whom has a mask of anonymity to work with? Adrien the nice guy suddenly becomes Chat Noir the “Nice Guy.”

Now, for comparison, let’s go back to the webisodes and see what Marinette has to say about Luka:

Marinette in “Luka as seen by Marinette”: You know, Luka is my friend Juleka's brother and one of the most talented people I know.

We start off with the “talent” thing again, but Luka’s talent for music is something he chose; it’s a part of him that he’s passionate about. That’s a huge difference.

Let’s continue.

Marinette: He also proved himself a great hero when Ladybug gave him the Snake Miraculous.

Marinette: But the thing I find most impressive about him is the way he can always tell how people are feeling.

Marinette: I may not be as intuitive as he is--

Heroic. Empathetic. Intuitive.

Those are character traits. They are integral pieces to Luka’s personality, and they bring Marinette comfort. She’s normal around Luka because their romance is normal: two people who love each other and just make each other happy.

In an age where media makes romance all about characters turning to mush or losing themselves around the person they love, Lukanette ends up feeling real specifically because it doesn’t do that.

Lukanette is as it should be: Marinette and Luka are friends first, crushes second. Their first priority is the relationship aspect that’s devoid of romance, which is why Marinette honestly considers her feelings for Luka in “Frozer” instead of blindly jumping in whereas Luka respects Marinette’s agency and simply assures her that he’ll be there for her no matter what.

#((This is heckin' long but screw 'read more's. This is important.)) #category: salt #relationship: love square #relationship: Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain Cheng #other: ask and answer #((You know things are serious when I pull out the transcripts.)) #other: ml spoilers

[liquid-luck-00]

My Life is One Complication After Another 3

Cursing Ahead 🤬

Ao3 *** First *** Previous *** Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Ever since Mari's classmates stopped talking with her, they also stopped asking her for favors. Along with a blocked and rotating schedule for patrols meant that she actually had a sleep schedule. Sure she didn't get nearly enough but that was what coffee is for.

That was how she found herself down in the bakery with her papa. Roy had called her and the four of them talked and it was comfortable. Mari was the one who opened and was watching the front. She was still talking with Roy, but now it was on a headset, as he was out patrolling In Starling City.

"So as I was saying before we were oh so rudely interrupted." came Roy's voice in her ear. "So Ice cream and movies?"

A soft laughter escaped her and a smile on her lips.

"Sounds gre..." the bell at the door chimed. "Hey guys come in," she greeted the Waynes.

"Let me guess the bats?" Roy supplied as Dick bounced towards the counter.

"Good morning Marinette!" Dick practically sang loud enough for even Roy to hear.

"God how the hell is he so chipper so early." she heard Roy grumble.

"God damn morning people," she grumbled. That elicited laughter from both Roy and Jason.

"Amen to that!" Tim seconded in a monotone lifting a coffee cup. "Maman I'm going to take the Waynes up." she called poking her head into the kitchen. Her Maman nodded so she picked up her phone and walked towards them.

"I'll Let you go," Roy was about to hang up.

"Wait how about we give the Bats a heart attack." she smirked changing to the ancient language of miracles.

"I like the way you think, I'll catch you later." he responded in the same tongue.

"See ya then." she smiled, switching back the language. Ending the call and removing the ear piece. “Are you guys coming or do I have to drag you guys?" she turned back already at the door. Granted most of them showed confused faces and side eyes, but she smiled. They followed her without saying a word.

Once they were in the apartment she excused herself to change into more appropriate gear. She activated Kaalki’s miraculous, who then silently portaled out.

That being said she changed into a pair of black skinny cargo pants with red combat boots. A black long sleeve shirt under a cropped red sleeveless hoodie. Her hair was half down with red and pink streaks and a mini white gold backpack with three patches in the same white gold finished her outfit. She grabbed four parcels and went down.

"So we can either do the boring ground tour or," she held up the bundles. "we can turn up the speed."

"I like the way you think Pixie Pop." Jason stood and she handed him his.

"Roy sent me you guy's sizes, so I altered and customized a few things." she smiled. "bathroom is over there and the guest room is next to it." Dick looked torn between excited and horrified when handed his stack.

Tim seemed awake, but she knew better, "go change and I'll have a fresh pot of coffee ready." He nodded robotically as he got up.

She set the last bunch next to Damian, who was looking like an angry kitten. She sat down next to him and leaned in.

"What are you.." he started but Mari whispered in his ear.

"The jacket has a hidden sling for a katana, which will be practically invisible when on." His eyes widened slightly and there was a bit of slack in his jaw now. Before turning into an amused smirk. "Use my room up the stairs and through the hatch." she finished as he headed up the stairs.

"I'm impressed he let you close without struggling," Bruce broke his silence, as she finished prepping the coffee maker.

"Well he would have if," she began as Damian practically crashed down the stairs and all but tackled Bruce before rushing out the door. The closest she had ever seen her baby brother smile, which effectively made her smile.

"Holy crap! What are you?!" Dick made himself known.

"More importantly what the fuck did you do with Demon spawn!" Jason shouted from next to Tim, who was being propped up by both Jason and Dick.

"Tt. I am right here Todd." The scowl reappearing on his features. "It is adequate Dupain-Cheng."

"I'll take it as a compliment on one condition."

"And that is?" he rose a brow.

"You call me Marinette not Dupain-Cheng. I'm your sister aren't I?"

He seemed to war with himself for a moment before stating. "That is acceptable, Marinette."

At this point all the bats in the room were playing a game of ping-pong between Marinette and Damian. They were trying to figure out what magic spell Marinette must have used, when in reality she just seemed to fall into Damian’s good graces automatically. OK so maybe Marinette being the holder of the ladybug miraculous as well as being the great guardian of the order has that affect on most people, a sense of respect and trust that seems to permeate her aura.

She was handing Tim a huge mug as the front door swung open to reveal her Maman.

"Hello Bruce," Sabine greeted.

"It is good to see you Sabine," was his response.

“Maman," Mari pulled her mother's attention from her biological father. "These are Bruce's boys and my brothers. Tim, Jason, Dick, and Damian." she motioned to each one respectively.

"It's nice to meet all of you." Sabine smiled, "why don't all of you get something from the bakery before you go."

After finishing their small breakfast in the park Mari pulled out a map and a marker.

"So what do you guys want to see?" They listed off places that she marked down. She added a few to the list to fill it out, marked the route and took a picture and sent it to Roy. "Okay so this will work." she glanced at her phone. A quick look on social media showed no one has found Andre yet. She pulled out a case of comms and added, "Also keep your eyes out for Andre."

"Who is that?" Dick asked taking the earpiece.

"Andre's Ice cream cart, the best ice cream in Paris." Marinette answered.

"Then why must we look for him?" Damian added.

"Well he changes locations daily and turns it into a game of tag of sorts."

"Alright, lead the way Pixie." with a smirk she dashed off her brothers close on her heels.

Yes this is the best way to get to see the city, but this was also a test to see how the bats did without their toys.

Getting to Notre Dame was uneventful. Dick kept up a steady conversation with her, just a step behind with Damian, Jason brought up the rear but would constantly toss in quips and questions. Damian and Tim were mostly quiet, unless they were trying to get one of their brothers to stop a particularly embarrassing story.

Getting to the Louve was even more entertaining. Now that Dick had a feel for the Parisian roofs he would do flips and vaults to make her laugh. In the Louve is another story.

They had accidentally ran into some of her classmates, quite literally. She and her brothers were taking goofy 'walk like an Egyptian' group photos on the second floor of the Egyptian exhibit, the mini Ladybug camera was reattaching to her phone charm when Tim began asking her questions about it.

"Well my best friend loves anime, and we kinda sorta binged the entire Dragon Ball series and when we saw the ladybug camera. He said it would be impossible to create and maintain the quality of the image. So I kinda sorta made it out of spite." she mumbled the end.

"Hell if you weren't my sister I would beg Bruce to adopt you," Tim stated. "Do you have the files I would love to look through them. Maybe send them to Babs or Cy!"

"Sure I think I have it on a flash drive." That was when a tall body, walking backwards slammed into her, pushing her into Jason. "oof."

"You okay." Dick was in full mama hen mode fretting over her.

"I wasn't watching where I was going." the figure spoke as he turned around. "I'm sor." the words died on his tongue, Kim.

Max, Alix, Nino, Alya, and oh kwami no Lila, who were now all snickering.

"I'm fine Dick," she smiled to reassure him. However her classmates were shocked.

Lila of course was the one who broke the silence, by beginning to cry. "I'm so sorry about her. I know she hates me but to be so rude to a complete stranger!" her sobs breaking the sentence while her lackeys went to console her, glaring daggers at Marinette.

"Seriously girl," Alya began to scold her. "Your little out burst not only made Lila cry. Your insulting someone who is just trying to be nice."

She and her brothers were now standing awkwardly being scolded by a teenager. After three minutes of trying to figure out what they were being scolded for and why the guys hadn't apparently left.

"What the fuck did she do that your yelling at her for?" Jason finally broke Alya's rant. Now it was the five Parisians and the Italian to stand there confused.

"She called him a dick," Alya sighed exasperated.

"Yes." Dick answered confusing them further.

"Dick."Tim now called.

"What?!"

"Dick!!" Damian, Marinette, Tim, and Jason all called, and immediately began laughing.

"What? Oh, oh," a sheepish smile now on his face. “Names Richard but I go by Dick,” he explained to those who weren’t laughing, smiling at them.

"Tt. this is why I call you Grayson." Damian rolled his eyes. "Besides this one still has not apologized." he jabbed a finger to Kim.

"It's not worth it Damian,” Marinette shook her head. "We should head back to the bakery anyways. Maman has probably finished scolding Bruce." she smirked.

"Damn I wish I was a fly on the wall for that conversation" Jason lamented.

"Well..." she held up the ladybug charm and flipped it over showing an empty space.

"Two!" Tim shouted.

"Anyone who beats me back gets a copy," she smiled.

"Your on." Jason nodded as he vaulted over the safety wall from the second floor. Damian and Dick sprinted in opposite directions.

"Sorry Mars your gonna loose." Tim shouted as the last to leave.

"We'll see," she shot back. "Bye," She turned to her classmates as she grabbed the railing above and flipped up and over to the third floor, running to one of the secret zip lines the miraculous team set up.

"What the fuck" was faintly heard behind her, all but Lila and Max shouted by the sounds of it, as she jumped from the window.

She made up quite a bit of distance and seemed to be on Damian's heel. She had passed Tim and Dick was a few steps behind. Jason was just out of arm reach. So with a burst of speed both she and Damian were shoulder to shoulder with Jason.

The three of them simultaneously practically crashed into the side door of the bakery.

"I won."

"In your dreams Todd."

"I beat both you and Pixie"

"Check your eyes, or do you need the camera installed in your helmet." Jason's gaze hardened at Damian's words.

"How about we call it a three way tie and you both get a copy." Mari interrupted. "We should head up." Laughing Marinette opened the door and went up.

Lunch was rambunctious, but she was coming to expect that with her brothers.

“Too bad we couldn’t find that ice cream guy Mari,” Tim spoke up once everyone had finished eating.

“Oh let’s see if anyone has posted where he’s at today!” She went to check her phone but a message ended up distracting her.

Andres in your favorite spot I’ll meet you there at 7 your time.

"Cool he’ s in my favorite spot in all of Paris which just happens to be the last spot on our list today," she announced, sending off a text, setting her phone down, screen up.

Can't wait Katniss

"Why don’t you all go and Mari can get to know Bruce," Sabine offered.

OK granted it’s a good idea, maybe I should get to know my biological father but am I ready to? Do I want to? Am I yes, yes I want to get to know my biological father, yes I want my family to grow, my brothers are such protective goofballs and I love them already.

"Sounds good," she smiled.

That was when her phone lit up from a message. She went to pick it up, but she was to slow.

Jason was the one who snacked her phone. "Message from Katniss says see ya then Peeta. So who's Katniss Pixie."

"Well..." she started but she began to blush furiously.

"That would be her boyfriend," her Maman decided to add before heading back down to the bakery with Papa.

Dick pounced asking a million and one questions, Bruce physically froze but she could tell his mind was racing because that look was much the same as hers. Jason was pensive, while Tim and Damian just seemed bored or tired.

So that was how she found herself talking about Roy, blushing furiously. While simultaneously avoiding his name and details that would tip any of them off. After about a half hour of her answering questions did Dick start telling her about his fiancée. How they were planning on setting a date for the wedding.

After that the next few hows was spent sharing stories and tidbits of themselves.

However, thanks to Dick a design was swimming in her mind. so she did the only logical thing and ran up to her room. Grabbed three drives, her tablet and pen and ran back down. She tossed the red drive to Tim, and Jason and Damian each a black drive. Plopped down and began stretching out an Italian suit with a nock lapel. A rough coloration of a midnight blue offset by a sapphire. Accents of golden thread, emerald buttons and an Osiria rose in the lapel. She signed the design 'Mira Luck' and handed Dick the tablet.

"So I couldn't help myself," she begun to fidget. "But in my defense you told a designer about a wedding and my brain wouldn't stop screaming at me until this was on something. So what do you think? I know its rough but."

"Holy Shit your Mira Luck as in M, Jagged Stones personal designer. You are M as in the designer for the Lucky Spot!!" Tim screamed lunging to take the tablet from Dick.

"That's me," a blindingly bright smile lit up her features.

"So what do you think?" she asked again.

"It's amazing we were actually hoping to talk to you about Kori’s dress." Dick smiled. "I could call her it's not too late there."

"Perhaps it would be best to discuss it in person when Marinette next goes, that way she can get to know Gotham." Bruce interjected.

"That actually might be sooner than you think," she responded.

"I was actually accepted to be an exchange student for the next semester at Gotham Academy."

"Wait you’re willing we going to Gotham to study! You ’re going to Gotham willingly. Bruce I think your daughter might be a little crazy." Jason surprisingly brought up.

"I might be but but it’s no crazier than Paris and it’s a Akumas. Besides I would love to design your fiancée’s dress and we should head over to Andre’s ice cream before the sunsets that way we can watch the lighting of the Eiffel tower." She got up and called out. "Hey Jason mind passing me my backpack."

"Yeah sure," he went around he couch to grab it and toss it to her but before he did he finally seemed to notice the patches. "Wait are these The Outlaws."

"Yeah Red Hood, Arsenal, Star Fire, and Bizarro." she was smiling.

"Why choose The Outlaws?" Tim brought up.

"Honestly it was because Roy mentioned something about Arsenal and Red Hood and I ended up liking of the logos, so I made them into the backpack," she shrugged. "Besides unless you’re looking at it close enough you can’t tell which is always fun to see if people pay attention to it, let’s go."

At that the six of them walked out of the apartment, away from the bakery towards the Palais de Chaillot.

"So what's so special about Andre's Ice cream?" B asked.

"Personally I think he is a meta. But what he does is he can either see your true reflection or that of the person best suited to you."

"So he sees souls?" Tim added.

"Not quite, more like he sees the main qualities of you or your go." she tapped her chin.

"But he is meta,” Tim tried to figure.

"That's the only explanation I can come up with but I have no idea." Marinette shrugged.

"So how does he do it." Tim was now fully invested in this.

"Well you either ask for love or self and he usually does three to four ice cream flavors and gives a short reason."

They were now at the top of the stairs at the Palais de Chaillot looking out at the Eiffel Tower. They stood there as the last of the light faded from the sky. The city was dark for a moment as the Eiffel Tower lit up and slowly the lamps lit up.

"So that's why this is your favorite spot Minnie." A voice behind her chuckled. She turned around and nearly tackled him.

"Hey speedy." she pecked his cheek.

Not a second later did Jason scream, "Roy!"

"Ready for that movie?” Roy asked her an arm around her shoulders.

"Of course," she smiled. "See you guys around."

"What the fuck are you doing in Paris Roy!?" Jason screamed.

"Um... Date night," he answered. The Waynes were now practically surrounding the couple.

"What?" Apparently it was Dick's turn to yell.

"Seriously. I thought you said the bats and birds were detectives." she spoke just loud enough for them to hear. "It's kinda hard to believe with the big bat having a heart attack over there." Sure enough Bruce was seriously hyperventilating.

"Oh mind giving this to LB?" He handed her a small nondescript red box.

"Sure," Marinette took the box, "Au Revoir."

From there they left and oh kwamii did she wish she could replay that again, oh wait I can.

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

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[sariahsue]

Footsteps

Marinette’s about to get married to her soulmate, a man she’s never met before. Too bad she meets that cute groomsman in the hallway first. Rated G. 4,000 words.

***

Marinette bunched the white lace of her train into her fists and walked faster, eyes searching the empty marble hallway. Just keep walking. She could get through today. One foot in front of the other.

All she needed was some fresh air. She thought a building as enormous as this one would have at least one window that she could open. Instead, sunlight streamed through vaulted arches taller than the bakery she'd lived in her whole life, mocking her.

Marinette poked her head around a corner into a side hallway, saw nothing but closed doors, expensive paintings (that couldn't be an actual van Gogh, right?), and a plush white rug, and walked past.

All she needed was a few quick breaths, a little bit of air to cool off her flushed face, and a few minutes away from her hovering family and bridesmaids so she could pull herself together. And then she would get right back.

How big was this building? Each hallway she looked down offered a new way to get lost, with smaller hallways coming off of the side hallways and as many doors as there had been guests and staff just an hour ago. She gripped her train harder. Staff that had disappeared to the banquet hall to set up for the reception. Guests that were nowhere in sight because they were being seated in the chapel right now.

A door snapped shut somewhere behind her, and she whirled around, her heart in her mouth at having been caught, but no one was there. Her eyes traced crystal vases on marble tables only put there to break up the vast space the building contained. Nothing moved. And nothing looked familiar.

Can I even find my way back now? 

It was a problem she would have to deal with later. She didn't have the capacity for one more thing to go wrong right now, so she marched forward to continue her quest.

Her heels click-clicked as she walked across the polished floor, and she could have sworn she heard the door closing once again.

The shoes were going to give her away. With shaking fingers, she reached down and unstrapped them. They swung from her hands as she kept going.

Just a few days ago, Marinette had been so excited to finally meet her soulmate and get married. Why had the feeling deserted her today?

She knew the answer. All week it had been building, but now that the day was here, the swirling anxiety that had been simmering below the surface of her joy just couldn't be ignored any longer.

Most people gave themselves a few weeks or at least a few days after meeting their soulmate to get married, but her husband-to-be, Adrien, had insisted on being "traditional." No seeing each other until the wedding. She hadn't even talked to him on the phone yet. They would fall in love at first sight, as she walked down the aisle. If she'd met him before, maybe right now she wouldn't be so-

Marinette bumped into a glass-topped side table, sending the empty crystal vase on top tilting dangerously. Dropping her train, she managed to grab it before anything smashed. She stood there, frozen, listening, waiting to see if anyone would scold her, but no one was around. With a whispered "Sorry!" at the vase, she put it back in its place and kept searching through the maze of hallways.

It must have cost a fortune to rent this humongous mansion for the day. A new worry stuck in her throat. I'm not going to be able to fit in with my husband's family, am I?  Adrien would love her completely. That's just how it worked. But what if her in-laws hated her because her parents weren't rich too?

Her panic spiral was halted by the sight of a familiar blue rug pattern in one of the side hallways. Marinette made her way over, window quest forgotten, and she tripped over her dress the whole way there.

The long, white walls were filled with paintings of fruit and flowers, like the ones she used to make in art class (but with lighting skills so good it made her want to cry), and no… she hadn't been down this way before. Even as upset as she was, the artist in her would have remembered.

Marinette took a few seconds too long to glare at an apple, and by the time she heard the whispering, it was far too late for her to hide.

"Sneaking," a male voice whispered.

Marinette turned toward the voice. Had someone seen her? Did someone know she was roaming the building alone? She saw no one. And she saw nowhere she could quickly hide.

A few feet in front of her, the hallway turned a corner and continued out of sight. Some of the hallways had been like that, leading to more corridors and rooms that she hadn't bothered to explore. The footsteps came closer.

"Sneaking around the corner."

If she held very still, maybe he wouldn't notice? She walked backwards and pressed into the white wall, the fabric of her dress rustling loudly with every step, every breath she took.

His shoes squeaked as a hunched figure came into view.

"I'm not sneaking!" Marinette blurted out as soon as she saw him.

He jerked up straight.

She noticed three things instantly. He was blond. He was holding his hands around his eyes, like binoculars or a mask, and he was in the nicest tuxedo she had ever seen.

The man was also quite a bit taller than her, but he still jumped back in alarm when he saw her, and finally lowered his hands. Brilliant green eyes went from shocked to soft and warm and inviting.

"S-sorry," he finally said. "I was the one sneaking around. No worries."

"Oh," Marinette said, heart beating in her throat. "Right. I wasn't sneaking."

He smiled, and Marinette was glad she was already leaning against a wall. He had to be the single most beautiful human being she'd ever met her in life.

"Um, nice to meet you?" he said. When he held out a hand to shake, she quickly took it. His hand was soft and gentle and warm. No ring on either hand that she could see. Gorgeous and single!

Guilt swept through her, making her drop his hand. Here she was, getting married in literally a few minutes and ogling someone else. But he was still smiling at her. No, she had to stop thinking like a single woman. But he was so pretty.

"Of course. So, uh," He looked down at her dress. "You must be the bride, huh? Marinette? Nice to meet you."

Sweat prickled on the back of her neck. Judging by his outfit, she'd just been caught by a member of the groom's wedding party, a groomsman or a family member. Would he tell her future husband that she was out here getting cold feet? Not that it wasn't true, but she didn't want her soulmate to know about it.

"And you are?" she asked, hoping to divert attention away from herself. "One of the wedding party, right?"

"Yeah," he whispered and reached for her hand again. "I am. I was out here looking for you. I'm A-"

She shrank back. No matter how much she wanted to, she shouldn't be thinking about him this way. She was getting married to someone else.

The man dropped his hand quickly, eyes roaming her face, like he was looking for what he had done wrong. When he couldn't find anything, he ran his fingers through his hair and stammered out an apology. Marinette watched each lock fall back into place, the light catching each strand and making him glow.

"I'm-" he tried again, a blush rising in his cheeks. "Ni- W-winston."

"Winston?" Marinette couldn't help but laugh a little. That was the least French-sounding name she'd ever heard.

"Winston the groomsman," he said, not looking at her. "Yes, old family name. My father's name, and his father's name, and I think I have an old uncle. Because we're British way back there somewhere on my mother's side-"

"Nice to meet you, 'Winston.'" It was apparent he was nervous, and she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable, so she changed the subject. "What are you doing out here? You were looking for me?"

"Um." He looked around the hallway for inspiration, and Marinette immediately regretted her question as she watched his discomfort grow.

"I- He- The groom wanted to meet you before the wedding," Winston confessed.

"He did?"

"Yeah, he wanted to break tradition and see you, but Fa- his father is stifling stick in the mud."

"Yeah?" The knowledge was somehow both comforting and unsettling. She and her future husband had both wanted to meet first, but her father-in-law… she wasn't going to fit in.

"Yeah," he breathed. "He can't wait to meet you. But he couldn't get away, so I thought I'd come out here. And, wow, he's going to love you. You're amazing."

Marinette flushed at the compliment. "Isn't that how it's supposed to work? Love and first sight and everything?"

"Sure," Winston said, "but you know what I mean."

In the distance, an organ started playing softly, but Marinette barely heard it. This man would go through all that trouble for a friend of his? He was so kind, and she was going gooey under his intense gaze.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked quietly.

Just like that, the glow was gone. Would he believe the truth, that she was just hoping for some fresh air? He might be sympathetic. But he might not be. Who would feel sorry for a bride on her wedding day?

"I was… looking for the bathroom and got super lost." She adjusted her skirt with one hand to give herself something to do and then laughed nervously. "This place is such a maze."

Winston didn't answer right away. He studied the train of her dress, mouth a thin line of disappointment. Her shoes dangled from her loose fingers as she waited, and she adjusted her grip.

"You don't have to get married today, you know," he said. "You can call it off."

Marinette squirmed at how perceptive he was - or maybe she was just obvious - and pushed her hair out of her eyes. When it fell back into place, Winston reached out to tuck it behind her ear but stopped himself. His hand hung there awkwardly between them until he let it slowly fall.

"It's okay to be nervous," he said. "I know lots of people who didn't go through with their weddings. Loads."

Marinette smiled at the lie, grateful he was trying in spite of everything, though she was still a little worried he was going to tell Adrien about this conversation, or that word would somehow get to her future in-laws. She wasn't sure which would have been worse, giving her in-laws ammunition or disappointing Adrien.

"No, I really did get lost," she said. "I didn't mean to get all the way over here." And to make it sound convincing, she added, "Do you know the way back?"

"I can walk you." Adrien stood up straight, his smile returning.

"Oh, you don't have to," Marinette said quickly. There might still be a chance for her to find a window and that breath of fresh air she'd been hoping for.

"I insist." Winston held out an arm for her, and like the idiot she was, she eagerly took it. His free hand settled over hers, and they began to walk.

Her heels swung from her other hand, and without their added inches, the difference in their height was ludicrous. But Winston didn't comment on it, just matched her pace without making her feel rushed.

Together, they left the small hallway and stepped back into the still deserted main hallway. Sunlight poured through the windows, reflecting off the gleaming floors and sparkling crystal chandeliers high above. Winston's hand on hers was comforting, and he was so sweet to help her, but now there was no chance for her to get away.

Feebly, she said, "I think I recognize this part now. You can get back."

"Oh, they won't miss me," Winston said. "I'll make sure you get back safe. Is there anything else you need?"

Marinette sighed. As kind as he was handsome, and she hoped he never removed his hand from hers. Why did he have to be so nice and gentle?

After several more turns, she really did start to recognize things. How had she wandered so far? Her family must have been worried by now.

Marinette didn't bother to escape from him again, and Winston didn't let go of her, even when they stopped in front of the bride's room with its white and blank, gleaming, bronze plaque.

"I can't wait to see you coming down the aisle in a few minutes," Winston said. He lowered his arm, and her hand slipped away from his sleeve. She felt the loss of his touch immediately. "I mean, if you still want to," he added quickly.

"I'll be fine," she squeaked. "Thanks."

"Okay," he said, waving goodbye without moving away. "Great. See you."

Yup. He was definitely the most adorable, sweet, and beautiful man she'd ever met. "Why couldn't I be marrying this guy?"

Winston took a step back. "What?"

Huh? She'd said that out loud? She'd said that out loud! 

Fumbling for the handle behind her, Marinette said a hasty goodbye and launched herself through the door and slammed it shut without looking at his expression. What was she supposed to do now?

"Girl, where have you been?"

In seconds, Alya, Sabine, and Tom were gathered around her. Marinette leaned her back against the cool door, wondering if Winston was still staring at the spot where she'd been standing.

"Are you all right?" her father asked.

"Just needed some fresh air," Marinette said, staring at their shoes. "Then I got lost. Have you seen this place?"

"Marinette," Sabine said, lifting her daughter's chin with one soft hand. "You can tell us the truth."

The tension in Marinette's body all came out in a rush. Her shoulders slumped, and she slid down the door two inches.

Tom brought over a chair, and Marinette tried to sit down, only to find that her dress was caught in the door. What else could go wrong today? Without peeking into the hallway, she opened the door and removed her train - to her relief, it didn't look like she'd ripped it - and then collapsed into the chair.

"It's okay to be nervous," Sabine said.

Marinette nodded, though that wasn't the entire problem anymore. She was supposed to be marrying a friend of "Winston's" in a few minutes, maybe his best friend or even his brother. He would be standing there, witnessing her marriage, knowing what she'd just said. How was she supposed to show her face out there now?

Her parents and Alya doted on her, trying to put her fears at ease, but it was only making everything worse. She couldn't ignore her anxiety while everyone was talking about it. They flitted around the small room, fetching her water, guiding her to sit down in front of the triple mirror vanity, offering to brush her hair out. "That always calmed you down when you were little," Sabine said.

Marinette nodded.

"If it makes you feel better," Tom said, "I'm sure he's just as nervous as you are. I was nervous, too."

"Everyone expects you to be a little anxious." Sabine picked up the bristle brush while Marinette avoided looking at herself in the mirror. "You're marrying someone without ever having met him. That's terrifying. But you're going to be okay."

Marinette nodded again, dumbly. They waited for her to say something, respond with her usual cheerful attitude, and when she didn't, Alya jumped in.

"Sabine, didn't you get married and move to France at the same time?"

All four of them knew the story. Marinette had grown up hearing it, had loved hearing her parents' own love story.

"I found out my soulmate's name two days after my twenty second birthday," she said. Marinette could almost mouth the words along with her mother, they were so familiar. "I couldn't believe he was so far away. I started teaching myself French almost immediately, but the first time we got on the phone to speak to each other, all I could say was hello!"

A tug on Marinette's scalp told her that Sabine had found a small knot. She set the brush down and started to pick at it with her fingers.

"I moved away from home to a strange country, and was learning a new language, and was nervous about meeting my soulmate, but as soon as I saw him, it didn't matter," Sabine said. "You're going to be fine. As soon as you see him, you'll love him, and everything will be okay."

"I know all that," Marinette said. "But I'm scared now!" Not to mention distracted by "Winston," and the crushing guilt that reminded her she shouldn't be.

"Well," her father cut in. "What do you want to do about it, Marinette? Do you feel like we should wait a little bit?"

"Yeah," Alya added. "We can tell them there's something wrong with your dress or whatever if you need a few more minutes."

"I'm sure Adrien would understand," Sabine said. "He seemed very kind when we talked to him."

A few more minutes sounded wonderful, a chance to collect herself, do delay the inevitable. Or a chance for her anxiety to get worse. She took a deep breath. "No, let's just get this over with."

"Very convincing." Alya picked her clutch up off the vanity and started fishing around inside it. "You sound so pumped. Let me just text Adrien." Alya pulled out her phone.

"No," Marinette said, covering the phone with one hand. Her fake nails clicked on the screen.

"Waiting's not going to make it easier. I don't need any more time to worry. It's like you said, when I see him, everything will be fine. So let's just so see him. I want to see him."

"All right." Alya dropped her phone onto the table and grabbed the eye shadow. "Come here, then."

Marinette sat as still as she could while Sabine finished her hair and Alya did her makeup and Tom hovered around, asking what he should do to make her feel more comfortable. When they didn't give him any ideas, he started telling funny stories from Marinette's baby days.

Marinette only half listened, making sure to smile when someone else laughed. Maybe Winston had asked "What?" because he hadn't heard what she'd said. She had said it quietly, after all. That was logical.

Eventually, Tom had to leave the room to check on how things were progressing. Marinette missed his voice and his stories. The silence was too easy for her anxious mind to fill.

If she could just make it a few more minutes, if she could just make it to the altar, then she'd fall in love with her soulmate at first sight and everything would be great. No more worrying. No more wondering.

The final piece of her outfit, her veil, was laid out neatly on the flower-print sofa, waiting for her. When Alya declared her face perfect and Sabine could find no hair out of place, Marinette strapped her heels back on and stood, knees shaking, and retrieved her veil. She seemed like another woman in the mirror as she watched herself put it on.

Marinette did want to meet Adrien. She did. A few days ago, she'd felt excited. Just his name was enough to put a smile on her face. Her parents had met him, and she'd devoured every detail of him they could give her. Elation had bubbled through her chest as she had designed her wedding dress. It had taken weeks to finish simply because she was having so much fun designing it that she hadn't wanted to stop. If she could remember what it had felt like then, maybe she could recreate the feelings now.

The door creaked as it opened, and Tom walked back in. "It's time," he said, extending his arm for her.

Marinette plastered a smile onto her trembling lips and leaned on his arm to compensate for the weakness in her knees. No one else needed to know about her struggle, least of all Adrien.

The walk down the hallway to the chapel didn't take as long as Marinette thought that it should have. The organ music was too loud, but still not loud enough to drown out the breathing and whispers of a room full of hundreds of people, everyone who was ever important to her, and more that she would get to know well in her lifetime as Adrien's wife.

The processional song began to play, and Marinette walked in, staring at the pink petals on the carpet in front of her. Pews creaked and fabric rustled as everyone stood for her. And she kept her face down.

Don't make eye contact with the groomsmen. You're getting married to Adrien, so don't look for adorable "Winston."

Marinette forced her face up, searching out the people she knew. For her bridesmaids and Alya, her mother in the front row. Her school friends throughout the year, aunts and uncles who had flown from all over the world. A few held tissues, some waved at her. They were all smiling.

Everyone was smiling except for her.

She should be looking at her new husband - her soulmate - for the first time. He was probably looking at her. Had he already fallen for her? Was he wondering why she wasn't looking at him?

That curiosity was nothing compared to how much she wanted to look for the man she'd met in the hallway. There was something seriously wrong about that. It went beyond the guilt that she felt. It was a strangeness in the situation that she didn't have time to think about.

The line of petals thinned and disappeared halfway to the altar, and the organ music swelled.

The temptation was too great. Marinette raised her eyes, looking at the groomsmen first, looking for the friend that shouldn't have liked as much as she did. Because she was marrying someone else, she reminded herself as she quickly scanned their faces. And because she had only known him for about two minutes. What was wrong with her?

Her gaze skimmed them all twice, three times, but Winston wasn't there. Her footsteps stuttered to a halt before taking a big step to match her father's long stride. The hand holding her bouquet started to sweat.

Could he not bear to watch her marrying someone else? No, that was ridiculous. He didn't feel the same way. He wasn't feeling torn like she was.

He had definitely been part of the wedding party. He'd said so. So who was he?

The carpet ended, and Marinette heels clicked on marble as realization clicked into place. He was part of the wedding party, but not one of the groomsmen, so that must have meant…

For the first time that day, her heart pounded from something other than anxiety.

Marinette held her head high and looked for him. And she found him. "Winston." It had been a ridiculous name anyway. Adrien suited him much better.

Adrien smiled broadly at her. That wonderful smile she first saw out in the hallway was now a hundred times brighter, focused solely on her. He had snuck out to see her, had so gently guided her back when she was lost, had made sure she was comfortable, and offered to call off the wedding.

No wonder she had liked him so much. Love at first sight, just like everyone said.

He reached out a hand for her as she took the last few steps to the altar. Marinette slid her fingers into his, and they fit perfectly.

"Hi, Winston," Marinette whispered as she nestled herself into his side. "Could the groom not get away again? Are you getting married for him too?"

"I said the groom was going to love you," he said. "And I was right."

The last notes of the organ faded away, and a hush settled over their friends and family. This was it. They stepped together up to the altar. The first step of their lives together.

***

Author's note: Merry Christmas! You're getting something completely un-Christmasy. Huge thank you to @ours-polaires, @khanofallorcs, @vivalasaturn, and @noirshitsuji for reading over my outline of this and making sure everything made sense!

#ml #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #adrinette #adrienette #arranged marriage au #soulmate au #incorrect quotes

[paintball169]

Day 1- Checkmate in your own game!

- Part of Salty September -

One Eleanor Davis was going to visit her cousin Marinette Dupain-Cheng in Paris. It was a Surprise visit because she doesn't have much free time. Eleanor was studying fashion much like her cousin, but in modelling. She was going to be the face of MDC once she graduates. You see Marinette wasn't like most people, she had been designing as world famous since she was fourteen. It had been two years since MDC made a debut. Marinette had asked her cousin to be her head model after two months of launching her brand. Jagged Stone had sponsored her brand till she finds a face. Initially she was going to ask Juleka to model for her to help her dream come true. But all of her class had turned on her because of one Lila Rossi. So she asked her cousin whose dream was to become a model for Audrey Bourgeois to model for her. Eleanor was shocked that the overnight famed designer was her cousin. Eleanor became a hit quickly. When Eleanor had asked Marinette that her friends could model with her too, Marinette said that none were interested. Lila rossi was the actual reason Marinette refused to let her classmates model, but her cousin did not need to know that.

So, Eleanor Davis was on her way to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Eleanor quietly made her way to her cousins room.

"Boo!" She said. Eleanor gasped on seeing her cousin curled up in her boyfriends arms sobbing. Her Aunt and Uncle were rubbing her back.

"Chipmunk what's wrong?!" Eleanor asked worried for her cousin.

Marinette or Chipmunk as dubbed by Eleanor, stopped sobbing slowly only to find her cousin standing in front of her. "Elly what are you doing here?" She asked once her sobs quieted down.

"I came to see you Chipmunk, since we don't see each other frequently. Now golden boy what happened to my little Chipmunk?" Eleanor asked Felix, Marinette's boyfriend.

"Lila rossi, one of her classmates, a pure bitch. She and the others ripped her sketch book and called her names, few also beat her up. Imbeciles. I'll kill that bitch." Felix answered furiously.

"Felix! Shhh! you weren't supposed to say anything!" Marinette exclaims in a hushed tone.

"That bitch! What did my chipmunk ever do to her! Let me at her! Where is she? I will rip her to shreds!" Eleanor shouts.

"Elly calm down. You'll become an Akuma!" Marinette tries to reason.

"I'm calm now. How long has this been going on?" Eleanor asks.

"Two years now. Damocles doesn't do anything." Tom Dupain answers looking at his daughter.

"Two Years! Aunt Sabine have you considered switching schools?" Eleanor askes.

"I have Eleanor dear, but the school refuses to send transfer papers." Sabine answers disappointed.

"What about this, Everyone knows I am MDC's face. How 'bout I threaten to sue them? Then I'll transfer there and take care of that bitch." Eleanor Asks hopefully.

"Elena you can't sue them! And you're not killing anyone!" Marinette panics.

"Don't worry chipmunk, only a threat. Also I'm not killing anyone." Eleanor says.

"That's a wonderful Idea Eleanor!" Felix exclaims.

"Any allies I should know about Pipsqueak?" Eleanor asks facing her cousin.

"Only three. Marc, Nath, and Chlo." Marinette answers still looking down.

"Marc as in your look alike cousin?" Eleanor asks hopefully.

"Yep"

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

Eleanor's POV

"Class we have a new student here. Be nice to her. Now Dear will you Introduce yourself? I'm Caline Bustier." Ginger haired teacher speaks.

Yeah. As if I don't know you Bully Enabler.

"Marinette quit acting! We know that's you!" An overly sick voice sounds. Brown Sausage hair. Yep that's Lila.Scoff.

"Look I don't know who are you Sausages for hairs. But I'm not this Marinette you speak of!" I'll have to pretend I don't know Chipmunk here.

"Who're you calling Sausages hair? You're rude!" A pixie girl says. That must be rose.

"Sorry if I was being rude. But I just Complementing her. Besides If someone's rude here that's her! She called me this Marinette and reprimanded me! " I say with an obviously fake sweet voice.

"Thanks for the complement, Sorry for being rude." Lila answers gritting teeth. Sweet. Serves her right.

"Now if that's done, Introduce yourself please!" Bustier says.

" Hi! My name's Eleanor Davis. I'm from New York. Recently transferred here. You might know me as MDC's face. I like modelling! Hope ya'll be friends with me!" I say in an overly exited voice.

Their Jaws drop.

"Can I Have an Interview? Your THE Eleanor Davis. Sorry If lila was rude. Can you tell me who's MDC?" An aburn hair asks. Lila's Jaw drops as she apologises for Lila. Maybe one of her biggest followers. Right the Ladyblogger, Alya.

"No, Sorry no Interview, But you're the LadyBlogger right? MDC's my Cous. If that's good enough inside scoop?" I say with fake concern.

"OMG girl that's the best scoop I've had for MDC's !" Alya says.

"Your welcome. If that's not it MDC's a teenage girl younger than me by a few months?" I say.

"Wow ! that's awesome!" Alya says.

Mentally rolling my eyes I make my way towards the back. I hear faint those're bullies from the others.

"Hey Cous!" Marc exclaims fist bumping me. "Hey Marc." I reply.

"He's your Cousin?!!" Everyone shouts. Alya says "So he's MDC! That's great!"

"No Alya He's not. No offence bit you need to pay more attention. I just said MDC's a girl." I say with concern.

" Oh sorry. So how's he related to MDC?" She asks.

"Oh that. He's her mother's older brother's youngest son. I'm her father's younger sister's only daughter." I say.

I pass notes to our friends explaining my plans.

Welp, this class is dumber than I thought.

Alya's POV of the above

While we were chatting we were interrupted by mlle.Bustier.

"Class we have a new student here. Be nice to her. Now Dear will you Introduce yourself? I'm Caline Bustier."

The new student examines her. She looks a lot like Marinette. Only Green eyes. Maybe she is. Doing it for attention. Attention Whore.

📷

"Marinette quit acting! We know that's you!" Lila says. We all make hums of agreements.

'Marinette' Scoffs suddenly.

"Look I don't know who are you Sausages for hairs. But I'm not this Marinette you speak of!"

Sausages hair. That's rude. But if that's the case then lila was rude to her first.

"Who're you calling Sausages hair? You're rude!" Rose shouts.

"Sorry if I was being rude. But I just Complimenting her. Besides If someone's rude here that's her! She called me this Marinette and reprimanded me! " The new girl says with a sweet voice maybe I was wrong about her.

"Thanks for the complement, Sorry for being rude." Lila answers. She looks annoyed

"Now if that's done, Introduce yourself please!"Mlle. Bustier says.

" Hi! My name's Eleanor Davis. I'm from New York. Recently transferred here. You might know me as MDC's face. I like modelling! Hope ya'll be friends with me!"Woah! THE Eleanor Davis!

Everyone's jaw drops.

"Can I Have an Interview? Your THE Eleanor Davis. Sorry If lila was rude. Can you tell me who's MDC?" I ask without wasting time. Inside scoops are the best.

"No, Sorry no Interview, But you're the LadyBlogger right? MDC's my Cous. If that's good enough inside scoop?"She recognise me!

"OMG girl that's the best scoop I've had for MDC's !" I reply.

"Your welcome. If that's not it MDC's a teenage girl younger than me by a few months?" She says.

"Wow ! that's awesome!" I say. Now my Blog is sure to take off!

Woah she's heading towards the back. "They're bullies don't sit there!" I say. All back me up.

"Hey Cous!" Marc exclaims fist bumping her. "Hey Marc." she replies.

Woah sweet MDC's in our class.

"He's your Cousin?!!" Everyone shouts. I say "So he's MDC! That's great!"

"No Alya He's not. No offence bit you need to pay more attention. I just said MDC's a girl." she says with concern. I'm offended. But no one's frowning. I'll keep quiet.

" Oh sorry. So how's he related to MDC?" I ask.

"Oh that. He's her mother's older brother's youngest son. I'm her father's younger sister's only daughter." she says.

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

Eleanor's POV

Stage One: Sow seeds of doubt.

"MDC's name stand for Micheal de Collins! I should know i'm his bestie!" Lie-la says.

"Lila, no offence but someone's fooling you. My cous is seriously a girl." I say.

-

Stage two: Pile up evidences and collect Lawsuits.

"Thanks Mr.Stone. That's great." I say while he hands me Lawsuits for Lila.

"Anything for Nettie" He says.

-

Stage three: Report to Police.

"I'm sorry, we had no idea this was going on Ms.Davis" The men from the school board say.

"Kid the case's registered, When do you want us to arrest her?" Raincomprix asks.

"The End of Lycee Gala." I say.

"Alright."

-

Stage four: Invite all celebrities to Gala

"Mlle. Bustier, I invited many Celebs for the Gala!" I say.

"That's Great Eleanor." She says.

-

Stage five: Gala

"Welcome to the graduation of the Akuma class! We'll end with our validectorian, Eleanor Davis's Speech."

"This year was Great........"

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

Marinette's POV

I was sitting in the audience. Now's time for Elena's Speech.

"This year was Great. First I got to model for my Cous MDC. I have a special presentation for tonight. Everyone can you please pay attention." She says.

That's a slideshow of every little crime Lila did. Everyone Gasped by the end.

"This is the Two Faced Bitch Lila Rossi. Wanted in 7 countries. The police are here to arrest lila today." She says. WANTED in SEVEN countries!

"Why?!!! We could've ruled together?" Lila screeches.

"Because you hurt my Family." Elena says.

"But I never did anything to you or your Family!"

"Wrong! You hurt my Cousin MDC AKA Marinette Dupain Cheng."

Everyone of my classmates are being arrested.

I've never felt so good.

"This went better than we thought, Right marigold?"

Felix says as he presses a soft Kiss to my lips.

#felinette #mlb #lilasalt #lilabashing #classsalt #Salty September

[consumeconstantly]

Lady Cross (first aid)

Summary: Somehow, Marinette always ends up biting off more than she can chew. It started off with a kid and a nasty gash on their knee. The sudden escalation to treating the new head of Gotham’s underworld? It can only be explained by the fact that she’s catnip for trouble. 

_____________________________________________

Marinette supposed she should have expected something like this to happen eventually.

Really, she patches up a few street kids and offers a meal and some resources and suddenly she's made a name for herself in the slums of Gotham. It’s not like she’s doing anything revolutionary. Well, okay, maybe she does cheat a little bit and uses her healing powers on a few of the tougher cases that really should have been out of her realm of expertise, but she’s living near the slums of Gotham for a reason. That reason being Marinette is just a little broke and can’t really afford to send everyone she comes across to the hospital, and the people who are injured certainly can’t. It’s not like she can leave them to die. That would be heartless.

When she stopped treating scrapes and cuts for kids on the streets as she came across them and instead found her apartment balcony frequented by families who needed her help, she couldn’t just say no. And so, more and more serious wounds started coming in. Kids brought their parents and friends. The parents and friends brought... well, if the police stopped by her apartment any time soon, she’s fairly certain they’d have a field day.

But again, it’s not like she’s going to turn these people into the police when they’ve come to her for help and have a small army of people who swear up and down that they’re good people and only doing what they have to do in order to get by.

Morality comes in such a variety of shades, who was she to judge? Ladybug and Marinette have both certainly had their fair share of mistakes that they’d gladly go back in time to rectify, and her hands weren’t clean of blood either. Sure, the Miraculous Cure may have brought people back, but their deaths were still on her. And Hawkmoth? Yeah, he’s alive now, but she hammered him into the pavement after dropping him from the top of the Eiffel tower, and she’s not going to pretend that she didn’t take a bit of morbid joy in that moment.

But back to the matter at hand. Which was, the notorious Red Hood—responsible for a coup amongst Gotham’s drug dealers and responsible for taking down a man whose morality truly vanished with the wind, Black Mask himself— was currently bleeding out on her second floor balcony, smoking a cigarette and lounging against the rail like he owned the place. 

“Lady Cross,” he inclined his head.

“Red Hood,” Marinette returned his greeting.

God, she really didn’t want to get involved with Red Hood. She wasn’t opposed to helping out street thugs and criminals, but Red Hood was a different league. He seemed to be a fairly decent guy, ensuring that kids weren’t dealt drugs and tried to keep them out of the circuit as much as possible. He took down plenty of worse criminals while he was at it. In fact, Marinette would go so far to say the Red Hood as one the good guys.

But the issue was, once she started treating people of a certain level, she’d be open game. And that didn’t seem very enticing to her. Not at all. Everyone knew that Red Hood had beef with the Bat Family for some reason or other, and also made enemies with almost every single rogue in Gotham, and a good number of enemies outside of it as well. Basically, Red Hood was a universal enemy of both the vigilantes and rogues. Someone she shouldn’t get involved with while she was trying to investigate the darkness surrounding Gotham whole running her online boutique and going to college at Gotham University.

Unfortunately, Tom and Sabine and her own stint as Ladybug taught her that she could never ignore someone in need. Marinette sighed and slid the mesh open, leading Red Hood to her living room. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

“Real nice place you got here,” he said.

With the mask covering the whole of his face, Marinette had no facial expressions to figure out whether he was poking fun at her current living situation or not. His voice sounded genuine, but vocal emotions were easy to fake.

The apartment she was living in was not on the nice side of town. There were three bullet holes in the wall between her living room and bedroom that she just didn’t have time to patch up, some pretty nasty looking stains on the ceiling near her kitchen, and a huge, spray painted red cross on one of her walls, which was where her street name derived from. Her floor and coffee table were also in states of disarray; she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to clean up after working on two commissions and the last guest whose wounds were heavy enough to warrant several rolls of gauze, which was now half stuffed into a garbage can sitting next to rolls of fabric. Perhaps not the neatest or most sanitary situation, but she didn’t have time to clean up before every single one of her unexpected guests came in.

Look, it wasn’t her fault that she didn’t have time to fix things up real nice and neat. She’d only been living in the apartment for a month and a half, and most times, she barely spent any time in it other than to sleep, cram last minute projects for her design course, or to help heal people. Her living situation wasn’t the biggest of worries.

“Sit,” Marinette gestured to the one of the few pieces of furniture that she specifically bought for the apartment. She didn’t mind the stained, half broken, and extremely creaky couch the last owners left behind for the first week, but after she started bringing back her first… visitors, it seemed important that the couch was comfortable, sturdy, and most crucially, cleanable.

Rummaging through a cabinet, she pulled out a tattered briefcase she thrifted a while back to keep all of her medical supplies in. Not the prettiest of things, but she tried not to keep expensive looking items in her apartment because she wasn’t a fan of getting mugged. The medicine she kept was already expensive enough, she didn’t need to attract everyone’s attention by owning one of those metal containers used in hospitals. Even though most of the people who dropped by her apartment were thankful to be treated, she had a few instances where people tried to steal things from her.

“What’s the damage, doc?” Red Hood’s voice came through rather tinny through his helmet. 

Marinette grimaced. The helmet must have awful air circulation. It looked like some sort of metal, and wet and metal never smelled good together. “I don’t know, you tell me.”

“Thought you were supposed to be some mystic healer who came from the far east.”

She paused and looked at the man, trying to judge whether he was racist as well as rude. “That’s rather insulting.” 

Red Hood shrugged. Marinette applauded the man for showing no outward sign of pain at that, even though there was a bullet embedded in his shoulder, and shrugging had to bite. “That’s what the word on the street is, though you sound French to me. Thought I’d come and check out who’s healing Gotham’s criminals. What’re you planning?”

“Sorry to foil your plans, but I’m not planning anything other than getting my college degree and not pissing off the people I live near.” She paused, flipping the lock on the briefcase upwards. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use me as your go to healer from now on. You’re going to bring trouble my way.”

“Trouble? Me? Perish the thought.” His hand rested comfortably on the holister of his gun, ready to shoot if the girl pulled out a weapon from the briefcase. “We’ll talk about repeat appearances after I see how you do today.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Any wounds other than the obvious?”

“Just need the bullet out, and some stitches on the gash.” His shoulder and his abdomen, respectively. The gash looked nastier than the bullet; no shrapnel, but the cut on his stomach was jagged and wide. Not a normal, sharp blade. Probably needed a good cleaning.

She grabbed the tweezers, a sterilized needle, and medical thread. “That’s fine. Now are you going to undress, or am I going to have to cut your… costume… up?”

“Getting me naked already? We haven’t even had our first date yet.”

“Very funny, little Red Riding Hood. Now hop to it. I have class at 9 tomorrow and projects to finish tonight.” Somehow, trouble always seemed to find her when she least wanted it to. Not that she wanted to have trouble find her at all, but luck was a two way street, and for all that being Ladybug granted her good luck, she attracted criminals like catnip. 

“And here my informants had me thinking you were a regular Florence Nightingale.”

Marinette snorted. “They wish. I’ve got to ask who told you, because everybody should know the rules. You know, the ones where they don’t speak of my existence to their higher ups?”

“I’m not a rat,” Red Hood said, taking the top part of his outfit off. “And it’s not like you would have gone unnoticed anyways. You might be treating small timers now, but people catch on to healers pretty easy.”

“Because some gauze and sewing skills make me such a prime target.”

“No, your magic does.”

Shit. Marinette never told anyone she was using magic, and she rarely used it unless it was a dire situation. If she could patch them up using regular skills, she did. 

“Yeah right, if I had magic healing powers, do you think I’d be shoving my fingers into your shoulder to get a bullet out?”

“Not a very good liar, Lady Cross. You have this deer-caught-in-the-headlights look about you.”

“Thanks for the compliment. I’m also the deer that tramples through your windshield and takes a dump on the driver’s seat.” She maneuvered the tweezers a little rougher, hoping to make Red Hood hiss in pain. He just chuckled, amused. His high pain tolerance was getting rather annoying. She had half a mind to pour hydrogen peroxide over the wound just to see if that would make him show he was in pain, but thought better of it. Even though she didn’t like the man, she also didn’t want to piss him off. Or worse, have him come back and make her fix him up again. 

Threading the needle, she made quick, small stitches on his shoulder, sewing the bullet hole up, then put some petroleum jelly to speed up the healing process and reduce scarring. At least the wound was in a position that didn’t require a lot of gauze. She needed to go out and buy some more soon. She barely had enough to wrap around Red Hood’s waist.

“So, the magic,” Red Hood started. “Is it a conditional thing? Can you not use it all the time?”

“Again, I don’t have magic.” Marinette did have to use some antibacterial on the knife wound. He would need to take good care of that one to make sure it didn’t get infected. 

“So a meta, then. What are you doing in Gotham? Everybody knows Batman hates metas.”

“Not a meta, either, sorry to disappoint.” She tied off the gauze, then stood to wash her hands. “Make sure to clean the stomach wound well. Hope you have your tetanus shot, otherwise you should look into getting one.”

“Surprisingly, I’m inclined to believe you on the not-a-meta thing. Back to the first thing, then. Magic. Why don’t you show me the old razzle dazzle? Do you have to say one of those weird spells like the godmother in Cinderella? Bibbity bobbity boo?”

“You’re hilarious,” Marinette dead panned. 

“How’s this for magic? Bibbity bobbity boo, kindly leave. Shoo.” She followed his suggestion, made a show of jazz hands as well. “Pity I don’t use magic otherwise you’d be gone now. Anyways, it’s time for you to make your exit. It would be great if you didn't visit me again. Ever. Thanks.”

She ushered him out onto her patio, then slammed the sliding door. He saluted her before dropping off the side of the building. She could imagine the man under the helmet smirking.

Marinette ran a hand through her loose hair. “He’s going to come back, isn’t he.”

@jasonette-july-2k20

#jasonette july #first aid #jasonette #marinette dupain cheng #jason todd #gotham #original content #bamf marinette #sassy marinette #miraculous ladybug #maribat #dcu #red hood hears of a mystic healer and decides to check her out

[2manyfandoms2count]

Golden hour

I felt very indulgent today and decided to write some pure fluff. Caution: contains Shanghai special spoilers! Mostly Ladynoir, but also a bit of Marichat because yes.

Hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3

---

Chat Noir had to ask. He knew that there was a risk he would get caught out on his little lie, but hey. Even if they said curiosity killed the cat, the key part was that satisfaction brought it back.

“Hey, Bugaboo?” He lazily opened an eye and turned slightly towards her.

She hummed in reply, revelling in the warm evening sun.

She’s so pretty, Chat thought as he looked at her. Seeing her lying there so peacefully in the golden sunset, it was really hard to resist the itch to update his profile picture of Ladybug (and maybe, who knows, his phone background).

They’d both finished their ice cream a while ago, but neither of them had felt like leaving just yet. Basking in the last lights of a warm Summer day after a quiet patrol at the top of the Eiffel Tower, with the Champs de Mars on one side and the Seine on the other was exactly the kind of holiday each wanted. Especially if it was with the person they’d never get tired of sitting in complete silence with, even if they wouldn’t necessarily admit it out loud.

Ladybug shifted a little and Chat Noir cleared his throat, afraid that she’d catch him staring. His quiet admiration had almost made him forget his question.

“How long did it end up taking you to fly back from Shanghai?”

Her eyes flew open and for a second she looked like a deer caught in headlights, but it could have just been an adjustment to the light. Her cheeks were red when she propped herself on her elbow to face him, although it was hard to tell if it was a blush or the beginning of a sunburn.

“I’m not entirely sure, it must have been something like…” Ladybug’s brain whirred as it tried to grasp at an elusive physics class that might have held a ballpark answer. She knew that with the magic of the suits, even making a detour via the poles (mince, had she said she’d take the Arctic or the Antartic route? Did it matter? Why hadn’t she looked it up like she’d meant to-) was probably shorter than the average flight length. “Four hours? More or less?” She cringed a little as she waited for his reaction.

The latter turned out to be a squint, as Chat Noir tried to gauge if his own calculations had been entirely wrong, or if she was bluffing. Given that it took a plane a little more than twelve hours to fly back, he could see a detour via the Arctic possibly taking just as long. The powerup was pretty fast though, probably more in the rocket-speed range, so the travel time would have been significantly less. If the physics exercises he’d solved in class, which listed said speed to be around five thousand kilometers per hour, could be trusted, it cut it to about two hours, assuming there were no pit stops along the way. The Antarctic route would obviously be longer, given that Shanghai was, all in all, quite high above the Equator; he would have said it was probably a six hour flight at least.

Her time was therefore either too long or too short, and one question remained; which route had she said she’d take again?...

He saw her fidgeting increase with the length of his silence.

“It could have been six hours, though. Or twelve? Really, I don’t recall exactly, I forgot to look at a clock because it’s not like we have watches with our suits, you know?” She chuckled nervously as she tried backtracking and suddenly it dawned on him.

“You didn’t fly back, did you?” he asked softly, and her lack of response spoke volumes. “You had to go back and check on Marinette, and then you figured you’d stay a bit.”

It would explain the lack of patrol calls he’d gotten during the remainder of his short stay in Shanghai, when there’d been so many since he’d come back. She’d probably returned around the same time he had. He wondered if they’d crossed paths as civilians while walking around the city. Had he known she was there, he would’ve kept an eye out for anyone who looked vaguely familiar. Someone he could’ve seen in Paris as well. Maybe Marinette could have helped him.

She gave him a curious look, but then nodded along sheepishly. “How did you know?”

“It’s just the kind of thing you do,” he smiled. “Also, it would’ve been a little irresponsible for you to make the round trip within a day, especially after having fought two major Akumas. Not to mention a real shame, because Shanghai is quite lovely.”

“Are you saying you didn’t fly back either?” She nudged him with her elbow. “It’s not like you weren’t a part of those fights, too, and you talk about the city like you know it quite well.” She didn’t mention the fact that he would’ve had an extra reason to stay over, given that he’d actually been hit by the Akuma. She didn’t want to dampen the mood.

It was Chat’s turn to fidget a little. “Oh no, I definitely flew back, it’s just that, erm, well… oh! I arrived before you, remember? So it wasn’t so bad to fly back so soon afterwards, I’d had a bit of a break while I was looking for Marinette. And that’s when I did a little sightseeing, too. Our suits are really perfect for tourism, having access to the roofs helps prevent getting lost!”

“That’s true.” She smiled at his enthusiasm, thankful that he wasn’t pushing the topic any further. “Actually, speaking of Marinette… I wanted to thank you. I’m not sure how you found out that she was missing, but the fact that you flew out to help her…” She couldn’t express how much it meant to her, not without saying too much. She hoped that he would read in between the lines though, even if he thought it was just that she appreciated his dedication to helping out Parisians. Ever since she’d gotten her Guardian duties, she felt like things were changing in her life; it was subtle, but the ground was starting to feel shaky under her feet, and she wasn’t sure it was completely linked to the start of the summer and the end of collège. It was nice to know that Chat Noir was still here for her with or without the mask, even if he didn’t know it.

“It’s only natural. I would’ve done it for any civilian…” he started, and her shoulders slumped a little, even though it was to be expected. She perked back up when he leaned forward and continued in a confidential tone: “... but if I’m being honest, if there’s one civilian I’d drop everything for, it would be Marinette.”

She felt her cheeks warm and couldn’t repress the smile that spread on her lips. “Oh?”

“Well, she’s just such a valuable part of our team, even if you don’t use her potential much,” he gave her a pointed look. “And, well, it’s not like I know a lot about her,” he scratched the back of his head, “but one thing I do know is that she’s a very good friend, and just a very… solar person in general. She just radiates kindness and warmth, you know? And I… heard someone called her an everyday Ladybug once, and it’s a really good description. If everyone had a Marinette in their life, I think Akumatisation rates would probably plummet.”

Ladybug gulped at the compliment, which just seemed to come so easily to him. “Well, thank you.”

Chat Noir glanced at her and noticed her fluster. He leaned a little closer to her, eyes glinting mischievously and nudged her lightly. “My Lady, are you jealous of Marinette? Because you know I’d also say all these things about you if I knew who was behind the mask. You’d absolutely become the first civilian I’d drop everything for.”

“As if.” She nudged him back with a fond smile. “Silly kitty.”

She lied back down, and as he mirrored her, she scooted closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. It was the best thing she could think of to thank him at that moment, even though she knew she’d be working overtime to find a proper gift to give him from Marinette.

Yes, her little holiday in Shanghai with Adrien had been nice, of course it had; but to paraphrase Dorothy, there was just no place like home. And this was exactly what this place felt like.

#miraculous ladybug #the miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #ml #miraculous fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #miraculous spoilers #miraculous shanghai special #ladynoir #ladybug #chat noir #elle writes

[mochegato]

Nannyette

Chapter 4 – It Couldn’t Hurt

Chapter 1       Chapter 3

Tim shifted uncomfortably in the hallway.  He was not looking forward to this despite having volunteered for it.  He took a deep breath to steel himself for the confrontation.  Despite Dick and Kori checking in on Marinette in the hospital (and taking care of her hospital bill) and Dick, Kori, and Mar’i calling her a few days later, nobody had yet broached the identity discussion.  He looked up at the door and knocked.

He tapped his thighs restlessly while he waited for Marinette to open the door for him.  He barely kept his face from registering his surprise when the door was opened by a man.  Was Marinette dating someone?  Was she married?  It never occurred to him to think about her with someone else already.  It made sense though.  Someone as amazing as Marinette was bound to be with someone already.

“Can I help you?”  The man prompted him with a smile.

Tim almost jumped at the sound.  “Hi.  I was looking for Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

“You sound unsure if that’s who you’re looking for.” The man looked at him unsure.

“No.  Sorry. My name is Tim Drake.  I’m Dick Grayson’s brother.  Marinette was watching my niece when the attack on the zoo happened.  We wanted to check in on her and make sure she is still doing okay.”  He said more confidently.  “Dick would have come but he wanted to stay with his family and I pass by here on my way home anyway.” Tim lied easily.

“Ahh, so you’re Tim.” Adrien smiled at him.  Tim stared at him unsure what to say.  What did that mean?  Had she been talking about him?  She must have talked about him, how else would her boyfriend…husband? have heard of him. “It’s nice to meet you.  I’m Adrien.  I’m Marinette’s roommate/best friend/brother whichever you want to go with.” Adrien gave him a disarming smile and holding out a hand to him.  Noticing Tim’s expression he added, “Don’t worry, she’s only said good things about you.”

Tim shook his hand as another voice sounded from behind Adrien, “Did you say Tim?”  The voice didn’t sound like Marinette’s though.  Adrien chuckled and pushed the door open a bit to reveal a woman walking toward them.  “She was right, he is cute.  Hi, I’m Luz.  I’m Marinette’s friend and this idiot’s girlfriend.  It is very nice to meet you.”

“Love you too, Luz.” Adrien grinned pulling her over to him and kissing the top of her short black hair.

“Sorry, you were asking about Marinette.” Luz prompted. “She’ll be really happy to hear you were so interested.”

“Right,” Adrien interjected before Tim could respond. Tim looked over to Adrien and immediately was on guard.  Adrien had the same look in his eyes as Dick before he interfered in one of their lives. “You know, Luz and I were just talking about cancelling our plans tonight so we could stay home and watch Marinette. Today was harder on her than she had expected it to be.” He gave Tim an overly happy smile.  “But, if someone else could stay with her, that would help us out a lot.  I don’t suppose you would have time tonight.”

Luz’ eyes bugged out at Adrien and she slapped his arm.  “You can’t ask him to do that!  That is so rude.”  

Adrien pouted at her but Tim interrupted before she could lecture him more.  “No!” Tim cleared his throat.  “No,” he started, calmer this time, “I… uh… I can do that.  If you don’t think Marinette would mind.  We wanted to talk to her about a few logistical things anyway.”

Adrien’s eyes lit up and his smile grew impossibly wider.  “Perfect!” He exclaimed, grabbing his and Luz’ coats.  “She’s just getting out of the shower.  Feel free to get comfortable.  There’s food and drinks in the fridge.  I don’t know if she’ll be up for discussing logistics tonight though.  Like I said, she wasn’t expecting today to be as hard on her as it was and she’s pretty tired.  I think a nice relaxing night is all she can handle.”

Luz looked at Adrien incredulously but didn’t try to stop him.  She shook her head and turned to Tim as she put on her coat.  “Thank you for this.  We should only be a few hours, but don’t feel like you have to wait for us. She should be fine, we were really just going to stay to keep her company.  It’s not like she’s in any danger.  She’s past the danger period.”

“Not a problem.” Tim smiled reassuringly at them. “After everything she did for Mar’i, we are more than happy to help any way we can.”

Tim closed the door behind them with a deep breath. He really hoped Marinette wouldn’t get upset about him being there.  It couldn’t hurt, right?  She’d understand why he wanted to talk with her.  He turned to take off his coat and observe the apartment.  It was a warm feeling apartment with lots of pictures of Marinette and Adrien, together and in groups of their friends.  It was clear they were extremely close and had been for a very long time.  He smiled at a picture of Marinette when she was a teenager from high above Paris.  He studied the picture closer.  If he didn’t know better, he’d swear it was taken from the top of the Eifel Tower…

He was startled out of his focus when he heard a door opening and another closing.  He wondered if she was going to come out or just fall asleep.  He sighed, plopped down on the couch, and pulled out his laptop.  If he was going to be waiting alone for a while, he might as well get some work done.

A few minutes later he heard bare feet padding towards him from behind.  He was going to look up to see Marinette as she walked in, but he wanted to send the email he had just finished writing first.  He finally looked up when she rounded the corner of the couch.  Her eyes were closed and she was wrapped in a thick blanket. She plopped on the couch and fell over. He just barely got his laptop out of the way before her head hit his lap.

“I told you guys to go out.” She grumbled at him. “I don’t need a babysitter.  I am a babysitter.  I’m just tired and a pillow would be more comfortable than your lap anyway.”

Tim chuckled at her.  He grabbed one of the couch pillows and gently tucked it under her head.  “Better?” He asked quietly.

“Hmmm,” she responded affirmatively, eyes still closed. “Now go.  I’ll turn on a show and fall asleep to the sound in a few minutes anyway.  There is no reason for you to stay.  Go on your date.”

“I would but I don’t have a date tonight.” Tim said with a smile.  “My only plans for tonight were to come check on you.”

Marinette’s eyes flew open and she slowly turned her head to him, apprehension clear in her eyes.  As soon as she saw him she squeaked and sat up straight.  She swayed slightly in response to the rapid change in blood pressure.  Tim moved quickly to grab her and guide her slowly back to lay down on the pillow.

“I’m so sorry.  I saw short black hair and assumed you were Luz.  I’m so sorry.  I didn’t even really look.”  Marinette rushed out.

Tim smiled kindly at her and gently shushed her. He started carding his fingers through her hair to calm her down.  Adrien had told him that her body had already gone through a lot of stress today, he didn’t want to add any more.  “It’s okay. I got that.  You need to lay down though and let your body relax.  Do you want me to leave?”

She wanted to object but his hands felt too good in her hair.  It felt like they were pulling away the tension with each stroke.  “No,” she admitted closing her eyes again.  “I don’t want to keep you here if you have places to go though.  I really don’t need a babysitter.  Adrien’s just… Hey, where are Adrien and Luz anyway?  And how did you get in here?”

“I came by to check on you.  Adrien answered the door and let me in.  He and Luz went out on their date and asked if I’d be okay with staying for a little while.”  Tim said calmly, trying to assure her he was more than okay with staying with her.  “I would just go home and work on some paperwork alone anyway so I really don’t mind.  It’s nice to have someone else with me for a change.”

Marinette looked up at him unconvinced.  “Are you sure?  Adrien really shouldn’t have imposed on you like that.”

“I’m fine,” he assured her again.  “I might order some food, but I wanted to talk with you alone anyway.  Are you hungry for anything?”

“No, I’m just tired.”  She closed her eyes and turned on her side to get in a more comfortable position.  

“Have you eaten anything since lunch?” Tim asked knowingly.

She sighed.  “No, but I’m really not that hungry.”

“Did you eat anything at lunch?”

She turned to glare at him “No...”

“I’ll order food for us,” he decided with a determined nod.  “What do you feel like?  Pizza? Sushi?  Chinese?  Italian? Indian?”

She huffed at him.  “Fine.  Chinese, please.”

Tim nodded at her and after getting her order, called one of his favorite places to deliver for them.  He started stroking her hair to help her relax as he ordered. After a few minutes of silence and evened out breathing, Tim was convinced she was asleep and turned back to his laptop.  Marinette sighed contentedly and snuggled a bit further into the pillow.  “I suppose you want to talk about me knowing your identities.” She said tiredly.  “I haven’t told anyone, and I won’t.  I know how important secret identities are.”

He looked back at her surprised.  “Yes, but it can wait.  You’re too tired right now.  Maybe we can talk about where you learned those moves and how to stay that calm when we discuss the identities.  We saw the security video.  You were really impressive.  It looked like you had training.  I think you could probably keep up with us.”

She blushed at the compliment and angled her face more into the pillow trying to hide the blush.  “It’s not my first time in a dangerous situation.  We had them almost constantly in Paris for a few years. The goons were practically easy compared to some of the stuff we went through.”

“Yeah, we’re definitely talking about that comment later.” He stated with concern.  “For now, sleep.  Adrien said you had a rough day and I can wake you up when the food gets here.”

“Pft,” she scoffed.  “It wasn’t rough, my body is just a wimp right now.  All I had to do was give a presentation that I already had prepared.  I just had to talk and point and that kicked my ass.”

Tim chuckled at her and continued stroking her hair.  “Yeah, concussions tend to do that.”

They were quiet for a few minutes relaxing with each other’s presence until Marinette spoke up quietly.  “Is Dick firing me?”

“What?” Tim exclaimed louder than he meant to, jerking up and knocking Marinette off the pillow.  “Sorry, sorry,” he apologized as he tried to get her resituated. “Absolutely not.  He’s so impressed and happy with you I think he’s going to try to add you to the family.  I’m pretty sure I saw ‘how to adopt a legal adult’ in his search history.”

Marinette smiled in relief.  “Good.  I was afraid you guys were going to be upset with me or want to distance yourselves from me. But it wasn’t my fault.  Dick said it was okay to hide anywhere in the apartment when we played hide and seek and he left his suit in his closet.  I mean, I suspected before, but that was pretty definitive.” She babbled out quickly.

“Yeah, that… sounds like Dick.” Tim sighed.  

“I’d really miss Mar’i and you… all of you.” She added quickly.

“We’d miss you too.” He promised her.  “Mar’i would be heartbroken… and she wouldn’t be the only one.” He added quietly, continuing threading his fingers through her hair as he stroked it.

She hummed at him and sighed happily again, her breathing evening out again.  Tim opened his laptop on the side and started finishing some work. "That feels nice" she mumbled sleepily after a few minutes. "I like the way your hands feel."  He paused his ministrations and gaped at her, wondering how much of what she said he should take seriously. She was pretty out of it and concussions make you say strange things… but she had seemed pretty cognizant earlier and she did seem to enjoy him running his fingers through her hair. Did she like it because it was him or was it just the motion she enjoyed and anyone doing it would get the same reaction?  But she did say his hands… A blush took over his face as he started carding his fingers through her hair again.

After seemingly no time at all, the food arrived.  Tim jumped up to get the food, after carefully extracting himself from under Marinette, and set it all out for her, not allowing her to help with anything.  She rolled her eyes, but let him finish.  He watched her intently as she took her first bite.  She was determined not to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right and eating was actually what she needed, more than sleep at that moment. But against her will, she let out a happy groan as soon as the food touched her tongue.  “So you like that food,” he commented with a smug smile.

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes, “I’m going to return this favor, you know.  Next time you’re so caught up in something you forget to eat, I’m going to find you and make you eat.”

He chuckled at her, “I’m sure Dick and Kon would appreciate the help forcing me into healthy eating and sleeping habits.”

She quirked her head to the side.  “Is Kon another brother?”

He smiled, looking down at his food, “No, no. He’s my partner.”

“Oh,” Marinette said quietly, lowering her eyes to her food.  So Tim hadn’t meant all those things he said, or rather, he did but as just a friend.  But that was okay… well no, it sucked really badly.  She had really loved the idea of them together and had been fantasizing about kissing his perfect lips.  But it made sense.  Tim was amazing, so of course he was already with someone.  

But still, he was fun to be around and he was Mar’i’s uncle, so if friends was how he wanted the relationship to progress, she’d agree.  She just needed to adjust how she reacted to his comments and stop thinking of how much she wanted to kiss him.  He didn’t want her like that.  She looked back up at him with a strained smile, “I’d love to meet him sometime.”  He smiled back excitedly, happily anticipating incorporating her into his life.

Chapter 5          

Tags:

@timari-month-event, @ichigorose @stainedglassm @better-toast @theymakeupfairies @trippingovermyfeet

#Nannyette #maribat #timinette #timari #Timari January #prompt - Adrien Ships It

[chocoluckchipz]

Not a Spying, Not a Fake Date

The day Marinette met Adrien Agreste—the hottest supermodel alive, an only son of fashion icon Gabriel Agreste, and her long-time, embarrassing celebrity crush—was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Instead, not only did she present herself as a total klutz, but his friend Nino had stolen Alya only two weeks later.

On a Saturday afternoon, no less!

Don’t get her wrong. Marinette was happy that Alya finally was interested in a guy more than the latest scoop. And she absolutely didn't mind skipping one of their weekly get-togethers in favour of her BFF going on a coffee date with their new classmate. Marinette wouldn’t be bored. She could work on one of her projects or play video games… if the day wouldn't be so perfectly gorgeous and sunny. Wasting it inside would’ve been a crime. A walk around a local farmer’s market, on the other hand, sounded just about right. And if said market happened to be across the street from where her friend was meeting Nino, that was a pure coincidence.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Marinette was absolutely not spying on anyone, and if she glanced the couples’ way once or twice, it was only to appease her morbid curiosity. No harm done. She wasn’t interfering. She couldn’t even hear what the two of them were talking about. Surely not about Adrien. Or her. Or her and Adrien. Nope. No way. Impossible. She wasn’t curious at all.

“You know you aren’t very subtle?”

Marinette froze, her blood running cold. She knew that voice. It was ingrained in her memory by now. But there was no way Adrien Agreste was standing right behind her, whispering in her ear. It must be nothing but a product of her imagination. Yes! A hallucination of a post-pubescent girl with a crush of irrational proportions.

Still, she spun around just to check if it was time to make an appointment with a therapi—  

Her jaw hit the floor, eyes widening. The man in front of her sounded like Adrien, yet he barely looked the part. Most of his hair was hidden under a beanie, a pair of glasses framed his face. Baggy, black clothes covered his body. His chiselled jaw sported a light stubble, and a hippy backpack was slung over his shoulders. Not a shred of his classy self left, replaced by a sexy, casual chic version of the man.

“Adrien?”

He winked. “Looking beautiful as always, Princess.”

Her cheeks flamed despite her knowing better. He’d given her that nickname only because she was a clumsy mess, not because he was trying to flirt. Princess, aka "damsel in distress", someone in need of being saved. In her case, frequently being caught before she hit the ground as she kept tripping around him. Stupid Agreste and his stupidly handsome face.

A movement in the cafe caught her eye, and Marinette nervously grinned. Adrien was Nino’s best friend. There was no way he wouldn't know where Nino was taking Alya for their first date, which meant Marinette better be very careful in her words and actions, or else she wouldn’t be the damsel for much longer. The title of a “Creepy Stalker” didn't sound the bit least appealing to her.

“You look nice too,” she said, looking her best innocent self. “Different. I barely recognized you. I like the glasses. And stubble. Stubble is nice. Little of it. Not too much. Too much would look shabby. But yours looks good. Perfect. Not shabby at all.”

He chuckled, a corner of his lips curling into a smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should. It was one. A compliment.”

“Why, thank you.”

Another couple left the cafe, catching both of their attention. Marinette quickly shifted her gaze to the apples at the stall she was standing by. As long as she acted natural, Adrien wouldn't suspect a thing.

“So, what are you doing here today?”

She inwardly groaned and stashed a few apples in a paper bag. “Apples. I’m here for the apples.”

“What a coincidence.” Adrien picked one of the red ones and twirled it in his hand. “I’m here for the apples too. By the way… Nino just asked for the bill, so if you were planning to do more shopping in other places, I’d say that’s our cue to pay for these and get ready to leave.”

Marinette glared his way, her whole face burning up. That cocky smile, that glint in his eyes. Of course, he’d catch her. But she wouldn’t give up so easily or she wasn’t Marinette Dupain-Cheng: her papa’s pumpkin, her mother’s sweetheart, the future of Paris’ fashion! “I’m not spying on anyone if that’s what you’re implying.”

“I wouldn't dare to accuse you of such a thing.” He grinned, putting the apple back. “But… may I suggest a few tweaks to your disguise? You know, in case you’re still up for some non-spying activities today.”

“I don’t need any tweaks. I’ve been here for an hour, and they haven’t noticed me. I could tail them all day if I wanted to, and they would not notice me.”

She froze, the last of her hopes to escape this unscathed vanishing right before her eyes. Curse this man! It was his fault her brain was shutting down around him.

The corner of Adrien’s lips curled in a smile as he leaned closer. “You might be well hidden amongst the rainbow of produce here, but, believe me, as soon as you step outside, that bright red hoodie of yours will give you away instantly.”

“In your dreams,” Marinette huffed, folding her arms over her chest. “This hoodie is the only thing in my closet Alya hasn't seen yet. My sunglasses cover half of my face, and I let my hair down instead of my usual ponytails. They would never recognize me.”

“Well, I did, didn’t I?”

“That’s because you came close. They are at a distance.”

“Nino will notice someone trailing them in a bright red hoodie. Believe me, that man lets no detail escape him. But give me five minutes, and your own parents won’t recognize you even up close.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “What for? The date is over.”

“Far from it. Nino planned coffee, a walk around the city, and a movie. He bought the tickets this morning.”

Adrien seemed to be confident in what he was saying, but Marinette couldn’t trust someone she’d recently met over her best friend, even if she was in love with him. “I don’t believe you.”

“There is only one way to find out if I’m lying.” He stretched his hand towards her. “Shall we?”

Shall they what? Why was he even here? She had to get out of the house for physical rest and mental health. What was his excuse?

“And what are you doing here, M Agreste?”

“I told you already.” The corners of his lips curled up in a sly grin. “Apples.”

“Right. And you went all out on a disguise for that?”

“Precisely.” He grinned wider. “I also knew Nino was having a date nearby, and being the great friend I am, I didn’t want them to see me and think I’m spying on them.”

She wanted to smack that shit-eating grin off his face. But Nino and Alya were exiting the cafe, and Adrien tilted his head to the side, his hand still outstretched toward her. “So? Want to not spy on them some more, or do you have other plans for the day?”

No, she didn’t, and perhaps she should be smarter, but something inside her was melting by the second, Adrien’s smile slowly massacring any scraps of reason she still had. “If you tell anyone, I’ll deny every word.”

“No one shall ever know.” He grinned. “Now, may I suggest a few tweaks to your disguise? To minimize our chances of being discovered.”

“Fine, but be quick. They are walking away.”

Adrien nodded and pointed to her hoodie. “Take this off.”

There was no time for questions, so she silently obeyed. The moment Marinette removed the garment, Adrien was already pulling his black sweater over her head.

“Wait! What are you—“

“Black is less conspicuous.”

“But what about you? It’s chilly, and your shirt doesn’t look very warm.”

“I’ll be fine. I wore that sweater for fashion, not because I was cold.” Stuffing her hoodie in his backpack, he looked her over once more. His face suddenly brightened. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the street in the direction of the nearest convenience store.

“We don’t have time for this,” Marinette protested as they neared the door of said establishment. “We’ve already lost them.”

“No, we didn't. We might not see them, but I know where they are.”

“I know that, too,” she grumbled. “In Paris. Where else? Europe, Eurasia. Planet Earth, Solar system. Hard to miss if you fly toward the Sun. ”

Adrien laughed. Long and heartfelt, the sound of his laughter brightened the space around them. There was still a glint of joy in his eye and a hint of mischief in his voice when he recomposed himself. “Nino spent hours planning their route yesterday, and yours truly was helping him. I know where they are headed. We’ll catch up.”

Hesitantly relenting, she followed him in the store, and once inside, Adrien disappeared somewhere between the rows. When he walked out, he was carrying a hairbrush, a couple of pins and hair ties, a small mirror, a plastic tablecloth, and a can of temporary hair dye. Quickly paid for, Adrien pulled her into the nearby alley. "Do you trust me enough for a blind makeover?"

A loaded question. She hardly knew anything about the man behind the carefully crafted image of his public persona. But Marinette loved surprises, and it wasn’t like Adrien even had anything that could potentially cause serious damage to her appearance in his hands.

“You aren’t going to cut my hair, are you?”

“Wouldn’t dare to even think about it.”

“Strangle me with that tablecloth?”

“It’s to protect your clothes from the dye. And before you freak out, it’s a temporary one. It’ll wash out with the first shower.”

At least it was pink—her favourite colour. "Don't make me regret this, Agreste."

“I promise, you won’t.”

She sent a glare his way. “If I do, you’re dead.”

Adrien laughed and slightly bowed. “Your trust means the world to me, Princess. Now, if you’ll allow me, I shall start.”

Marinette nodded, removing the sunglasses from her face. Adrien quickly draped the plastic tablecloth around her shoulders. The moment his hands ran through her hair, her brain short-circuited. It felt like heaven. Pleasant tingles cascaded down her skin at every touch as he brushed, tied, and clipped for what felt like an eternity yet was way too short of a period before he whispered in her ear, “Close your eyes and hold your breath for me for a moment.”

That would not be a problem; Marinette wasn’t sure she was breathing for the last few minutes anyway. He was too close. She could feel the heat of his body, the warmth of his breath, and that was doing things to her she’d rather not experience in a random alley off a busy street in the middle of Paris.

Oblivious to her internal turmoil, Adrien sprayed her hair with the temporary hair dye and proudly pronounced his job finished. The plastic tablecloth off her shoulders, he pushed a small mirror in her hands. “You can open your eyes and look now.”

Her speech was gone the moment her eyes caught her reflection. Most of her bangs were pinned back in the middle, only some of the hair framing her face on either side. The rest was gathered in two cute, messy buns on top of her head that had pink highlights all over them, something the tips of her bangs sported as well. It was a look she’d never thought of doing herself, yet somehow found herself loving more with each passing moment.

“Not bad,” she said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. “Are you secretly a stylist by any chance?”

Adrien chuckled, putting her sunglasses back on her nose. “Nope. But I did grow up in a fashion tycoon’s house watching makeup artists transform people to an unrecognizable degree with simple tricks.”

“Well, you have a talent, M Agreste. I really like this.”

"Why, thank you." Adrien grinned. "I do like the outcome, too. You were always cute, but now you're straight-up adorable. Like a little mouse. An extremely lovely little mouse. ”

Marinette looked away, taking a step towards a street. He wasn’t flirting. He was just complimenting his own work. He wasn’t flirting. “As long as Alya doesn’t recognize me.”

“She won’t.” Adrien followed her. “Hey! Maybe we should hold hands and pretend to be on a date? They’ll never figure us out if we do that.”

Her eyes widened as he offered her his hand. “Are you… are you asking me on a fake date?”

“Do you want me to ask you on a fake date?”

“I’ve never liked anything fake,” she huffed. “Says a lot about one’s character.”

Adrien chuckled. “Then it’s good that all I’m asking is to hold hands. For a better disguise, of course. Not faking. Real hand-holding.”

An earnest smile on his lips, he stepped closer, silently waiting for her reply.

Marinette swallowed, her eyes falling to his outstretched hand, one that looked more and more appealing to hold by the second. How would it feel to have her palm in his? If she chickened out now, she might not get another chance to find out. “Only for the purpose of a disguise.”

"Only for that," Adrien assured, entwining their fingers together, his gaze on her soft and gentle. "Allow me to be your guide on this non-spying, not-a-fake-date mission, Princess."

His words fell on deaf ears as Marinette struggled to keep her composure. Big, strong, and very warm. Somehow safe and secure. Like a lover’s embrace. Holding Adrien’s hand was everything Marinette didn’t know she needed up until now.

He must have noticed something was amiss, cracking a dumb joke to break the awkwardness as they started their walk. Marinette tried her best not to laugh, but Adrien kept going, each joke worse than the preceding one. Ten minutes in, and she couldn't believe she ever had a crush on this… man-child. Adrien was the dorkiest dork she'd ever met. A dork who asked too many questions. So many it felt like he wanted to know everything there was to Marinette. She didn't mind. There were quite a few things she wanted to know about Adrien, as well, and what better way to ask if not as a retaliation to his inquiries?

About an hour later, they spotted Nino and Alya on a promenade by the Seine, walking hand in hand just like them. Her friend beamed, laughing so hard, Marinette could swear there were tears in Alya’s eyes. Nino looked no less happy, grinning at Alya with a satisfied look on his face. A smile found its way onto Marinette’s face. Adrien watched them mesmerized, slightly tightening his grip on her hand.

“Everything looks good,” he said, turning to her. “Their next stop should be a music shop a few blocks away, and there are a few cafes just across the street. Want to get a headstart and have an early lunch?”

Marinette nodded. She could use a drink or two right now. A nice large glass of the cold water because Adrien seemed to take their… whatever-this-was way too seriously, being all attentive and gentlemanly and extra charming, and if not for his assurance they were not on a date, Marinette would’ve surely thought otherwise. Just as she suspected, her silly crush on this man seemed to slowly be turning into something more than a simple attraction. Something different. Something deeper and more profound.

“Awesome!” Adrien grinned, turning back to the town. “I’ll buy us movie tickets once we’re there. Where do you want to sit? I prefer the middle, but I’m pretty sure Nino got the middle row seats, so that’s a bit risky. Shall we try for the back row?”

A pinch of guilt nagged at Marinette. Another glance at their friends in the distance and she stopped, slowly pulling her hand from Adrien’s grasp, mourning the loss with every inch lost. “Perhaps, we should stop here.”

He halted his steps, looking down. Seemed like she wasn't the only one feeling guilty about this. “You’re right. This wasn't a good idea.”

“They deserve more than two stalkers for friends.”

“They do. I was just too curious. This is the first time Nino’s been so crazy about someone.”

“So you decided to secretly third wheel them?”

He gave her an unimpressed look. “You don’t get to judge me. We’re in the same boat in this. Apples and all.”

Marinette couldn't hold back a snicker.

Adrien interlocked his fingers behind his head, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “I was really looking forward to that movie, though.”  

“You’ll live.”

“Will I?”

“Absolutely, you big baby. Just go watch it by yourself if you want it so much.”

“But that’s not fun.”

“Better than stalking your friend on his date.”

“Then perhaps I should get my own. A date, I mean. For the movies.”

Marinette fell silent, her chest tightening. A guy like Adrien could have any girl he wished. And while she didn't think herself to be worse than anyone else, what were the chances he’d want her when girls like Kagami Tsurugi openly confessed their love to him?

“I guess you could,” she said, pulling out her cellphone to get an Uber.

“Then will you?”

“Will I what?”

“Go to the movies with me? Lunch and movies. A date. A real one. Nothing fake about it.” He was looking straight at her, a trembling smile on his lips, a soft glint in his eyes.

She blinked once. Twice. Her ears must be deceiving her. “Me?”

He nodded. “You.”

“But… Why?”

“Because I like you.” He stepped closer. “Because ever since you fell into my arms that first day, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

“Excuse me, but I did not fall into your arms!” Marinette huffed. Amazing or not, she wouldn't allow him to trample her reputation like that. “I just tripped, and you happened to stand in the trajectory of my fall. Or rather, you moved into it because, if my memory isn’t failing me—and my memory never fails me—you almost ran across the room to catch me.”

Adrien laughed. “Guilty as charged, but can you blame me? You’re amazing, Marinette. You’re smart and brave and confident and so very beautiful. A guy like me could only dream of being worthy of your attention.”

“You kidding me, right? A guy like you can have any girl he wants.”

“But there is only one I need,” he purred, leaning closer. “Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I’d be the happiest man alive if she’d give me a chance. I’m prepared to beg on my knees if that’s what it’ll take.”

Somehow, her hand was in his. He brought it to his lips and laid a lingering kiss on her knuckles. How could she say no to those eyes and that confident smoulder with a hint of childish worry behind it? The way she felt about him, she wouldn't want to say no even if her life depended on it. Marinette kept her eyes on Adrien's when she shifted her hand in his grasp, entwining their fingers together. "Only if we go to a different movie theatre. I don't want to run into Alya and have to explain things."

“Sounds good to me.”

“And we’re getting soulmate ice cream at Andre’s before that. I want to check if we’re meant to be before I commit to anything.”

Adrien laughed, pulling Marinette into a hug. “I’m pretty sure I won’t even have to bribe the man to get the result I want.”

“You’re way too confident, M Agreste, you know that, right?”

“Only when it really matters.”

“And is this one of those situations?”

His gaze soft and loving, Adrien leaned down, his lips gently brushing against the flustered skin of her cheek. “You’re at the top of my ‘Really Matters’ list, Mlle Dupain-Cheng.”

Another kiss to her nose, he lingered for a moment before whispering, “May I kiss you the way I know you want me to kiss you now? Or shall I wait until the end of our date?”

There was only one answer Marinette could give him. “Right now would be perfect.”

***

This is a reworked chapter from my upcoming "Dreams of You" story. If you're planning on reading it, don't be surprised to see part of this as one of the chapters. Hope you'll enjoy both of them!

#miraculous ladybug #adrienette #adrinetteapril2021 #first date #fluff #they're stalkers and they know it #aged up

[kotalefanzu]

okay i know the mannequin scene is old but i just got reminded of it and its even more creepy than i remembered and i still aggressively HATE it.

so if we really want marinette to be fawning over a supposedly adrien statue rather than doing that weird drama thing, make her be the art kid she is and fawn over the craftsmanship and anatomy, throwing in a couple of compliments she normally wouldn’t say to his face.

the embarrassment can come from the fact that she didn’t think it was really and while she did go far or anything, she still poked around and caressed the dude. nobody likes knowing they accidentally molested someone. she feels bad and she’s also incredibly embarrassed that she a) didn’t realize and b) said all she had around him. what if she was more looses and accidentally confessed?

ideas for her comments are basically like: “Woah! this is so cool!” “The anatomy looks perfect how they even managed this!” “The wax is kind of warm too. So life-like!” “Aww his hair is so soft. I wonder if its this soft in real life.” “So smooth. Bet he has skin this smooth. I kinda want skin this smooth.” “Can I take a picture with this? I am way too nervous to ask actual Adrien. Don’t worry wax Adrien, I still love you. You aren’t just a back up.”

If you want a weird poetic compliment: “You must have caught Medusa’s eye, my darling”

i can’t think of anymore

Adrien breaks character when she’s takes a break from fangirling and joking and asks a question that she doesn’t ever really intend on actually saying out loud, “Wax Adrien do you think actual Adrien likes me? He’s so nice to me, but I can’t tell if it’s because he’s just that type of person.” And Adrien hears this and he is so sad that she think he doesn’t like her and also guilty that he’s getting a lot of information from her he normally wouldn’t have gotten. “Well I’m actually actual Adrien and I like you plenty.”

Then she screams and shock wears off and she’s like “oh not a threat” and then it hits her and she’s like “OH FUCK WAIT HE HEARD EVERYTHING” and does the not funny chest hit thing and sit down away from him while he kind of apologizes for it and tries reassuring her of their friendship.

i just think that’s nicer okay. character growth. make them actually friends. friends get insecure a lot, teenagers especially. make them friends.

#miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous ladybug #mannequin scene #fix it #ml marinette #ml adrien #ml au #miraculous ladybug salt i guess #puppeteer 2 #the puppeteer 2