#chloe can you stop being a disaster for FIVE MINUTES

[rainboq]

Thank you for the prompt! Here's one in return. #3 (kiss on the cheek) pricefield

You asked for a kiss on the cheek, you get an entire date and Chloe being a massive disaster. Enjoy! Apologies in advanced for my nonexistent Spanish skills. I’m going insane. It’s just Max, why the hell am I going insane? Chloe sighs as she sits in her truck, one hand on the wheel while the other hovers over the send button on her phone. Fucking Rachel and her big ideas. Just ask her out Chloe, it’ll be fine Chloe, you’ve known her since you were a little kid Chloe. 

A little traitorous part of her wished that Max had just said no so she could get the rejection over and done with. Instead, her dorky little face with it’s stupidly cute dimpled smile and earnest eyes had light up like Chloe had told her that there was going to be new episodes of Hawt Dawg Man or something. And not, you know, a date with her dumb punk ass.

Just hit the damn button Chloe so you can blow this already and tell Rachel you told her so. There’s no way someone as smart and talented as Max wants anything to do with me. She’s just doing this for old time’s sake.

Her finger taps the button and she locks the screen so she can’t stare at it and ratchet her anxiety up higher.

Ha. As if she has any control over her anxiety right now.

Her phone buzzes with Max’s reply and she takes a few deep breaths to try and steady her nerves. Her usual go to right now would be smoking, but she forgot her damn pack at home like a dumbass in her flurry of getting ready. At least I didn’t fuck up Rachel’s makeup job.

Is Max even going to like me with this much makeup on? She knew me before I ever started wearing any.

She does an impromptu drum solo on her steering wheel to try and get some of her nervous energy out, to mixed success when her eyes spot movement in the lobby of Max’s building. She turns in her seat, gets a look at her and promptly forgets to breathe. Chloe had said to dress up a bit, and Max had taken the liberty of wearing a flowing black dress with some matching leggings. It’s not nearly as showy as the things Rachel wears to parties and events, but there’s something about the way her freckled shoulders look under the straps that makes her heart squeeze. Those damn freckles, why do they have to be so cute?! Dammit, breathe, don’t be a total dweeb in front of Max because she grew up and got hot.

Fuck she is hot though.

I’m so boned.

Max spots her truck as she pushes out through the inner door and a great big dorky smile spreads across her face as she waves enthusiastically. Chloe waves back and scoots across the bench seat to throw the passenger door open. A moment later Max is climbing in, all winning and too god damn adorable smiles. “Hey Chloe!”

“Uh, hey Max! You look… hella great.”

Max’s cheeks go a bit red as she hunches her shoulders forwards, one hand rubbing the back of her neck. “I don’t know about that, but you look amazing.”

There’s no part of Chloe’s stolen blazer and worn black jeans that qualify as amazing to her, but if Max likes it she’s not about to complain. “Thanks,” Chloe tries to say as smoothly as she can muster despite the slight wobble in her tone, “You down for some food?”

“I’m hella starving.” Max replies with a cheeky grin as she shuts her door. “I’m so down for this ‘best taco truck in town’.”

Rolling up to a dumpy taco truck in her old brick with someone as gorgeous as Max suddenly has Chloe feeling like Max really deserves a better first and probably only date, but plans are plans. “Then let your noble steed be off, fair maiden!”

Max breaks out in gigglesnorts as Chloe pulls out of the parking lot. “You did not just use one of William’s lines on me!”

“I so hella did Caulfield, what’re you gonna do about it?” Chloe adds a wink, hoping it’ll cover up how obviously sweaty as hell her palms are right now.

“Oh, I’ve got something in mind.” Max says in a low tone that makes Chloe have to fight to not choke on her own spit.

Oh god, is Max actually flirting with me? I’m so not fucking ready for this. “You down to thrash a bit hippie?”

“As long as your bony elbows don’t hit me!” Max replies with a laugh and Chloe punches the radio on.

The scratchy punk from the local station starts blaring and Chloe internally breathes a sigh of relief at not having to try and deal with Max’s flirting for a moment. Oh god, I can hear Rachel laughing her ass off at me right now.

Max for her part grooves along, and Chloe has to focus to avoid going off the road because of it. God she still dances like a total dork! Fuck, it should be illegal to be this cute or something.

Thankfully they make it to the taco truck without Chloe running into anything, despite her distracted driving, and she pulls them up to the sidewalk. I just hope she likes it or this is going to be a hella lame date.

“Hungry Max?” Chloe asks as she throws her door open after shutting off the radio.

“I’m so hungry, you have no idea.” Max replies as she does the same before sheepishly admitting, “I also kinda skipped lunch.”

Chloe jumps out of her truck and jogs around the front of it as Max clambers out. “Jesus Christ Caulfield, no wonder you ended up so short.”

“What! Hey! Not all of us get to be so freakishly tall.” Max groans and sticks out her tongue.

“Yup, it’s just my burden to bear. Now what do you wanna eat?”

“I mean, you know what’s good here.” Max shrugs as she walks alongside Chloe towards the food truck. “Order for me?”

“Spicy or nah?”

“No way, never spicy.”

Chloe can’t help but laugh at the way Max shakes her head and waves her hands in the air. Yup, still a total dork. “Can do Maximo. Just wait here.”

Chloe skips ahead a few steps and shouts out, “¡Hola Alejandro!”

There’s a clattering sound inside the truck and a middle-aged man’s face appears, “¡Aha! ¡Flaca! ¿Como estas?”

“Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?”

“Bein.” He says with a nod and a big smile.

“Bien, quatro numero doce con polo por favor.” Chloe says, before turning to grin at Max who looks a little stunned.

Alejandro sticks his head out to see what she’s looking at before pulling back in and grinning broadly. “¿Tu amor?”

Chloe shrugs, unable to keep the smile off of her face as she rubs the back of her head. Fuck, fuck, fuck! I forgot how to say that in Spanish. Way to go dumbass.

Alejandro, to his credit, doesn’t need it spelled out for him as he pokes his head back out and calls out to Max, “¡Hola bonita!”

Max freezes up for a moment before doing a little wave back. “H-hola.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” Alejandro grins at her, before retreating back into the food truck to start working on the order.

Chloe pulls out her wallet from her blazer’s pocket and takes out approximately the right amount of money plus tip and drops it on the counter before jogging back to Max with a big idiot grin on her face. “And that’s the food!”

“I guess I should probably learn some Spanish if I’m going to be living large in LA, huh?” Max asks sheepishly, doing that thing she used to do when they were kids where she’d hold her arm.

“Prolly a good idea,” Chloe says as she moves to stand next to Max. “This shouldn’t take too long.”

“Maybe I should have brought a sweater, I always forget how cold it gets here when the sun goes down.”

“Here, stand next to me, the food should warm you up.” Chloe holds out her arm and Max doesn’t hesitate to tuck into her side.

A sort of silence settles in as Max hums softly to herself and chews on her lip while Chloe watches the window for the food. The pressure of Max against her feels good, great even, but it all feels so surreal. “I can’t believe we’re actually on a date.”

“Oh no?” Max giggles softly as she snakes an arm around Chloe’s waist, “What’s so unbelievable about it?”

“How about the part where you said yes?”

“When I told my parents, my dad announced that Joyce and mom owe him fifty bucks.”

“Wait, what?” Chloe somehow manages to not stammer.

“They all had a bet, our dads bet that we’d date some day.”

Chloe turns her eyes heavenwards, where the few stars visible in LA are starting to poke out as the sun sets. I guess you’re smiling on my dumb ass from up there, huh dad?

“¡Loca!” Alejandro shouts from the truck as he puts their food out.

“That’s us.” Chloe says before reluctantly pulling away from Max, “we’ll eat in the back of my truck, meet me there?”

“Sure thing.”

Chloe trots over, grabs the two trays of food. Damn, dude threw in tortilla chips gratis, I fucking owe him a bigass tip next time I come.

Max waits for her, standing next to the now open tailgate. “After you, mademoiselle.”

“You know French?” Chloe asks with a cocked eyebrow as she slides the trays into the bed before climbing up.

“I picked up a couple things from an ex.” Max shrugs as Chloe turns, offers her a hand and hauls her up into the bed.

They end up sitting together at the far end, their backs resting against the cab as Chloe divides the food between them. “Eat up, short stuff.”

“Oh my god, stop making fun of my height you beanstalk!” Max laughs as she elbows Chloe.

Chloe just cackles as she pulls out her first taco and takes her first bite. Come on Chloe, it’s Max, but it’s still a date so don’t eat like a total fucking slob.

She waits until she’s actually finished her first mouthful and swallowed before turning to Max, “How is it?”

“Oh my god I think I’m in love,” Max mutters as she finishes her first mouthful, “Legit the best taco I’ve ever had.”

“Did I tell you or did I tell you?” Chloe grins in triumph before taking another bite of her taco.

They don’t talk much as they consume their tacos, they’re too tasty. Chloe finishes first and has to resist the urge to shout her victory like they did when they were kids having stupid eating contests. Instead, she starts popping tortilla chips into her mouth and just kind of watching Max while she waits.

Damn, I’ve seen her a bunch since she moved here and I still can’t get over how damn cute she got. Like even her ‘ugly duckling’ pics from high school look great. I can’t believe I missed out on her braces years though, damn, that would have been hilarious to be around for. That or I would have gotten in a lot of fights for jackasses making fun of her, which wouldn’t have been much of a change honestly…

Max finishes her tacos and beams up at Chloe, “That was delicious! Thank you so much Chloe!”

“Hey, you deserve it, also hang on, you got some sour cream on your nose.” Chloe grabs a napkin and wipes it off, prompting a giggle from Max.

“You’re adorable.”

“You’re one to talk.”

Max laughs and steals a chip from Chloe’s basket before grinning at her as she eats it.

“What, hey! Those are my chips! You’ve got your own!”

“Yeah but yours are tastier!”

Oh my god, this old game. “What, you want me to feed them to you?”

Chloe’s heart skips a beat as Max’s cheeks flush red. “I-I mean, I wouldn’t mind…”

“Only if you feed me yours.” Chloe grins as she feels her own cheeks heating up.

“It's a deal then.”

Chloe holds up one of her chips to Max’s face, who promptly devours it before holding up one of her chips for Chloe, who returns the gesture. Before long they’re both grinning at each other like sappy idiots and swapping chips until their baskets run empty. Max makes a little disappointed noise as they run out and Chloe gathers up their baskets.

“I’ll run these back and we’ll hit the road?”

“Sure thing.” Max says, before stifling a yawn. “Man, I didn’t realize how late it’s getting already.”

“Nah, you’re just getting old, the night’s still young.”

Max jabs a finger into Chloe’s side before laughing, “You ass, don’t you know it’s rude to joke about a lady’s age?”

“I’m older than you!”

“I said a lady.” Max retorts with a smirk as they both get to their feet and hop out of the bed.

“You got me there Maximus Wrecked.”

Damn, I think this is actually going pretty well! She thinks to herself as she jogs back to the food stand and drops the baskets off on the outside counter. From inside Alejandro flashes her a double thumbs up and Chloe grins back at him before turning around to head back to her truck.

Max is already in the cab, holding herself and shivering a bit as Chloe gets in. “Definitely should have brought a sweater.”

Thinking fast, Chloe pulls off her blazer and holds it out to Max. “Here, until the heater decides to start working.”

“Thank you so much,” Max says as she puts the blazer on in a hurry, “This has been great.”

“Hey, you’re great so…”

There’s a giggle from Max before she stifles another yawn. “Dork. We should probably head back though. I had a crazy long day.”

Chloe’s heart sinks and her mind immediately starts racing for ways she fucked this up as she starts her truck up. “Oh, okay.”

“I had fun Chloe, seriously.” Max says, reaching out across the bench and laying her hand on Chloe’s forearm as she shifts the truck into gear. “We’ll have to do this again.”

Oh, okay, so I didn’t completely fuck it up. “Second date, huh?”

“Definitely,” Max smiles warmly as they pull out into the street, “Mind if I put some of my tunes on?”

“Sure, knock yourself out.”

Soft indie rock fills the cabin as Chloe drives back to Max’s place. Despite the promise of a second date, she really, really, really doesn’t want this to end. She’d hoped to go walking down the beach or something with max, maybe hit up a bar and get a little crazy.

Can’t you just be happy dumbass? You got the second date, just… take it easy. You know better than to rush Max of all fucking people.

The drive back to Max’s apartment is way too short, or maybe she’s so wrapped up in her thoughts that the usual nightmare of LA traffic barely registers. Either way, she’s sitting in front of Max’s building and wishing she was anywhere else in town with Max.

“So, uh…”

“Thank you, I had a wonderful evening,” Max says softly as she scoots across the bench seat and presses a gentle kiss into Chloe’s cheek, one hand cupping her chin.

It takes Chloe a second to remember what words are, much less how to put them together into sentences, but she does manage, eventually as she turns to look at Max. “You’re, uh, hella welcome.”

Something mischievous that ties Chloe’s guts in a knot sparkles in those brilliant blue eyes of Max as she smiles wide, “Do you hella want to come up to my apartment for some coffee?”

#life is strange #chloe price #max caulfield #pricefield #lis #prompt fic #kiss prompt #chloe can you stop being a disaster for FIVE MINUTES

[47crayons]

THE WICKED WITHIN—A COMIC SANS WIP REINTRO

!!!!! it's here :D the wip that started to consume me and has been continuing to do so since, now with a much better sense of what exactly is Happening

current tww taglist let me know to be +/- !! @a-completely-normal-writer @writing-is-a-martial-art @wannabeauthorzofija @magic-is-something-we-create @croctears @writeblrfantasy @opes-magnas @author-a-holmes @zoya-writes@fuyugomori @ink-fireplace-coffee

transcript is under the cut!!!

[transcript: a powerpoint presentation of black text on white background, written entirely in comic sans.

start slide one the top left corner reads in red, "warnings (most relevant) war, death, drugs (& addiction), poison". in the center, "the wicked within", and underneath it in smaller font, "a comic sans reintro by @47crayons". the comments around the entire slide read "a family that is so found!!!", "gang rivalry :D and gang content in general", "crime found family basically", "childhood friends to STILL FRIENDS", "all queer cast :p", "eat the rich (not quite, but it’s the right sentiment aldskjfls)", "kickass women, yeah bay bee", "nuanced relationships between different groups :D", "morally grey characters!!!", "so many different governments!!!", "a (mostly alsjflksdj) stable relationship!!!" end slide one

start slide two in the beginning of time… there were four gods: eltenjer, he/him, earth; skari, he/him, fire; aenged, they/them, air; thilda, she/her, water. i didn’t /mean/ for them to have genders, but a quiet breeze whispered “psst. i use they/them.” in the beginning? so you mean… they’re not there anymore? kind of! the gods need followers to survive, and after several unfortunate events, they lost the majority of their followers. the aforementioned unfortunate events: the great ruination, in which natural disasters caused several years of famine and other hardship. the restoration era, in which renovation led people to believe they can live without the gods. if the gods are dead, what’s the point? the gods aren’t /really/ dead, closer to dormant. they can’t actively interact with the mortal realm, but IF they had followers, they would come back to life. oh. did i mention that they control the magic. end slide two

start slide three the dormant gods who can't do... anything control the magic??? hey, no one said magic always has to work. foreshadowing alert huge foreshadowing alert. let’s talk about how magic works, shall we :D people use the Spirit to do magic. people have a Vessel (representation of stamina or how much Sprit can be used at once, can be trained!). people also have a Strength (a type of magic that works well with the user, these have varying frequencies which also depends on location). there’s too much i could say here, but the important thing is the main characters’ Strengths. the right depicts an image of a flowchart showing that gods need followers and produce sprit. people need spirit to do magic. end slide three

start slide four okay but where are we??? where could the magic be so fucked? well, here, of course! the left side shows a line art map, split into five parts going clockwise: portingdale, worchester, the hooks, elderwood, unlabeled. the legend shows that there are mountains in portingdale, forests in elderwood, and rivers that run from portingdale to everywhere else. the place where the four labeled regions meet is called the Inner City. the text on the right reads. welcome to Kjer! there are 3 districts. but wait! there are five? sections? and one isn’t even labelled. worchester used to be a district,,, but it left after the war began. the unlabeled section is the disputed region (re: war). let’s talk more about this war. elderwood wanted easier access to water (see: the rivers in the Wetlands) elderwood & portingdale have been fighting there on and off for over half a century. the hooks has three wards: west (hella rich), south (lower income), north (somewhere in between). end slide four

start slide five whomst. skip to the next slide if you want the actual characters. character basics: the unnecessarily-winded-and-cram-a-lot-of-lore-in version. in the North Ward of The Hooks, there are three main gangs. Kaer Styen, meaning “wicked ones”, Ghetfaer Skarnen, meaning “trickster lords”, Ad Knesten, meaning “the grumbles”. that was so many capital letters i don’t like capital letters alskjdflksjd. they have rivalries and conflicts from time to time, but it’s pretty rare. the tww cast is kaer styen !!! their main means of profit is a drug called jezdin. relieves physical and mental pain. lethal in high. quantities/ when tampered with. can also be addictive. they operate out of a dingy tavern-like building, and they live upstairs!!! okay so this is purely for vibes. how did u know. end slide five

start slide six the Gang. literally :3 Kaer Styen, my beloved. the first thing in each of their bios is their Strength (re: the magic slide). artbreeders!!! i fixed quite a few of them, but my artbreeder skills are questionable at best. this slide is split into three columns. the first column shows a white person with short, brown, curly hair and a firm, but not angry, facial expression. len, he/him, pan. Shifter (can manipulate physical properties). cynical, very cynical (because he has killer instincts). “oh people are dying? am i dying? are you dying? why should i care?” in a relationship with cal. the second column shows a person who appears east asian with long, black, wavy hair and fair skin. chloe, she/her, aroace. Chemist (chemistry but magical). literal archery god. also she’s so quiet it’s SCARY. seems welcoming, emphasis on /seems/ she’ll destroy your ass. knows what you’re feeling. she just. knows. the third column shows a white person with dirty blonde hair. they are smiling. cal, they/them, bi. Whisperer (can persuade others through speech/music). so casually funny all your burdens disappear for a hot minute. gets very attached very deeply. grew up in Portingdale which becomes Important later. end slide six

start slide seven cont. also they have piercings!!!! maybe i will make some picrews later (listen, i KNOW i’ve said this before but. maybe i’m for realsies this time, okay?) this slide is also split into three columns. the first a smiling white female with light blonde hair. eden, she/her?, demi lesbian. Healer (healing magic <3). seen hell and doesn’t want others to suffer. still believes in the gods’ existence. we Don’t talk about her awful parents. raised by a lovely woman in the South Ward, known as Nana. this eye (left) is almost PURPLE which i didn’t do on purpose but is honestly such a cool idea. the second column shows a partially smiling black man with short curly hair. jereth, he/him, gay. powerful life magic thing (will be spoilers if i talk any more). joins them at the beginning. honestly kind of scared of them (who wouldn’t be), but wants to live up to expectations. throws himself into stuff to avoid Thoughts. the third column shows a woman with brown skin, black wavy hair, and a small smile. she is NOT a member of Kaer Styen, but i’m talking about her here all the same. adalaide, she/her, bi (i didn’t like the e in adelaide alskdfjlsj). Melder (metals and the like). heir to the Portingdale throne (assuming her dad doesn’t disown her). Cal’s ex from a few~ years ago she’s still a lil’ hung up on them. technically an antagonist but i love her. so all my characters are queer sue me </3 end slide seven

start slide eight some semblance of plot? coming right up!! the four (jereth isn’t there yet!) are attacked in the Inner City. turns out it’s portingdale soldiers. and then they discover that portingdale has been poisoning the southern rivers (affects worchester and the south ward) because worchester doesn’t really contribute to Kjer as a whole. word gets out, and elderwood, naturally, is even angrier at portingdale (remember, they've been at war). so, they try to stop portingdale from being power hungry enough to poison the entirety of a country while learning about why worchester is so isolated while ALSO trying not to get killed by everyone who hates them. end slide eight

start slide nine memes :> the first is the meme of spongebob reading a sheet of paper and burning it. the paper reads, "going into worchester by yourself is going to get you KILLED", and spongebob is labelled "chloe". the second is the levels of brain template labelled "jereth". from the weakest to most powerful: "trying to figure out his magic", "doing it by accident", "saving everyone's lives". the third is the sleeping person and brain meme. brain: "you're going to portingdale". cal: yeah, i know. brain: you'll see adalaide. cal's eyes are wide open in fear. the fourth says "corporate needs you to find the difference between this image and this image". the first image says, "family", and the second one says, "len, chloe, cal, jereth." eden says, "they're the same picture". the fifth is the spiderman copycat meme where jereth is copying len. end slide nine

/end transcript]

#rbs very much appreciated!! #the wicked within #tww reintro #writeblr #writing #wip #rose writes

[unmaskedagain]

Ladybug: A Young Avenger

Hey Everyone, I got prompt for a civil war ML crossover fic but I was really into Team Iron Man on Ao3 for longest of times and, after endgame, I kind of need some team fluff. So I tweaked the prompt. It’s still team Iron man; just… not the way you’d expect. (Also did anyone know else know that Penny’s last name was Rolling?)

It took Tony Stark all of five minutes to figure out Ladybug’s identity.

“Jarvis, buddy?” Tony called out.

“Yes, sir?”

“What’s up with teenagers and being bug-themed heroes wearing inappropriate costumes?”

           The A.I took a moment before answering, “…I, for one, blame Vine.”

           Tony sighed. First fifteen-year-old Peter Parker aka Spiderman. He took the kid on an as an intern the second he learned about Spiderman. Now fifteen-year-old Marinette Dupain-Cheng aka Ladybug.

           He groaned.

What could he do? He needed help.

           Captain America needed to be stopped. The Winter Solider needed to be taken down. Team Cap had gone too far.

           It was war.

           Getting Harley Keener, a mechanical mastermind to agree to be his intern was a bit like chewing nails but Tony always knew the kit would agree. Getting Peter Parker, a child genius with a bright future as a scientist, to agree to be his intern was a piece of cake. Honestly Tony could’ve asked for the kid’s soul in repayment and Peter would’ve asked if he wanted on a silver plate or if plastic was okay? Getting Riri Williams, an engineering prodigy to be his intern, was easy. Too easy; her mom practically threw her at him, all while making him swear into a recorder that he wouldn’t sue. No matter what. Introducing the kids to his labs made him feel like Willie Wonka hand-delivering the golden tickets.

           They were all future scientists and engineers like Tony. They grew up worshiping at the altar of Stark Industries like ever future MIT graduate did.

           Marinette Dupain-Cheng, on the other hand, was an entirely different beast who played an entirely different game. She was a fashion prodigy who had designed for stars like Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale. She had interned for Style Queen Audrey Bourgeois, had her clothes walk the runway during Paris fashion week, and had a summer job that somehow lasted over a year, working for Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-Chief for Runway Magazine when the scary woman took over Paris: Runaway. Said job ended when Miranda when back to New York. Marinette only prayed to the fashion gods. So when Tony Stark, god of the nerds, showed up at her door, she only blinked once.

           Said girl sat between her parents, with cool blue eyes glaring at him suspiciously. Luckily Tony was smart enough to bring Pepper with him.

           Pepper Potts smiled at the family in front of her; two bakers and the daughter, who made the most delicious macarons that she ever tasted. “So you see, after Tony came across Marinette’s wonderful re-design sketch of his suit on her website, he was very impressed with her talent.”

“But to take Marinette on as an intern?” Sabine asked. “Excuse me, but Marinette has always leaned towards the arts than science.”

           Tony gave the woman his best charming smile, “What is science if not another form of art. We both create, strive to better our talents, work to make names for ourselves; experiment and test out hypothesizes. Granted no one in my field ever created the disaster that was crocs.”

           Marinette narrowed her eyes, “Didn’t your father help on the Manhattan Project?”

           Silence.

           Pepper cleared on her throat. “Tom, Sabine, before anyone agrees to anything I’d like to go over safety procedures in place. Would you mind stepping outside with me, I could use a bit of fresh air.”

           Tony and Marinette just stared at each other as the three left the room. When the front door closed behind them, Marinette leaned forward, “What do you want?” Her patience had reached its end.

“Aren’t you being a little rude?” Tony smirked.

“Aren’t you a little old?” Marinette snapped back. “What do you want?”

“I want Ladybug’s help.”

           Marinette flinched back in shock. Her heart raced in her chest. “How do you know?”

“I’m Tony Stark,” He shrugged easily, picking up a mint chocolate Macron. “I know everything.”

           Marinette fought the fear racing through her, and steeled herself like Miranda and Audrey had taught her, “So Iron Man’s wanted Ladybug as an intern? So what does Iron Man get? What does Ladybug get? What does Tony get? And what does Marinette get?”

“You made clear distinctions,” Tony said approvingly, his business-side gearing up. “But I am Iron Man.” He said. “You come to New York for this spring break and for the summer. I get Ladybug’s help in handling a personal issue that has developed within the Avengers. Ladybug gets training from the Avengers. Marinette gets to add Stark Industries and a personal letter of recommendation from Tony Stark to her resume.”

“On the condition, that identities stay secret from the media,” Marinette crossed her arms. “I don’t suppose I can hide it from the rest Avengers for very long. And I get an additional letter of recommendation from Pepper Potts. Pepper takes my friend Chloe on as an intern; she’s the hero, Queen Bee. And only one who knows my identity, besides you. Also, I actually do get to help design your next suit. My expenses?”

           Tony smirk widened. The girl knew how to cover her bases. She even wanted to have an Ally with her should things take a turn. “All paid for by me. First-class all the way. You and Chloe will stay in the Stark Tower on the same floor as the other interns.”

“Other young superheroes, you mean?” Marinette guessed, causing Tony’s eyes to twinkle in joy. “Spiderman, Iron Heart, and WarIron. Based on their sizes, I had guessed they were young; teenagers probably. Why didn’t you ask Chat Noir too? Or why aren’t you? Because you’re not, you would’ve mentioned it by now?”

“You mean the Agreste kid?” Tony said, not noticing Marinette’s eyes widen in surprise. “He’s not serious enough for me. I play games but he goes too far. Surprised you haven’t dumped him yet. Get a better partner.”

           Marinette took a bit of a macron to get a moment to think. Adrien was Chat Noir. In retrospect, it made a lot of sense. Both were socially immature, and a bit naïve. Each had an idealistic view of things and didn’t let the real world break them of it. For example Adrien and his dealing with Lila’s lies. Chat Noir and Ladybug turning down his advances.

“Very well,” The bluenette finally agreed. “I agree to be your intern. Shall we discuss my salary now or later? Well, need to before I or my parents sign any contracts.”

           It was Tony’s turn to narrow his eyes. Not one; not a single one of his interns: Harley, Peter, or Riri ever asked about how much they’d get paid. They’d all assumed it was an unpaid internship and was surprised when their contracts included a salary. “You’re a shark.”

           Marinette hummed, “You should see me when there’s blood in the water.”

           That was something Tony was looking forward to seeing.

           The official paperwork was signed three days later; Marinette was officially a Stark intern. Due to go to Orientation for spring break in New York in a few weeks.

           Those weeks flew by. She let Fu know she’d have to go back and forth for a few weeks. She didn’t bother telling anyone else. Her friendships in the class had dwindled dramatically. While most weren’t her outright enemies, her classmates tended to avoid her. If they couldn’t do that, they were beyond cold to her. It was Lila’s doing. She got her hooks into the class, who all wanted to tie themselves to the golden goose, and when it was clear that Lila and Marinette didn’t like each other, they picked sides. They chose their meal ticket over their lifelong friend.

           Honestly, it made Marinette almost wish that Lila had lied about her instead; accused her of being a bully or something. Anything. Because at least then her ex-friends would have somewhat of a reason to be ex-friends. Even if it wasn’t a very good one. Instead, they were just bad friends all on their own.

           Still, Marinette didn’t mourn their loss as she sat in the back of the class with Chloe on a Sunny Tuesday morning, and they were living for New York that Friday. She had a steadily rising career in Fashion. She had worked under Miranda Priestly and Audrey. From them, she learned it was best to drop fair-weather friends and how to spot wannabes, fame-seekers, and gold-diggers from three miles away.

           She was happy with Chloe as her bestie. The girl had turned a new leaf and proven her loyalty to the point where Fu made her a permanent hero. And the Blond had been ecstatic when Pepper Potts had shown up at their door. She had hugged Marinette a full five minutes for getting her the internship. All while screaming with joy.

           Both girls were excited to go. Though Marinette did encounter one downside. The night before, Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling; or as Marinette deemed them #RollingStone, called her. Or rather Penny did the talking. Jagged was trying to wrestle his newest jacket away from Fang’s teeth. Penny offered Marinette a chance to spend her spring break traveling around on tour with Jagged, as his personal stylist. Marinette had no choice but to turn the job down. She loved her honorary Uncle Jagged but she already signed the contract.

           That morning Lila had spun another set of lies. The first was about helping Tony Stark fix his Iron man suit when she was traveling in America. The second was about the newest song Jagged Stone wrote about her. It was exhausting to listen to but the class hung on every word.

           Bustier had just finished her first lesson of the day when she invited Alya to stand up.

           The glasses-wearing girl grinned at the class, “So as everyone’s aware; there’s a class pool party is this Saturday; first day of spring break, baby!” The class cheered. “Everyone who’s invited should’ve gotten their invitation. Don’t want any drama,” She cast a cold look to the two girls at the back of the class. “Invite only. So no party crashers. Marinette, Chloe what are you doing this Saturday?” Alya smirked at her call out that the two girls weren’t invited; that they were the only ones who weren’t.

           As if on cue, the classroom’s door burst opened and in walked Tony Stark, followed by a very apologetic looking Pepper, “Marinette; it’s time to go! Grab Pepper’s minion and let’s go.”

           There were gasps from the class. Max sat up straight. Iron Man was in front of him, in his class, this was the best day of his life.

           Marinette just sighed, “Did you kick the door open, Tony?” Disapproval clear in her voice.

“…No?”

“I can’t go now!” Marinette explained. “I have class. We weren’t supposed to leave until Friday, remember.”

           Tony waved her off, “Details. Spring Break starts now. Queenie, Mari; chop-chop! New York is waiting!”

           Bustier decided to step in. She may not always be the best teacher but she refused to allow a strange man, even if that man was Tony Stark, to take away any of her students. “Mr. Stark, can I ask what you want Marinette and Chloe for?”

           Thankfully, it was Pepper that answered as she closed back the classroom door, “They have been employed as interns for Stark Industries. They’ll be attending orientation during their spring break at Stark Tower.”

Max actually fell out of his seat. Because this couldn’t be happening. Stark industries rarely ever took high schoolers’ as interns. Tony Stark only chose the best of the best. How could Marinette land the job?

“Marinette’s my intern,” Tony grinned. “Blondie’s Pepper’s. Who else is gonna teach her how to rule the world.”

           A slow smile spread across Chloe’s face, “With an iron fist.”

           Tony pointed at her, “You scare me. Pepper get your intern!”

           The other students were amazed. Marinette was Tony Stark’s intern. Chloe somehow got Pepper Pott's attention. What had they missed? Why didn’t Marinette tell them? How?

“That’s what we’ll be doing this Saturday, Alya,” Chloe drawled. “In New York, hanging with the Avengers.” Causing Alya to flush with anger. “We couldn’t come to your pool party even if we wanted to. Which we don’t.”

“He found my sketch of a potential Iron man suit design,” Marinette explained, continuing the story Tony had told her parents. “He loved it and offered me the job a few weeks ago.”

“Weeks?” Nino asked. “And you didn’t tell us? Dudette, not cool.”

           Alix nodded, her arms crossed, “Yeah I thought we were friends!”

           Marinette and Chloe just looked at them like they were stupid.

           Alya put her hands on her hips, “Mr. Stark, why didn’t you ask Lila Rossi to be your intern? She helped you with your suit before. She’d be much better than Marinette!”

           The girl in question face turned bright red, “This can’t be happening.” Lila muttered.

           Tony looked honestly confused, “Lila? Who’s Lila? No one ever helped me with my suit except the kids I already got as interns.” He looked at Pepper. “Do I know a Lila Rossi?”

           Pepper shook her head, and turned fierce eyes towards Lila, “Miss Rossi, please refrain from lying about Tony Stark and or Stark Industries. Or we will sue you on the grounds of defamation.”

           Lila squeaked. Sue? She couldn’t be sued. Her mother would kill her if she got a lawsuit from Tony Stark.

           It was the rest of the class’s turn to look confused.

           However, before anyone could ask any follow-up questions, the classroom door burst opened again. Jagged Stone strutted in, followed by a very apologetic look Penny and happy Fang with, what looked to be, the arm of a leather jacket.

“Marinette!” Jagged yelled. “What’s this about you not coming on tour? I need my favorite stylist, love.

Marinette just sighed, “Did you kick the door open, Jagged?” Disapproval clear in her voice.

“…No?”

           The bluenette just shook her head, “I have plans this Spring break. I’m sorry.”

“Plans?” Jagged whined. “What could be better spending your Spring Break with a Rock Star? You can even bring your Blonde. Penny could use an assistant!” He paused, finally noticing it wasn’t just kids. “The bloody hell is Tony Stark doing here?”

           The two famous men eyed each other. The women they came with just looked so done with the world.

           Tony crossed his arms, “I got custody of Marinette for Spring Break; you snooze, you lose.”

“What?!” Jagged hissed. “She’s my designer.”

“She’s my intern!”

           Jagged glared, “I knew her first. By rights, I get custody.”

“I have a contract that says otherwise!” Tony taunted the Rock Star. “Her future is Stark Industries.”

“Her future is Rock and Roll!” Jagged yelled back.

           Both men glared at each other.

“Pepper!”

“Penny!”

           Both women groaned. How was this their lives? Why what was this their lives? What bus full of nuns and orphans did they rob in a past life?

           Penny smiled, “Marinette means the world to us. I’m her honorary Aunt Penny,” She held out her hand for Pepper. “Jagged’s her honorary Uncle. We’ve known her for years. Contracts were already signed?”

           Pepper nodded, “Tony doesn’t play when it comes to his interns. He won’t budge. Trust me; we’ve done this three other times. Marinette’s his kid now, all but legally.” For now, Pepper didn’t bother to add. Every now and then she found discovered a new set of adoption papers with one of the interns’ names on it; one time she found three sets for all three. Plus if Tony kept hinting any harder, May was going to gut him.  “She’ll be in New York for Spring break and all of the summer.”

“Summer!” Jagged whined. “He gets custody for summer too! No!” he shook his head. “Not happening. Call our lawyers, Penny. We’re going to family court!”

           Tony blew him a raspberry. Tony Stark blew Jagged Stone a raspberry. The class could only blink, trying to process what was happening.

           Marinette just wanted the earth to open up and swallow her.

“Marinette already designed your clothes for the tour,” Penny tried to placate. “They’re amazing. We can call and skype if we need any additional tips. We have a concert in New York over spring break so we can go and see.” They didn’t. But Penny would be damned if she could have one booked within the hour. Anything to stop jagged from mention family court again. “Most of our summer is free too, we can visit Marinette whenever we want.”

           Jagged huffed but didn’t say anything.

“Well not whenever you want,” Tony teased.

“Family court!” Jagged hissed.

“Tony!” Pepper said warningly. She was not going to let this going to court. No matter how lovely Marinette was. “Be nice.”

           Tony pouted.

           Marinette raised her hand, “You guys know that legally my parents still have custody of me, right?” There was no answer. “Right?!” Nothing.

           The bluenette just sighed.

           Alya took that moment to break in, “Jagged, don’t you want to say hi to Lila? She’s right here,” Alya pointed to her bestie. “Oh, can we listen to the songs you wrote for her? Can you tell us how she saved your cat from getting hit by a plane?”

           The look Lila gave Alya could’ve killed a thousand men.

           Jagged looked affronted, “Lila? Who’s Lila?” He looked at his fiancé. “Penny, do I know a Lila?”

“No!” Penny glared fiercely at Lila. “Jagged Stone has never written a song about an underage girl before. He has never owned a cat. What parents and airline would careless enough to allow a child to rush onto a runway for a pet? Refrain from spreading any further slander. Or we’ll hit you with a lawsuit so fast you’ll get whiplash.”

“I’m allergic to cats by the way,” Jagged told the class. “All fur actually. That’s why I got Fang here.” He pointed the crocodile who had made its way to Marinette for cuddles. “I’ve had him for twenty years. He’s the only pet I’ve had all that time.”

           Marinette rolled her eyes and took the crocodile in her lap.

“Twenty years?” Kim’s eyebrows furrowed. “Whoa, that’s long that we’ve been alive.”

           Nino glared at Lila, “Yeah it is.” He finally realized the girl was lying. Most of the class had in fact.

“Enough of this,” Tony waved. “Marinette, Chloe, time to go. Leave the dinosaur.”

           Bustier took a deep breath, “No one is taking Marinette or Chloe anywhere. Until I get a note from their parents verifying that is. I’m going to have to ask you all to leave.”

           Penny and Pepper nodded understandingly. Jagged and Tony just looked shocked.

“But I’m Tony Stark!”

“I’m Jagged Stone, love!”

           Bustier just rolled her eyes and shooed them out of her class. It took some handling, and eventually, the women had to drag the guys out. The teacher shut the door with a sigh of relief. She brushed off the imaginary dirt on her clothes. “Marinette,” She called. “If you could tell any future visitors to wait until after school to pick you up, with a note from your parents that would be most helpful.”

“Sorry,” Marinette blushed, a deep dark red.

           Bustier walked back to her desk before pausing. “Is that Crocodile still in my class, Marinette?”

“…Yes.”

“I think he’s here for the rest of the day,” Chloe shrugged. “Unless you want to invite Jagged back?”

           Bustier paused. No. Never again. “No. No. Fang can stay for the day.”

           When the lunch bell rang, Marinette found that it was easier to avoid her classmates' questions, as they were too busy yelling at Lila. It wasn’t long after that Ladybug had to take down Lila’s seventh akuma form.

           Marinette and Chloe left that night to New York. Somehow he managed to convince their parents that missing three days of school to study in the most advanced building in the world was a good thing.

           When they got to Stark Tower, they were given a quick tour. Then Pepper took Chloe to show her where she would be working. And Tony took Marinette the workshop where three other kids were already working.

           The oldest one glanced at her and snorted, “God he kidnapped another one.” He was the tallest in the room with dark brown hair and a smirk on his face.

           The other two snickered.

           Tony looked affronted, “Oh please; your parental units practically threw you at me.

The younger looking boy smirked, “Aunt May threatened to shank you next time you took me out of school early.” He had light brown hair and big brown eyes

           The genius pointed, “You tell Aunt Hottie to leave me alone.”

“HI, I’m Marinette!” She waved happily. “He keeps mentioning he has custody. And I’ve become moderately concerned.”

“And you should be,” The other girl in the room laughed. She was a pretty brown-skinned girl with black wild curls. “Name’s Riri.”

“Harley,” Said the first boy who spoke.

“Peter,” The other boy introduced.

           Marinette nodded and eyes them, “WarIron,” The pointed at Harley. “Iron Heart,” Then at Riri. “Spiderman, right?” She pointed at Peter.

           The three looked at Tony with questions in their eyes. Tony raised in hands in surrender, “Hey, I told her nothing.”

           Harley eyed the new girl, “You’re from Paris, right?” She nodded. “Ladybug, I’m guessing.”  Marinette blushed. “Welcome to the Young Avengers, I guess. Why’d he bring you in?”

           Marinette shrugged, “He said to there was a personal problem happening with the Avengers. He wanted my help.”

           The teen froze. Peter just shook his head, “You didn’t, Tony!”

Tony looked sheepish.

“What?” Marinette asked.

           Riri rolled her eyes, “That personal problem? It’s called ManHunt.”

“I’m sorry?” Marinette asked. She was going to have to hunt a man?

“It’s a game,” Harley explained. “Team Iron Man versus team Cap. One team hunts the other in a sort of hide and seek type of thing and tries to capture as many members as they can. Last time we played it, Team Cap crushed Team Iron man. It’s why Tony brought us all in. Revenge.”

           Said Man didn’t look one bit ashamed, “Rules were since Thor and the Big guy are gone I can bring in whoever I want to replace them.”

           Marinette tossed up her hands, “You brought me here to play a game?” Unbelievable.

“No,” Tony said. “I brought you here to take out the Winter Soldier.”

“Say what now?”

“Welcome to orientation,” Was All Tony said to her question.

           The kids trained together for a week; Chloe, a girl named MJ who was Pepper’s other interns, and a boy named Ned who was a tech intern, were brought in as well. When it turned out that Kagami was in New York City for a fencing tournament. Tony was happy to bring in the scary girl as well. (And somehow get her mother to agree to let her stay for Spring Break) He made practice stealth and learn hand signals. Tony drilled them on the Team Cap’s strengths and weaknesses. They reviewed videos of previous missions until they had everyone’s fighting style memorized. Tony went over body anatomy aka where the best place to hit them was. They memorized plans and scenarios to take out each specific member of Team Cap.

           The teens spent a lot of time in the lab creating gadgets to use against the Avengers. Each one straight out of a spy movie.

           As far as Tony was concerned this was War. And there would be no prisoners.

Team Cap consisted of Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, The Falcon, Antman, along with several Shield employees which included Fury, Melinda May, and Coulson.

           Team Iron man consisted of Ironman, War Machine, Vision, Maria Hill, The Wasp, Quicksilver, Daisy Johnson, and a bunch of names Stark employees: I.E the interns. (Black Panther refused to participate. Though he and sister would watch from Wakanda.)

           Each team had a total of thirty players; no more, no less.

           The game would take place at the compound. Anything area within the compound legal territory was free to use. The living room would be home base and were all ‘out’ people had to stay. Until they were freed. Or until every member of the hiding team was captured and then it was Game Over. Everyone could communicate with their own team using special mics; normally only taken out for missions. However, those imprisoned in the home base couldn’t communicate with their team.

           On Saturday, just before sunset; the main superheroes of the avengers met up. Tony facing Steve. Rhodey glaring at Bucky. Vision versus Wanda. Hawkeye to QuickSilver. The wasp against Ant-Man and the Falcon.

           Steve smiled, “Tony.”

“You ready for war, Cap?” Tony asked.

“Training exercise,” Steve corrected his husband. “I trust your team is ready.”

           Tony smirked, “Oh you have no idea. Your little spies are already hiding in the shadows.”

“Like your team isn’t?”

           The alarm went off.

           Tony suited up, “You have 1000 seconds, Steve.” His helmet shut. “I’d get running.”

           Steve rolled his eyes. His team split up, running into the growing shadows.

           The game had started.

           Marinette waited, hiding in the shadows on the roof. Her ladybug costume was all back with little red polka dots; mostly easy to move around body armor. This wasn’t her actually Ladybug suit; Tikki, while willing to create a new suit design, decided it wasn’t a good idea to involve magic. So Marinette designed herself a new suit, and Tony help her trick it out.

Tony had pointed out the all-good hiding spots located in the Compound. She was the overly large landing pad. She forced herself to stay completely still. Even when she saw the Falcon take flight with WarIron right on his tail.

           The smallest of moments caught on the corner of her eye, the glint of metal. An arrow, she realized. She smiled. Hawkeye.

           She watched the man take stock of the room, looking in every possible place a person could hide. Unfortunately for him, Marinette had a bit of luck on her side.

“All clear on the roof, Cap,” Clint said into his mic. “I’ll keep a lookout from up here.” There was silence as he listened to Cap’s orders. “Okay. Will do. Stay invisible, got it. Over and out.”

           The second the conversation had ended, Marinette through a smoke bomb at his feet. Before Clint could even finish saying, “What the he-” Marinette was on the attack. Using the smoke to her advantage, she swung her yo-yo at Hawkeye’s feet. The String wrapped around his legs, tripping him. Five seconds later, Hawkeye was hogtied on the ground.

Marinette touched her mic, “Tweety Bird down. Bringing him to home base now!”

“Copy that, Ladybug,” Tony said. “Be careful.”

           Clint looked up at his assailant; expecting to see Tony or the Wasp, any avenger. Instead what he saw, was a teen girl with a scary blue-eyed glare on his face, “Who are you?”

           Marinette leaned down, “Your reckoning.” She hissed.

“What the fuck!” He said as he was thrown over the girl’s shoulder and carried to home base.

           When Marinette got to home base, she saw Harley putting a rather put out Falcon on the ground, Spiderman with five webbed up shield agents, Chloe had brought in two, Kagami and Riri brought in six. MJ and Ned both brought in one random shield agent. Marinette tossed Hawkeye on the couch.

           It had been twenty minutes, Clint knew by the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes since sunset and the game had started. And they had already lost just over half their team to a bunch of teenagers.

Clint couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had Tony unleashed on them.

“Foghorn Leghorn secure,” Harley said into his mic. “Tweety in his cage. The shadows are all accounted for.”

“I’m Tweety,” Clint told Sam.

           Sam paused. “…Am I Foghorn Leghorn?”

“Wasp and Vision on their way with The Blue Fairy,” Tony’s voice rang their ears. “They’ll play guard dog. QuickSilver is down; Miss Tuffit got him. Seven minions gone; Captain Hook and his jolly crew got them. Over and out.”

“Queen Bee, MJ, guard the Home base until they get here,” Harley ordered. “Guy in the chair, Mj, back on monitor duty. Fulfill mission Top hat ASAP.” They nodded and left the room.

           Top hat was important. The two were trying to hack into Team Cap’s communications, once they did; it was game over.

“The rest of you complete the assignment,” He told them.

           Then all split up again. Vision and Wasp arrived with Scarlet witch just as they were leaving. All three avengers gave the kids confused looks as they left.

           It would take Marinette another hour before she came across another member of Team Cap. And she didn’t so much as come across, as she did respond to Peter’s cry for help.

“Captain Sparkles!” Peter yelled in their earpiece. “Training yard. I’m trying to hold hi-No I won’t give you back your shield! Hurry! Over!”

“I’m around the corner,” Marinette hissed into the mic as she ran for the yard. When she arrived it was just in time to catch the shield that was flying at her face.

           She held the shield tightly in her hand, feeling like Wonder Woman, as she stared down Captain America.

           Steve looked at the young girl who had joined the fight, “My shield, miss?” He was aware that Spiderman had landed behind him.

           Marinette smiled sweet. Then she launched the shield at him with such brute force, he was lifted off his feet. “The Name’s Ladybug.”

Steve didn’t catch the shield in time and it bounced back to Spiderman.

           Captain America glared at the two teenagers.

           Then the fight was on.

           Spiderman hits Steve with his shield, distracting him. The shield falling to the ground. Ladybug barges Captain America backwards. Steve shoulders her to the floor. Marinette lands on the ground; pain flaring across her shoulder. Spiderman punches Steve who just lifts him and slams him against the ground. Spiderman raises a fist but Steve twists it. A web shoots out of his hand, the sound of a small explosion fills the training yard.

           Marinette takes the distraction to trip Captain America and jump up. As Steve falls to the ground, Marinette uses the electro-shooters that Riri made and shocks the dear life out of him. It wasn’t enough to bring him down but then Peter added in his own shocking web-shooters.

           Yet Steve still looked ready for another round of their fight. Marinette quickly picked up the shield and slammed it across his head. Steve Rogers fell forward in a slump.

           Spiderman webbed up with quick-drying cement.

           Both teens breathed heavily; struggling to catch their breath, tense from the fight. Marinette could even find it in herself to unclench the shield.

“Captain Sparkles is down, over,” Marinette said into the Mic.

“We’re bringing him in, over,” Spiderman added.

           There was a moment of silence.

“…What the fuck?” They heard War Machine say.

           When Marinette walked in with the shield in one hand and helping Spiderman carry Cap with the other, the avengers present quietly lost their shit. Kagami nodded, where she stood over Fury who looked more pissed than ever before in his entire life. Chloe stood over Coulson, who just looked put out. MJ and Ned looked overly pleased. Their mission had been a success but it only lasted long enough to get Fury and Coulson. After that, Team Cap was smart enough to ditch the communications, figuring something was up.

“Who’s left?” Spiderman asked in the Mic. “Over.”

“Stoneheart,” Kagami answered bitterly, referring to Melinda May, into the Mic so the team could hear them. “She took out Daisy and got away. Hill is after her now.”

“Jon Snow and Miss Tuffit,” Chloe said referring to the Winter Soldier and Black Widow. “Iron Man and WarIron are after Small fry. War Machine has eyes on Miss Tuffet.”

“I’m closing in on Miss Tuffit, over.” War Machine said.

           Marinette looked at her team, pressing on her mic, “Guy in Chair, Mj, I want you on Stoneheart’s tail. Spiderman go be back up for the War Machine. Iron Heart, meet me on the Location 12. Over.”

“What are you going to do, over?” Harley asked.

           Marinette clenched the shield in her hands, “I’m going to go tell Jon Snow that Winter Is Over. Queen and Dragon with me. Over.”

           The battle with the Winter Soldier was epic. The showdown happened in the gym. It turned out they weren’t hunting for the Winter Soldier, the Winter soldier was hunting for them. The second they walked into the gym, the doors closed behind them.

           Bucky jumped down from the rafters. He stared at the girls. He had seen them fight. None of them fought with any ounce mercy but plenty of skill. But they were clearly just kids. Just Dames in over their heads. He’d go easy on them. “Shall we, Ladies?”

           Ladybug, Queen Bee, Iron Heart, and Dragon shared a look before giggling.

           The Winter Soldier only just barely stood a chance.

           The girls laid Bucky gently on the floor on home base. He grunted and glared at them.

           A few minutes later, Tony and Rhodey walked in with the Black Widow. The last of Team Cap.

           Tony smirked, “Game over.”

           Rhodey shook his head, “Record time; two hours and four-two minutes. Beats the last one by about seven hours and sixteen minutes.”

           Then they debriefed. Video of the fights and footage was seemed was shown so everyone could see where they could improve. The image of tiny Ladybug clocking Captain America in their head with his own shield was rewinded and watched seven times.

           Tony fell over laughing, “I’m putting on Youtube!”

“I will divorce you!” Steve snapped but couldn’t fight the smile on his face.

           Once The random agents of shield and Stark industries left, Steve glared at Tony. His team had gotten demolished. In record time. “You brought in outside heroes, that’s not fair.”

“No,” Tony laughed. “I brought employees of Stark Industries as agreed upon. Everyone meet WarIron,” Harley lowered his helmet. “Iron Heart,” Riri lowered his, “You know Spiderman already,” Peter took of his mask and waved. “MJ, and Ned” Both teens nodded. “Ladybug,” Marinette took off her mask. “Queen Bee,” Chloe glared as she removed hers. “Dragon!” Kagami took off her black mask. “The interns. Otherwise known as the Young Avengers.”

“Oh, fuck you too Stark,” Clint complained. “Did you see what they did to poor Bucky. He’s the deadliest assassin in history, and I felt they went a little rough.”

           Bucky nodded with a wince, “Can I have my arm back.”

           Steve looked at the bluenette still holding his shield, with a charming smile.

Kagami glared. She held the metal arm like trophy. “Spoils of War.”

           Marinette giggled.

           Being a intern was going to be fun.    

#ml fic #ml salt #adrien salt #marinette dupen chang #Marinette deserves better #Avengers #stony #tony stark #team iron man #peter parker

[spidernerdsblog]

I Forgot That You Existed : Epilogue

A/N: . And this is the end of the series really enjoyed writing this. Hope you all enjoyed it too. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

Pairing : Tom Holland × Singer reader

Summary : It’s been more than five years since you and Tom have gone their own ways after a heartbreaking breakup which had left both of you shattered. Both of you thought that you were finally over with each other and were happy in your respective lives until you meet again at a reunion trip planned by your best friend and you realize you are still not done with each other.

Warnings : mild swearing.

Mini Playlist : London boy and Lover by Taylor Swift

"The news is just loving you." You chuckled sitting on the kitchen counter scrolling on your phone. Tom grimaced. 

"Just check out the headlines" 

Trouble in paradise 

Wedding a PR stunt? You read out. 

"My PR team is so pissed at me right now they are on the edge to handle this whole mess." 

You were scrolling through your feed as you stumbled upon a photo of yours with Tom posted by a fan account. It was a recent photograph from the carnival where you are seen holding hands walking through the crowd. It was a backshot but it did leave little to anyone's imagination that it was you and Tom. Whoever posted it wrote with the caption. 

Is it?? Are they?? OMG!! 😲😍

"Oh fuck me!!" You cursed. 

"Darling I would love to do that but I'm sort of busy right now with making you breakfast." You gave him a dirty look and shoved your phone to his face. 

"Look at this." Tom was puzzled at first then slowly his eyes widened with shock as he took a look at the photo. 

"What the fuck!!" 

"I'm so dead Alex is gonna eat me alive." You face palmed. 

"How did they even get this?" 

"How can I know?! Someone must have spotted us and clicked it." 

"What do we do now? There is no way people are gonna believe that we aren't in a relationship." 

"I'm in no place to take in the hate so…" you got busy with your phone. 

"Wait what are you doing?" 

"Nothing just desperate times calls for desperate measures." Being in this industry one thing you have realized is that people will believe anything posted online and Alex has taught you a few tricks to handle these kinds of situations. So before people start making a fuss about that photo you decided to share some photos from the vacation on your Instagram. The first photo you posted was of you, Tom and Harrison which you captioned 

Best friends for life!!💕🍻

You posted a few more including one from the carnival too. 

"Well disaster averted temporarily. We can clarify things further in interviews."You winked, showing him your phone. Tom stood in between your legs wrapping his hands around your waist. 

"My girlfriend is a genius." 

"That I am." You smirked. 

"Can't you stay a little longer?" he pouted. 

"Tom are you serious? I already extended my stay by one week for you. If I stay any further Alex will just kill me. And don't you have a press tour coming up?"

"Yeah fine will miss you though."

"Me too" you pecked his lips. 

"By the way I was serious about that before, you know in the kitchen." he drew circles on your skin. 

"I didn't say no either" you bite your lower lip batting your eyelashes innocently. Tom tightened his grip on your waist, peppering you with kisses on your neck you squeaked as he lifted you from the counter. 

Three Years later….. 

"Y/N just relax." Zendaya said. You were pacing in your bridal suite. 

"I can't, this is just too much to handle, do you think I should run away? Tom will understand right?" you blabbered. 

"Y/N it's totally normal to get cold feet for the bride to be before her marriage." Elysia tried to calm you down. 

"And if you faint on the aisle, your maid of honor and the other bridesmaids will be honored to catch you." Zendaya chuckled. 

"Not helping Z." You deadpanned. 

"Umm Elysia you seemed quite calm when you and Sam got married how was that so?" 

"Believe me girl I was nervous as hell. All sorts of doubts started hovering in my head like what if this is a mistake? What if all goes wrong? But once when I was at the aisle and saw his face all my doubts cleared away. This is the man I love and spending my life with him will be the best thing in the world. Whatever may come in our way we will overcome it together." 

"Wow that's a great insight." 

"You got this girl! " Chloe cheered you whilst fixing your dress. 

"How is the bride doing?" El enquired as she entered into your room with a jovial smile. 

"Oh hi El!" you eagerly went and hugged her. 

"Hi darling!" 

"You're late by the way." You quipped. 

"I'm sorry dear the flight got delayed." 

"Girl you seem to be doing much better than your groom. I just happened to pass by your husband and by his looks he seemed like he would shit in his pants any moment." You all burst out laughing. 

When the news of your wedding broke out it became the talk of the town. 

You wanted it to be a private affair away from the prying eyes of the media. So what's better than getting married in the peace and serenity of the countryside in the presence of your close friends and family. 

The aisle was beautifully decorated with white lilies and roses. 

Tom was shuffling on his feet at the aisle. 

"Dude everything is fine, stop worrying. She will be here in a few minutes." Harry tried to boost his confidence. 

"You know Y/N is a sort of fickle minded what if she had a change of mind?" Harrison chuckled. 

"You know what Harrison? You are the worst man." Tom grumbled. Harrison laughed. 

Finally, the priest came out and asked everyone to stand. It was your turn! All eyes would soon be on you.  Chloe and Ed's three year old daughter Belle was your flower girl for the wedding. She looked cute in a pink gown as she walked on her little feet lining the path with white rose petals as the music started. 

You only took two steps out before you were greeted by your father. He escorted you down the aisle. He became your strength; without him you would have fainted you thought. The guests looked at you, taking pictures of your dress, waving at you, smiling- one thing was for sure, though… no one made a sound. 

Up ahead you saw him, Tom. Your future husband, the love of your life, your everything. He stood taller, his shoulders back and his eyes on you. If you weren’t mistaken you could have sworn tears filled his eyes.

Tom stood there hypnotized seeing you in that pristine white wedding dress you looked like a dream he thought as you walked towards him. 

At the end of the aisle your father hugged you 

“I'm proud of you jellybean” it was a kind of emotional moment for you as a few tears slipped down your eyes so as your father's and then he presented you to your groom. He placed your hand in Tom’s and smiled. As a couple, Tom and you stood in front of the priest.

Before your father walked away, he patted Tom on the shoulder. That was his way of welcoming him into the family. 

Standing next to your love felt overwhelming. You glanced at each other for a moment. 

"You look beautiful." Tom mouthed to you. 

"You too." You mouthed him back with a wink. 

Elysia was right you thought, an unknown excitement surging inside you. 

Was this really happening? Will I soon be Mrs. Holland? You thought. 

The minister said to guests, “You can now be seated”. Everyone followed his request.

“Dearly beloved,” he began, “we are gathered here to witness this man and woman join together in holy matrimony.”

He said the speech and afterward you exchanged vows, tears filling both your eyes.

Paddy walked in with Tessa who had your rings in a basket she was holding in her mouth. Everyone went 'aww!' as she looked adorable in a wedding tutu walking over to the aisle. You placed Tom's ring on first, then he placed on yours.

“With the power invested in me I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Tom leaned in and kissed you,softly like he’s never done it before. Everyone cheered for you, however you barely noticed; your full attention rested on Tom. 

And you left the stage with Tom hand in hand. Though you were against doing any kind of wedding tradition but your bridesmaids were adamant for the bouquet ceremony so you had to give in to that. They lined behind you. 

"Okay girls you ready?!" You tossed the bouquet. You turned to see Zendaya had caught it. 

"I knew it was your turn next." You cackled.

"This is not done. We could have done the garter ceremony too; it would have been so much fun." Harrison complained. 

"I think you guys had your fair share of fun on the Bachelorette with all the booze and that stripper that by the way our parents aren't aware of" you muttered with a stern look in your eyes. Harrison gulped because he was behind the whole Bachelorette fiasco. 

"Yeah we are fine." he said timidly. 

You went to change to something more comfortable for the reception. 

The lawn buzzed with excited chatter and children ran between the tables in a good natured game of tag. There was the scraping of chairs as folks got up for a standing ovation as you and Tom made your way to the head table, smiling and holding hands. There were cheers and someone whooped.

 As the evening progressed everybody had loosened up a bit. People were chatting, eating and enjoying the reception. 

"Finally the number of women are increasing in the Holland family." Elysia announced. Everyone laughed.

"Ah! seeing you two together really makes us happy" Nikki said. 

"Yeah now it's time you give us our grandchildren too." Your mother joked. You and Tom flustered at that. 

"Moomm!! we just got married. We are too young for that, let us enjoy this time." You whined. 

"Honey I had you when I was 25. No pressure though take your time." 

It was the time for your first dance with Tom,your friends pulled you both to the stage, a soft music was playing. You held his hand, his other hand resting on your waist as you swayed to the music. 

"So how are you feeling wifey or may I say Mrs Holland?" 

"Umm the weather is a little warm, feeling a little bloated other than that I'm doing fine hubby." You chuckled. 

"You know I was so nervous I actually thought what if you changed your mind about the wedding?" 

"Not gonna lie I was actually thinking of running away." You smirked. You exhaled resting your head on his chest swaying to the music. 

"Hey you okay?" 

"Yeah why?" 

"Nothing, just all that baby talk." 

"Hey it's totally fine I'm way over that. And I would love to be a mom again but not now." 

"Just imagine you me and our four little halflings. We could have two girls and two boys or three girls,one boy or a pack of four boys like us or.." You cut him off. 

"Whoa whoa whoa slow down mister. First of all we are not having more than two.'' 

"But why? I'm totally gonna be a hands-on dad I promise."

"Easy for you to say because I will be the one going through the whole birthing process. So no uterus no opinion. And isn't that why Thanos snapped in the first place overpopulation, limited resources." You chuckled, snapping your fingers. Tom shook his head laughing.

"I would be so glad if I have twins all the hassle in one time." 

"Whatever you want darling. You know how much I love you." 

"I know and I love you too." 

"Okay how about three if not four?" He suggested. 

"If we are to count you, I'll have three kids to look after so your wish is fulfilled already." You laughed. 

As the reception was drawing close you went up the stage tapping on the microphone to seek everybody's attention. 

"Good evening everyone. First of all, I really wanna thank each and everyone for blessing us with your presence at our wedding and making it memorable." 

"Tom and I have known each other since we were kids. Our mother's were convinced that we would end up together and so we did though we had to go through our own rough patch. But I'm glad that eventually everything got sorted out and the credit goes to our families and friends." 

"It's no secret I write songs taking inspiration from my life and Tom has been a major part of my life. So this is for you hubby."

The band played the notes as you started singing. 

"I love my hometown as much as Motown, I love SoCal

And you know I love Springsteen, faded blue jeans, Tennessee whiskey

But something happened, I heard him laughing

I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent

They say home is where the heart is

But that's not where mine lives"

Everyone clapped and cheered. Tom's whole face lit up as he looked at you. 

"You know I love a London boy

I enjoy walking Camden Market in the afternoon

He likes my American smile

Like a child when our eyes meet, darling, I fancy you

Took me back to Highgate, met all of his best mates

So I guess all the rumors are true

You know I love a London boy

Boy, I fancy you (ooh)"

Tom was blushing at his seat as Harrison elbowed him in a teasing manner. You had a wide smile as you looked at him. 

"And now I love high tea, stories from uni, and the West End

You can find me in the pub, we are watching rugby with his school friends

Show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride

Babe, don't threaten me with a good time

They say home is where the heart is

But God, I love the English"

You took the microphone in your hand singing and walked over to Tom extending your hand to him. He took it and got up from his seat as you walked him over to the middle of the stage. 

"You know I love a London boy

I enjoy nights in Brixton, Shoreditch in the afternoon

He likes my American smile

Like a child when our eyes meet, darling, I fancy you

Took me back to Highgate, met all of his best mates

So I guess all the rumors are true

You know I love a London boy

Boy, I fancy you"

You stood there glancing at his eyes. 

"So please show me Hackney

Doesn't have to be Louis V up on Bond Street

Just wanna be with you

Wanna be with you

Stick with me, I'm your queen

Like a Tennessee Stella McCartney on the Heath

Just wanna be with you (wanna be with you)

Wanna be with you (oh)

You know I love a London boy

I enjoy walking SoHo, drinking in the afternoon (yeah)

He likes my American smile

Like a child when our eyes meet, darling, I fancy you (you)

Took me back to Highgate, met all of his best mates

So I guess all the rumors are true (yeah)

You know I love a London boy (oh)

Boy (oh), I fancy you (I fancy you, ooh)"

Present day…. 

"And that is how your mum and dad got married kids." Harrison finished his story letting out a deep breath. 

"Wow uncle Haz that was epic!" Your seven year old daughter chirped in awe. 

"Yup everything was epic with those divs."  

"We are back!" Tom announced as you both entered your house. 

"Peter! Vienna! Where are my pumpkins?" you called out as you heard shuffling of feets and giggles. 

"Mommy!! Daddy!!" your little munchkins came running to you. 

"There they are."  You cooed. Your five year old son launched himself into your arms as you picked him up. 

"Did you have fun with your uncles?" 

"Yess!!" Peter said beaming with joy. 

"Uncle Haz and uncle Harry were telling us a story." Vienna informed you. 

"What story bubs?" 

"Your and daddy's love story." You and Tom looked at each other smiling. 

"Oh really? I hope they didn't go much into the details keeping it kids friendly." 

"Of course Y/N you really don't trust us do you?" Harry said feeling offended.

"To be honest, No" you replied bluntly. 

"Where's Ava and Jordan?" you asked whilst putting Peter down. 

"They are with their moms at mum and dad's house helping with dinner." Harry said. 

"Okay then let's get you guys ready and then we will go to grandma's for the Christmas Dinner eh?" Tom said to your kids. 

"Yayy!!" Vienna and Peter rushed back to their room.

You were at the doorstep as you rang the bell as you were greeted by Nikki. 

"You guys are late." 

"Sorry, someone was way too confident about his navigation skills so had to take a detour." You eyed Tom. 

"That wasn't completely my fault. How would I know that the road would be closed?" Tom retorted. 

"It's Christmas time Tom! Everyone knows." You both started arguing at the doorstep. 

"Then why didn't you tell me?" 

"Okay that's enough for now, God you two  have been married for almost 10 years and still your non stop bickering continues." Nikki scolded you both. 

''You got all the things I told you to bring?'' 

"Yes mum." Tom said sheepishly. 

"Merry Christmas grandma!!'' Vienna and Peter came rushing in clinging on to her. 

"Aww Merry Christmas my loves. C'mon get inside all your cousins are waiting for you." 

After the dinner all you ladies gathered in the living room and gossiped among yourselves and your husbands were chugging on to their beers and having their share of laughs in the dining room. 

The kids were busy playing amongst themselves.

Vienna came up to you and tugged on to the sleeve of your sweater. You turned to look at her brown doe eyes which she totally inherited from Tom along with her luscious curls. She was a stark image of him. 

"Do you need something peanut?" 

"Mom, will you sing for us? Pleaasse." she innocently asked, making a puppy face the trick she had picked up from her dad in the meantime. And how could you say no to that. 

"Anything for you honey. Can you bring me my guitar love?" 

"Sure mom." Vienna beamed with joy as she ran to bring your guitar. You slipped down the couch to sit on the carpeted floor stretching your legs as you strummed on to the chords. 

"We could leave the Christmas lights up 'til January

This is our place, we make the rules

And there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear

Have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years?

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home

You're my, my, my, my lover"

Vienna sat beside you. You swayed sideways while singing to her. Vienna tried to sing along with you clapping her hands to the rhythm. Peter came running and settled down on the other side of you resting his head on your lap. You stroked his hair with your hand gently. 

"We could let our friends crash in the living room

This is our place, we make the call

And I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you

I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home (forever and ever)

You're my, my, my, my lover"

The boys heard you singing as they got up and flocked in the living room. You glanced at Tom standing at the doorway smiling and gave him a subtle wink. He can never get enough of you, every time he looks at you he falls in love again and again. Sometimes he wonders how did he get so lucky? You were perfect, who gave him the two most precious gifts of his life. His heart swells when he looks at his little family. You make him whole. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?

With every guitar string scar on my hand

I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue

All's well that ends well to end up with you

Swear to be overdramatic and true to my lover

And you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me

And at every table, I'll save you a seat, lover"

Tom walked towards you and picked up Peter making him sit on his lap as he sat beside you. His one hand went to wrap around your shoulder as he placed a soft kiss on your cheek, you looked at him smiling. You were so proud of this man, the perfect husband, the doting father to your children you didn't have words to express. Tom rested his head on your shoulder, Vienna and Peter clinged on to you as you sang. You felt full from the inside out. 

'' Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home (forever and ever)

You're my, my, my, my

Oh, you're my, my, my, my

Darling, you're my, my, my, my lover"

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

Taglist is open.

@sleepybesson​​ @sophs-library​​ @spideyparkerstark​​ @itstaskeen​​ @milli86​​ @biebsmylife95​​ @quaksonhehe​​ @hannahholland1811​ ​​ @awhollandx​​ @joyleenl​​  @greatpizzascissorstaco​​ @tomhollandsotherpinkytoe​​ @jjandreidsgirl​​ @brighterthanthesunx​​ @marvelpeters​​ @panicattheeverywherekid​​ @onewithnomightypowers​​ @itsnotmeh24  @bitchinwpei @astridcommings​ @hollandprkr​​  @hollandsobrien​​ @timotayswriter​​ @kiki-hines​​ @casualprincess77​​ @spideyth​​ @perspectiveparker​​ @thevelvetseries​​ @tempo-rary-fix​

#tom holland #tom holland fluff #tom holland smut #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #haz osterfield #zendaya #taylor swift

[coccinelle-et-chaton]

pst. hey. hey kid, yes you.

Chapter 9 of The Wall Between Us is up on AO3 if you feel like crying over fictional teenagers who like to dress up in skintight suits to battle a magical terrorist. 

Read on Tumblr below the cut. 

Chapter 9  Adrien would like to say that he went back to school the Monday after Alya’s intervention because if he stayed a day longer, his father would probably just go ahead and arrange for a private tutor. However, if he was really honest, his return to school was attributed largely to his fear of Alya. He knew she was not above storming into the mansion again and dragging him all the way to his classroom, no matter his state or what he was wearing.

Nobody needed to see him in days-old comfort clothes, so he decided it was in everyone’s best interest if he just showed up.

Luckily, he severely overestimated how much of a fuzz his classmates would make upon his return. The only ones who prodded with questions were Nino and Chloe.

The sight to behold was Marinette, who had barely batted an eye when he went into the room. He felt as if somebody had punched him in the gut as he took her in. She looked sick, lost in her thoughts. Her eyes were directed at her table. She clutched the phone he had given her as Chat Noir on her hand, tucked underneath the table, knuckles white from holding it so tight.

He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and forced to calm himself even though there was nothing he wanted more than to hurry up to her and pull her in the tightest hug he could give her. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, how much of an idiot he had been for leaving her hanging, how awful he felt for making her believe he abandoned her.

Then the bell rang and had no option but to take a seat as their teacher came in. The end of the day couldn’t arrive fast enough, he couldn’t wait to call her. He had lied about his schedule so he wouldn’t be forced to go back home when he called her. He had told Natalie there would be an extended fencing practice but instead he’d head somewhere in the outskirts of the city where he’d have enough privacy.

He found a tower that seemed tall enough that no one would spot him hanging around at the top. He transformed and pulled the burner phone from his backpack, then with shaky hands dialed her number. He held his breath as the line rang.

It couldn’t have been five seconds before someone answered at the other end of the line.

“Hello?”

It was her, she sounded worried. “Is it you?… Hello?”

“Yeah,” he said, finding it hard to speak with the painful knot that strangled his vocal cords.

Ladybug let out a gasp. “Are you okay?”

“Yes…Ladybug, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I–”

“Stop,” she said. “Whatever you’re going to say next, I want you to tell it to my face. Tonight, top of Eiffel.”

“Okay, but–”

“Tonight, Chaton… I trust you to be there,” she said, then hung up.

Chat Noir gulped. Maybe she suspected what he had wanted to do. Even though Alya had advised against it, he was still not entirely sure it wasn’t the right way to go. Things would be so much more complicated from now on, and even though there was still the risk of his father being Hawkmoth, the prospect of confirming his suspicion seemed just as dreadful as revealing his identity to Marinette.

That night, he was earlier to the rendezvous than Ladybug, which gave him a few minutes to take in the city for a while and calm his thoughts. He was caught off guard when Ladybug suddenly swung from behind him, grabbed him, and hoisted him all the way up, to the very top of the tower.

“What the—”

“The only way you’re getting off from here is with your baton,” she said, tearfully. “I won’t let you give up the ring. I– you… You can’t!”

Chat Noir looked at her for a second and then launched himself into her arms. “I’m so sorry, Ladybug,” he said. “I’m sorry I disappeared like that, I… it took me by surprise.”

Ladybug sobbed against his hair. “You… you… dumbass!”

“Takes one to spot one,” he joked softly, still hugging her tightly. He only let her go once she had calmed down a bit.

“Ladybug, I’m so sorry,” he repeated. “I never wanted to hurt you… Which is why I can’t—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” she pleaded.

Chat Noir sighed heavily, sensing as his assuredness wavered. “I can’t be Chat Noir anymore, Ladybug. I don’t want to make this harder on you…”

“You aren’t!” she protested. “Chat Noir, you’re my partner!”

“Trust me, you’ll be better off without–”

“For once in your life, stop making assumptions!” she yelled, wishing she knew his name so that he could shout it. “You always do this! You never give me a chance to explain!” she cried. “Chat Noir, you won’t make things harder on me by knowing my identity.”

“You don’t get it,” he said, quietly.

“What?” she demanded. “What is it that I don’t get since you haven’t grown past hiding things from me, apparently?” At his silence, she pressed again. “What is it Chat Noir?” she cried.

“I’m in love with you!” he yelled back, if only to interrupt her accusations, summoning a heavy silence. “I love you,” he repeated softly, after what felt like an eternity. “I know who you are, Marinette.”

She gasped at the sound of her name. A part of her knew one day in the future he’d probably speak it, but it was one of those things one assumes but never really understands until they happen. The same way one knows life will happen at some point but cannot really fathom it.

“I did get over you,” he explained. “Then I fell in love with you again, with you under the mask… I know you’re with Luka and I don’t want to get in the way. But I also can’t… I–”

Ladybug didn’t know what else to do but to hug him. “You don’t have to tell me who you are,” she said softly. “I’ll keep my distance. Just… please don’t leave. You won’t get in the way, I promise. No matter what you think, you’ll never be an obstacle for me, I need you to understand that. Please, Chat.”

Chat hugged her tightly and nodded against her shoulder. “Okay.”

They stayed like that for a good while and once calm was regained, they descended back to the lower beams of the tower, where they usually met.

They were quiet until a question dawned on Ladybug. “Why did you show up to the hang-out with no transformation anyway?”

“It was the middle of the day,” he said. “And… there was an emergency.”

Ladybug arched an eyebrow at him.

“Um… don’t ask follow-up questions, but… I have reason to believe Hawkmoth might be Gabriel Agreste.”

Ladybug widened her eyes. “What?”

“I, uh… got a lead from someone who’s very close to the Agrestes and there’s evidence he has—or at least had the Peacock Miraculous. But knowing how he works, he probably has given it to his assistant, Natalie Sancoeur.”

“Gabriel Agreste?” she said pensively. “That can’t be, he’s been Akumatized.”

“And I’ve fooled you so that you thought my civilian self was hanging around while I was actually transformed one time, anything is possible, LB. Especially since he’s an adult. Remember what Bunnix said? Adults develop more command over the Miraculous.”

Ladybug shook her head. “But… How did you find out? Who told you?”

“I can’t tell you,” said Chat Noir. “I know, I know how it looks but… you trust me, right?”

She looked straight into his eyes and nodded.

“So please, take my word for it. I’m almost completely sure he’s Hawkmoth.”

“Okay,” she said. “Somebody ought to be checking on Adrien Agreste, then. He might be in danger if Gabriel and Natalie are Hawkmoth and Mayura.”

“I’ll take care of that, don’t worry.”

Ladybug gave him a long, thoughtful look but nothing came of it. She blinked a couple times and looked back at the city, a shaky breath escaping her lips.

“We have to make sure though,” she said. “It could be a disaster if it turned out it wasn’t him and we make a move. And even if he is, we need to figure out how to defeat him. I don’t want to let out too many Miraculous to fight Hawkmoth but at the same time I’m not sure we can defeat him just between you and me.”

“I’m working on that, too.”

Ladybug gave him a look. “Chat you’re not sneaking into his house or something like that, right? It could be very dangerous, what if he catches you? We need a plan.”

“I’m trying to get closer to Adrien Agreste,” he lied. “He might have a clue.”

“Maybe I could help,” Ladybug offered. “I know him in civilian life.”

Chat Noir bit his tongue. “It’s not necessary, Bugaboo, I also know him in civilian life. But if you’d like, be my guest. Just be careful.”

“Same to you.”

The air between them got steadily lighter as the hours passed and the nightlife of the city quieted down into a soft murmur. Ladybug’s eyelids became heavier with the flowing of the night and soon began dozing off. It only came to her attention when her head fell and found support on Chat’s shoulder. She quickly jolted and patted her cheeks to try and regain awareness.

Chat Noir chuckled. “Maybe we should head back,” he suggested.

Ladybug shook her head stubbornly.

“Why not? You’re falling asleep.”

“I’m scared you’ll leave the ring,” she admitted with a mutter.

Against his will, a powerful wave of affection for her coursed through his body which compelled him to pull her into his arms. Yet, he restrained himself and simply gave her a warm smile.

“I won’t do that, cat’s honor,” he said. Seeing as his reassurance didn’t convince her, he added, “I promise, Ladybug.”

With that, each went their own way.

Thankful that the next day would be a school holiday, Marinette planned on sleeping in and gathering her bearings. Which was why she was caught completely off guard when somebody rang her apartment’s bell sometime during the late morning the next day.

Marinette begrudgingly got out of bed to open the door and was surprised to find Luka.

Luka took her in, she was wearing pajamas and seemed she had had a long night. Her hair was a little bedraggled and there were bags under her eyes. He suspected he knew exactly why. Somebody had spotted Chat Noir and Ladybug talking at the top of the Eiffel Tower the night before. The way his stomach churned with insecurity over what could they have possibly talked about reassured him in the worst way possible, that he was about to do the right thing for both of them.

“Luka?” Marinette gasped, dread washing over her. “What– I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your texts… I was…”

He sighed. “It’s okay, Mari… Can I come in?”

Marinette simply nodded and led him to her room. Luka tried to pay no heed to how weak his legs felt as they climbed up the stairs, how his throat was tightly tied up in a painful knot.

Marinette sat on her chaise as Luka paced around nervously, trying to gather courage.

“Mari, I…”

“Stop, I know what this is about. I’m sorry I hadn’t been answering the phone, Luka. I really am. It’s just…” she looked down. “There’s been some stuff going on. I’m sorry…”

“It’s not that,” Luka said. “I figured there must be something going on if you didn’t pick up, I know you don’t mean to push me away. But that’s not why I came here.” He looked down, taking notice of his trembling hands. He sighed. “Mari, I’ve been trying so hard. But I just… I can’t take it anymore. I’m not like you.”

Marinette stared perplexed at Luka, who now stood at the center of the room looking down.

“What are you talking about?”

“I know,” he said, still not able to look at her. “You said you wouldn’t want me to tell you if I found out, but the truth is I can’t act as if nothing’s going on anymore.”

Marinette slowly caught drift of what Luka implied, feeling a sudden chill running down her spine.

“I know your secret,” he admitted, finally looking at her, who was pale as a ghost and with eyes wide open. “I didn’t mean to,” he immediately added. “It was an accident. I wanted to tell you that I knew, but I… I was so scared that you’d want to break up with me, then when Chat picked me to join you the last time I fought, I knew I had to try and tell you again. Then you said you wouldn’t want to know if I knew… But I just can’t take it anymore.”

Marinette was petrified in her seat.

“Marinette, I know you don’t mean to hurt me. But I just… I can’t take it. I tried to get used to it, but it’s just driving me mad.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know you’ve been evading me because he was gone,” he said with a strained voice, trying his hardest not to cry in front of her.

“Luka, I– It’s not that…”

“Then what is it?”

“I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to explain myself without revealing my identity,” she said quietly then looked down, tears pooling in her eyes knowing that wasn’t all the truth, hating that she understood why Luka was directing the conversation to where she suspected it was headed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “He’s my partner, Luka,” she explained. “I can’t just act like everything’s okay when he gets hurt.”

Luka looked down and sighed. “That never stopped you before,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

“You used to tell me about your life as Ladybug,” he pointed out. “I never asked questions because I really just wanted to help you, but it wasn’t hard to figure that’s what the ‘macaron mafia’ was when I discovered you were Ladybug. And then suddenly, you stopped talking about it when we started dating.”

Marinette sighed. “I did think about telling you,” she admitted, to which Luka looked up at her hopefully.

“So why didn’t you?” Luka asked, impatient at Marinette’s silence. He looked at it from her perspective. The battle against Queen Wasp ended up revealing the identity of almost all the wielders and that meant Hawkmoth knew. They were akumatization targets.

“I’ve only ever been akumatized once,” Luka said, catching drift of her logic. “Why... why don’t you trust me?” he asked, sounding more wounded than he intended.

“I do trust you, Luka. But you never know what might happen in the future,” she explained.

“Something like breaking up?” Luka asked sadly.

The silence that met his question was worse than any injury he’d ever gotten. Luka didn’t know one could possibly be in this much pain while physically intact.

“As Ladybug there’s many things I have to sacrifice. I need to be prepared for everything. At first I thought of telling you because we were just friends and you’re good at handling your emotions way more than me or Chat, even. But a break-up... that’s enough to get anyone. I’m not saying it would happen, but...”

He clung to the silence like one clings to a lifeline before falling into an abyss. He knew what he needed to say next and yet he couldn’t bring himself to speak the words. He knew this couldn’t go on. Either way, he knew there was no way around getting hurt. Staying with her was not good for him, but leaving would break his heart.

Suddenly, he let go of his lifeline. “I think we should break up.”

“What?” Marinette said, gasping, looking up to him. “N-no! Why? I said I’m sorry.”

“Mari, I know you love him,” he said, painfully.

“I also love you. Luka, if you just give me a little time, I can just–.”

Luka walked close to her and gently took her hands in his. Then, asked a question that, though he knew was selfish, simply needed to hear the answer to, “Do you think you could love me as much as you love him?”

“I… I’m trying,” she said gently and pulled him into a hug to prove her point. “I’m trying.”

A sob finally managed to escape Luka as Marinette held him as tight as she could. “That’s the point,” he said as he snaked his arms around her, too. “I don’t want you to force yourself to feel something… something that doesn’t come naturally.”

Marinette cried.

“I… I can’t compete with him, Marinette.”

“It’s not a competition!” Marinette protested.

“I know it’s not supposed to be,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter what I do, the thought is always there, at the back of my head. I can’t help but compare myself… I’m jealous out of my mind, Marinette,” he confessed, burying his face into the nook of her neck.

“You don’t have to be,” Marinette said. “Luka, you don’t… You’re so different from him, you don’t have to be jealous of him. The way I feel about you is different.”

“I know who he is, too,” he confessed quietly. “I know I won’t be able to take it.”

Marinette pried herself off Luka’s arms, eyes wide with terror.

“It was also an accident,” he admitted, sadly. “I was hiding from an Akuma one time we had a date. You tend to pick the same places to transform,” he said.

Marinette trembled. “Luka… you… you know what will happen if Hawkmoth ever akumatizes you again?”

“I know,” he said. “I’d never put you in danger like that,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s up to you,” she said with fear in her voice

“I meant what I said when you first started confiding in me, Mari. I’ll keep your secret. You can trust me…” His voice broke again. “But… it doesn’t change how I feel. I can’t change how I feel, I can’t help wishing I was him, and getting jealous and… It’s not good or fair for you or me.”

Marinette cried softly, not finding it in herself to refute him because she knew he was right, as usual.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Me too.”

Luka didn’t hang around much longer after having said what he needed to say. He didn’t want to leave Marinette crying like that, but if he didn’t leave in that instant, he knew he wouldn’t have the will keep his word and he’d inevitably backtrack on it. He’d ask for a second chance, even though he knew much like when he was Viperion, sometimes we don’t get the things we want no matter how many times we try.

He hurried back home and immediately called his friends so that they’d come to be with him. He didn’t trust himself in the state and he meant to keep his promise: He wouldn’t be akumatized, no matter the cost.

Marinette, on her part, did call Alya but once she had already gotten a good hold of her emotions. She sent her a message in the afternoon. Unbeknownst to her, Alya had to ditch going to the movies with Nino and Adrien. When they asked why the sudden change of plans, Alya had to do some mental somersaults to come up with an excuse who was believable both for Nino and Adrien.

Nino knew it wasn’t like her parents to call her for sudden babysitting duty. Adrien knew that almost any excuse she’d come up with would be inevitably related to Marinette.

“My sister broke her nose in a boxing match,” she explained. It wasn’t an entire lie, Nora had broken her nose, just not that day. “My mom and the girls were with her and apparently it’s a whole ordeal, so I need to go and pick up the girls like, asap. Sorry guys.”

It seemed to do the trick. Half an hour later, she showed up at the Dupain-Chengs’ door with two liters of caramel ice cream and her bodyweight in chocolate.

By the look on Sabine when she opened the door, it seemed Marinette had already told her parents of the breakup. She saw herself into Marinette’s room, knocking a couple of times at the trap door before entering.

Marinette was in bed, embodying the definition of a blanket burrito as she munched on a plate of macarons with Tikki.

Alya gave her a look and only sighed, pulling her into a hug. “Oh, girl.”

Marinette sniffed. “I feel like such an asshole, Alya. He didn’t deserve this. He’s so… so… good. And I hurt him so bad, you should’ve seen his face. He didn’t deserve this…”

“I don’t think it was your fault, Mari,” Alya offered. “Nor Luka’s, for that matter. Did he say why?”

“He found out by accident,” she muttered. “He knows who we both are.”

Alya hissed in sympathy for him. “Yeah… then, that makes sense.”

“Why? Who is he?” Marinette complained. “I’m getting sick and tired of everyone keeping me in the dark about this.”

“I thought Chat didn’t want to reveal his identity,” Alya said.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to get in your way,’” Marinette imitated him, doing a stupid voice. “And–and Luka! He did the same thing! He broke up with me because he thinks I love Chat more than I love him, he said he didn’t want to force me to feel something that wasn’t there. And…I get that he might think that, but he didn’t even give me a chance to–to prove to him that I also care about him!” she cried.

“Mari,” Alya said softly. “But was he right? Luka, I mean.”

“I… I do love him, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“He was right,” Marinette said, sobbing. “I feel awful that it didn’t work out, after all he did for me. He was there for me when I most needed him. He doesn’t deserve to suffer like this, and I hate that I’m the one who hurt him,” Marinette cried.

Alya rubbed her back and sighed. “I know it hurts, girl. But you did the right thing. Like you say, Luka is a good person, he deserves to be with someone that can love him the way he needs to be loved.”

“I know,” Marinette admitted.

Alya perked up urgently as her thoughts caught up with her. “But what if he gets akumatized? Hawkmoth will know and then–”

“He said he’d try his best to keep the secret,” Marinette said. “I know, don’t look at me like that. But honestly, what can we do other than to try to get the upper hand on Hawkmoth before he gets akumatized? Chat said he has a lead on him, that it might be Gabriel Agreste. I figured if we manage to bust him first, then it wouldn’t really matter, would it?”

“Marinette, Luka literally just broke up with you,” she said desperately, grabbing her shoulders. “Do you not remember how absolutely awful Kagami’s Akuma was when Adrien broke up with her?”

“Why would that have to do anything with Luka?” Marinette asked, quirking her head to the side.

Alya mentally scolded herself. Too much information. “Nothing, it’s just, break-up Akumas are super powerful. And he literally knows your identity!”

“I know, but Luka isn’t anything like Kagami,” she said. “For starters, Kagami didn’t have friends to rely on when Adrien broke up with her and that’s why her Akuma was so powerful. Their breakup was just the final strike on layers on top of layers of negative emotions. Luka is not like that.”

Alya had to keep to herself the remark that Marinette perhaps had too much faith in him.

Although her conversation with Alya helped Marinette to earn some consolation, she still couldn’t help but feel devastated for the next couple days. It was natural, she supposed. But that didn’t change the fact that the breakup between Luka and her had suddenly made things a little awkward with Juleka and had unmistakably altered the dynamic of their friend group. The fact that Luka waited at the sidewalk for his sister at the end of the school day, instead of by the steps as he used to do before. The fact that he practically had to look the other way to pretend Marinette was not there.

She knew why he did it, and that it was selfish to want to talk to him. It didn’t change the fact that she desperately wished she could do something to make him feel better.

She sighed, why did everything have to be so complicated with these boys all the time? Adrien, Luka, Chat Noir. In spite of her heartache, she also couldn’t help but be a little fed-up with the whole drama that had plagued her life for the good part of two years.

As days kept on rolling, she fell back into the habit of taking anonymous metro rides and going on walks in parts of the city where she was certain she wouldn’t come across any of her acquaintances. A moment of anonymity in her civilian persona was always a good way to sort her thoughts out. Apparently, one of Paris’ resident celebrities had the same idea, she realized one of such afternoons as she found the unlikely picture of Adrien hanging out in some indistinct part of the city.  

He hadn’t noticed Marinette saw him and sat on an unassuming bench in a random city promenade. His usual entourage was decidedly missing, and for some reason he had concluded that donning a ridiculously mismatching outfit a neon green cap would somehow conceal him. Marinette had to laugh. That boy wouldn’t be able to hide his identity for the life of him.

“You stick out like a sore thumb, in case you were wondering,” she teased, deciding to approach him for a quick hello. She found it refreshingly easier to talk to him now that the mess of emotions that always tied up her tongue were missing.

Adrien was effectively startled. “Marinette?”

At the same time, both asked, “What are you doing here?”

Laughing, Adrien said, “Jinx, you owe me a soda.”

“You didn’t answer my question, I owe you nothing.”

“Um… I’m sort of sneaking out,” he admitted sheepishly.

“Ah. Heard you’ve been doing that a lot, lately.”  

Adrien shrugged, blushing slightly. “Teenage rebellion? What about you?”

“Just, uh, taking a walk. Clearing my head and so on.” She nodded. “Yep.”

A bit of an uncomfortable silence set between the two, and so Marinette hurried to excuse herself. “Well, I better get going. By the way, you might want to use a cap that’s not the color of a traffic sign if you want to pass unnoticed,” she joked, but Adrien distinguished the inklings of sadness in her voice. He was too used to putting up a happy face when he felt anything but to not notice Marinette was doing the same. The smile didn’t reach her eyes.

His stomach churned, he hated to see her looking so down. He suspected it had something to do with Luka, probably a fight. He found himself fighting the urge to ask. He knew he shouldn’t meddle, after all, that’s the reason why he didn’t want to reveal himself. But if there was anything he could do to make her feel better, he’d give it his best shot, even if it was just as Adrien.

After a few seconds of deliberation, he stopped her. “Hey, I know this is out of nowhere and I don’t mean to be awkward but, uh, would you like to just… hang out a bit? We could find something to do. I mean, unless you’re busy…”

Marinette pondered on it for a second, taken a bit aback by the proposition. “Sure, why not. What do you have in mind?”

Adrien stood up and dusted off his pants. “Are you up for a little breaking and entering?”

“Erm. No?”

He laughed. “It’s not as illegal as it sounds, I promise.”

Adrien and Marinette headed to the first convenience shop they could find to buy as many snacks as they could fit in Marinette’s backpack. They were essential to his plan, Adrien assured as he insisted on paying the whole loot himself.

Thanks to his neon cap, they almost busted his cover but after a few “Oh really? You think I look like Adrien Agreste? heh. I get that a lot,” they managed to buy their goods. Once packed, Adrien started testing the front doors of different apartment buildings to find one which wouldn’t be locked.

“Success,” he said, as they found one after a few tries.

“What are you doing?” Marinette asked, completely confused as she followed him through the stairs all the way to the top floor, where he struggled with the door to the roof. He pulled a card from his wallet and clicked it open.

Marinette was absolutely dumbfounded.

“You are an actual criminal,” she said, laughing breathily.

“After you,” he said, and then grabbed an indistinct bottle which lay on the rooftop to prevent the door from closing.

They sat down at the edge of the rooftop and emptied Marinette’s backpack, each grabbing the drink of their choice. As Adrien deliberated which pack of gummies–since gummies were his favorite–to open first, Marinette tried to push away how awfully reminiscent this was of her meetings with Chat Noir. On very quiet nights, one of them, usually Chat, would volunteer to detransform, head to a convenience store or a kebab shop to grab a late-night snack, which they would eat at the top of their favorite sightseeing spots.

“So, this is what you do in your free time?” Marinette said, opening a bag of chips to go with her soda. “Sneaking into people’s rooftops?”

“You could say that, I guess,” he said.

Marinette shook her head as she munched on the chips.

“It’s just nice to hang out where no one will find you sometimes,” he explained.

“Yeah, I can see the appeal…” After a moment of silent contemplation of the landscape, Marinette spoke again, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Only if I get to ask you something, too,” he said with a wink, to which Marinette rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Okay, shoot,” he said.

“How come you’ve been so rebellious lately? I mean, I just noticed you’ve been missing your gazillion things to do, and Nino just mentions it sometimes. I don’t mean to pry, it’s just… you always seemed so, so–”

“Boring?”

“Perfect.”

Adrien scrunched his nose in disgust as he stuffed his mouth with a handful of Haribo bear gummies. “Precisely because of that. I’m tired of acting like someone I’m not.” He sighed. “I was doing it to please my father because I thought… I thought if I just did what he wanted he’d get out of his head and mourn my mom like a normal freaking person. But lately I’ve realized he’s not grieving her, he’s just an asshole.”

Marinette perked up at the comment, suddenly remembering Chat Noir’s suspicions.

“That sounds tough… Is there anything in particular that he does, or…?”

Adrien gave her a funny glance. “He made me homeschooled ‘til age fifteen. And he also sorts of forced me into this whole model thing. I mean, I don’t have anything against it, but I would like to stop at some point. My dad will probably have an aneurysm when that happens, though.”

Marinette chuckled half-heartedly. “Yeah.”

“Anyway, I just try not to think about it ‘cause otherwise it just gets super depressing,” he said, pulling his knees to his chest. “Can I ask you now?”

Marinette nodded.

“How come you’re so… calm right now?”

“Calm?”

“I think this is the first time we’ve had a full conversation,” Adrien said, with a bit of a blush. “It’s… nice.”

“Oh. That, heh.” Marinette blushed, too. “I don’t know, you always just made me a little nervous, is all.”

“Why, is it because I’m famous?” he said, acting smug so as to annoy her, to which Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Ugh. You’re so full of yourself,” she said, chuckling. She didn’t know what came over her as she jabbed him with her elbow. There was a certain familiarity to the lightness of their conversation that she couldn’t pinpoint, something that made her simply trust him.

Adrien was surprisingly open about himself. It could be they were enjoying a sort of privacy that was almost just reserved for her and Chat Noir, but it was pleasantly surprising. She almost felt sad that she hadn’t gotten over him before.

A few years ago, she would never had done this in a million years, but in the light of how her breakup with Luka made her realize important things about herself, she just decided to let him know.

“It’s kind of silly, actually,” she said. “I used to have this huge crush on you.”

Adrien coughed on his drink. “Really?” he said, managing to sound shocked. It was not because he didn’t know, but because he was surprised Marinette actually had the guts to admit it to his face.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “But it’s all water under the bridge now, don’t worry.”

“Oh, sure!” Adrien said, laughing nervously and unable to feel a little wounded. “And anyway, how are things with Luka?”

“That’s two questions in a row,” she teased, trying to steer the conversation away from that topic.

He rolled her eyes, ruffled her hair, and used the distraction to snatch the bag of chips from her hands.

“Hey! What you’d do that for?” she exclaimed.

“There’s your question,” he said grinning at her and handing her the bag again.

Marinette laughed, faking indignance.

“You don’t have to answer that, though,” Adrien said, assuming a quieter demeanor. “I just noticed you’ve been looking a bit down lately, and Luka doesn’t hang out with the group anymore, so I thought maybe something was going on… but actually, don’t answer. It’s nosy of me, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Marinette said with a sigh, looking out to the city. “Actually, we just broke up,” she admitted, sadly.

“What?”

Marinette shrugged, without looking at him as tears were threatening to make an appearance. “We just… we weren’t right for each other.”

Adrien regretted the turn the conversation had turned. “You really love him, huh?” he asked quietly.

“Yes… no… I don’t know,” she admits. “It’s complicated. I do love him, just… not in the way he wants me to–it’s just… It’s a mess. I really care about him, but I realized lately that I sort of love someone else, so it’s really not fair to keep dating him. And he was the one that broke up with me, anyway. He was smart enough to figure it out before even I did,” She sniffed and suddenly realized what she just had done. “Oh, wow. And just like that I’m oversharing. I’m so sorry, I rant without noticing, sorry,” she said blinking back tears and fanning her face, chuckling with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to dump my problems on you.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Adrien hurried to reassure her, if only so as to hide the confusion Marinette’s confession stirred inside him. “I don’t mind.”

After a while he said, “I get it, though. It’s the same reason I broke up with Kagami.”

Marinette turned to look at him. “It sucks big time,” he said. “I didn’t want to let her down because she’s a great girl and she was unbelievably good to me, but… At one point you just realize it’s just not fair.”

Marinette nodded, surprised that Adrien would understand exactly where she was coming from. “That’s… that’s… you get it, yeah.”

The moment was abruptly interrupted by a sort of commotion. A massive electric blue cloud of dust rose in the horizon, then contracted, then expanded, again and again. It was an Akuma, no doubt, but it seemed almost as if it was glitching. As if the butterfly couldn’t decide whether or not to akumatize.

Both of them stood up at the same time, snacks forgotten.

“Uh… we should get down,” Adrien offered, knowing that Marinette would probably look for an excuse to go transform. “It’s not safe up here with an Akuma around.”

“Right!”

They rushed downstairs and out to the street. Marinette seemed evidently stressed that she wouldn’t be able to shake him off so again, for her benefit, he inconspicuously played his ringtone and pretended someone had called him.

“Yes? Aha. Yes. Okay.”

He pretended to end the call. “I should probably head home,” he said. “They found out I’m sneaking out.”

“Yeah, yeah. Me too–I mean, my parents don’t like it if I’m out and there’s an Akuma, so… see ya!” she said.

Adrien had to laugh at the fact she didn’t even wait for him to say his goodbyes.

He turned to an indistinct alley to transform and vaulted in the direction of the Akuma.

#coccinelle writes #the wall between us #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fanfic #ml #ml fanfic #love square #slowburn #adrinette #ladrien #marichat #ladynoir #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #luka couffaine #alya cesaire #kagami tsurugi #lukanette #adrigami #ladybug #chat noir

[pricemarshfield]

what do you truly desire?

A Deckerstar human/romcom AU. Chapter 5/10, read on AO3 here (or the full fic here). Will be rated E eventually, so minors DNI.

Five months later, Lucifer's life is fantastic.

It's not a surprise. His life has always been better than the average person's: plenty of money, some of the world's best alcohol, possibly the most active sex life of anyone in the LA area. Maze's brief trend of being gentle after Chloe had rejected him because of her has long-since ended, so she's back to her normal self: quick-witted and vicious and Lucifer's best friend.

She doesn't tell him anymore stories about her roommate, and he doesn't ask her about Chloe. It's basically the same way they did things before, just with the one tweak. Still, it's not as though he doesn't know when she tiptoes around things. Maze happily starts a story about building a model rocket with her other best friend (Lucifer holds a hand to his chest, mostly-mock-offended) but then clams up when Lucifer asks the friend's name or any other details, or Maze corrects him on some minor detail about LA's liquor laws that only someone who spent a lot of time with a cop would know. (Lucifer doesn't remember what that one was. Maze handles the books.)

Lucifer continues to talk up their customers almost every night, waxing poetic about their most expensive whiskeys, whispering in a handsome man's ear about how good Maze looks mixing cocktails, helping them through the potential sexuality crisis that tends to cause. It's certainly not a traditional lifestyle, but anyone he has a conversation with long enough to actually talk about it tend to say how lucky he is.

Which is right, obviously. He's lucky. What more could he want?

Of course, the life of a club owner doesn't start at opening. He needs a new suit, deep blue for an event someone's paying a truly sinful amount of money to host at Lux, and his tailor won't do house calls. Maze had tried, at one point, to wake him up earlier, if only so that he'd cook her breakfast since she burns everything short-of-but-sometimes-including toast. But he spends over a thousand on just the sheets on his bed, let alone how much he spent on the mattress, and he's damn well going to enjoy it.

(It's not--and this is crucial--it's not moping. He doesn't have anything to mope over, definitely not, his life is absolutely wonderful and he doesn't spend any time thinking of a blonde woman who doesn't swoon at everything he says like anyone he puts any effort in with, the first person he'd been interested in since Eve and the rebellion she represented.)

He's running late for the appointment, due to some truly abysmal traffic and a lack of parking anywhere near the shop, so he's rushing along through the crowd of people that seem to be omnipresent anytime he needs to get somewhere quickly in this city.

"Excuse me, pardon me, I'm actually in a hurry, so--okay, now you're purposefully obstructing everyone here, step to the side if you're going to text--" He turns his head to stare down the offending party, a stern-faced woman with a harsh haircut and horrifically short bangs--when he runs right into someone in the street and gets hot coffee all over his person.

It's not necessarily bad form to swear in public, but the string of words that come out of his mouth certainly cross the line into bad etiquette. It hurts like a motherfucker, and worst of all, the shirt he's wearing is white. Lucifer spares a moment to be thankful--not to a God or anything, just in general--that he's already got an appointment with a tailor.

"Shit!" says the woman he bumped into, and Lucifer turns his head to see Chloe. Because he'd only just managed to mostly put her out of his mind, and the universe is a vicious, punishing thing. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry--"

She's still looking with dismay between his shirt and what's left of her coffee, not at his face, and Lucifer coughs a little. "I didn't take you for a black coffee drinker."

Chloe looks up at him, eyes wide with surprise. "Lucifer? That's--insane, LA is a city of almost 4 million people, what are the chances?"

"Given my luck? Quite high, actually," Lucifer says, and Chloe's expression shutters almost quick enough for Lucifer to miss the flash of hurt across her face. "Because of the coffee! Not--I did like this shirt, but it is good to see you. And I'm near my tailor, anyway."

Chloe still looks a little offended, but she manages a small smile up at him. "You have your own tailor?"

"Well, suits like these don't come off the rack." He holds his arms out, realizes that he's now blocking the crowd and being a huge hypocrite, and lowers them. "Let's step to the side for a second."

"What? Oh, right," Chloe says, and gets out of the way. Someone shoots them a dirty look as they shuffle through to the side. The--chicken and waffles place...interesting--has a bright, tacky red-and-gold awning that gets them a bit of respite from the shade so they can talk.

Chloe digs through her pockets, pulling out receipts and crumpled-up straw wrappers. After glancing at his face, she says, "I'm just trying to find a napkin or something to get the coffee."

Lucifer looks at the reflection of the two of them in the window. His shirt has a giant brown spot in the middle of it that, while it should come out with dry cleaning, is certainly not going to be helped by old napkins. "I'll buy a new shirt while I'm at the tailor. Hopefully it won't need alterations."

Chloe snorts. "'Alterations.'" Her British accent is abysmal and sounds less like him and more like an offensive impression of a character from a cult classic BBC show. "This place looks like a college haunt, you could probably get a USC T-shirt inside until you get home tonight."

Lucifer shudders. "Ugh. Absolutely not."

"What, you're telling me you don't have any cheap clothes that you hold onto just 'cause they're comfortable?"

"A silk robe is comfortable," he grumbles. "Certainly more comfortable than a T-shirt from--" He looks at the door, squinting against the glare of the sun against the 'restaurant' door. "--Classic Southern Cafe of the West Coast."

"I mean, the name leaves something to be desired, but if a place with a name like that's still open then it can't be all bad."

"Or someone with more money than sense decided to throw their life savings at something they were completely unqualified for. Like that cafe in Boston."

Chloe blinks at him. "The cat cafe?"

"You're familiar!" Lucifer says, delighted. "Maze told me about it, she delights in disasters."

"...she told me, too."

Right.

"Okay, look," Chloe says, and Lucifer braces himself for the worst of it. "I'm really sorry about the way I kicked you out." Oh? "I mean...I just--okay, I'm not jealous."

"I hadn't thought you were?" Lucifer says, unsure if he's about to be insulted or what. He's not letting himself be hopeful about anything, though, suffocating the urge to be optimistic about it before it can say whatever it wants to. If this conversation goes well, he'll be pleasantly surprised, and if not, he won't have lost any of the progress he's made over the course of the past few months.

(The most he's hoping for is that he'll be able to talk to her. He enjoys that, more than he does talking with almost anyone else.)

"I just mean...ugh, okay, Maze and I were a thing, okay? Just briefly, barely a month! We didn't really work like that, but we made good friends, and then she was moving out of her old roommate's place and I needed to move out of my mom's old house and it just worked? And it was just--weird, you having slept with her and me also--fuck, sorry, I'm rambling."

She is, which seems pretty unlike her from Lucifer's previous two times that he'd met her, but it's annoyingly endearing anyway. "It's fine, Detective. Don't stop on my account."

Chloe reaches a hand up to rub the back of her neck. "Right. And I just...don't really casually see people, okay? I mean, Maze was an exception. Not in that way, I'm definitely bisexual, just...yeah. And as much as I liked you, I just don't think I have the room for a relationship right now."

Lucifer's heart definitely doesn't drop down into his stomach at that, not at all. "Of course."

"I would like to hang out, though? As friends?" Chloe says. "If you're alright with--"

"I am," Lucifer says, quickly enough that he accidentally interrupts her. She grins up at him, though, so it's good, it's fine. "I...do have to get to this appointment, I need a suit for work--"

"Yeah, of course, sorry to keep you, and sorry again about the coffee! You were right, too, I don't normally like my coffee black, but it's--not important, go get a new suit."

Lucifer nods and smiles, a little awkward, a little unsure, but generally...happier. It's not even as though he was in a bad mood before, but now he's smiling easier, chattier with his tailor, doesn't mind the stain on one of his nicer shirts that's had some time to set in now and might not wash out as easily as he'd like.

--

Maze has been staring at Lucifer ever since he walked into the bar, wearing a new shirt and a smile. She's been drying the same glass now for almost five minutes, despite how busy it is at the bar and how much Patrick's scrambling to get things done, and it's now just a matter of which one of them will break first: Maze's impatience or Lucifer's love of talking about himself.

Lucifer really does love talking about the things that go well in his life, though, and Maze hasn't even blinked for the last stretch of time. So eventually he heads over with an eyeroll, doesn't miss the victorious smirk on her face, and sits down at the one barstool that's, miraculously, available.

"Spill," Maze says, putting the glass down at last and starting to mix a drink, to Patrick's obvious relief.

"I ran into Chloe," Lucifer says, delighted, and looks to see if Maze will tense up, if she'll show any jealousy that her ex is spending time with him. Decidedly platonic time, but still. He doesn't want a repeat of what happened with Eve. That had been a difficult time for their friendship, and for Lucifer in general, if he's being honest.

She doesn't seem to, not smiling (normal) but nodding in agreement as she looks down at the drink she's pouring. "Cool. Did you go try and find her at the police station or something? Hold up a sign like that dumb movie?"

Lucifer scoffs. "No, of course not, that would have been completely inappropriate, and not in a fun way. Especially given she rejected me." Much as that stings, it's still a novel feeling.

"Good," Maze says, sliding the drink over to a customer who only barely manages to catch it before the glass would've fallen and shattered on the floor and gotten--whatever that drink is, some lurid pink thing, all over her clothes. "So...what? She came to see you at Lux before we opened?"

"No," Lucifer says. "We just ran into each other."

"Jesus, what are the odds," Maze says, grabbing some orange juice from beneath the counter. "You wanna come back here and help out?"

"Of course not," Lucifer says, then walks to the back of the bar to help out anyway. He's not actually good at mixing drinks at all, but he knows where everything is, mostly, grabbing Maze some rum and chopping limes since they're running low. "Are we especially busy today or something? I've never seen the bar this backed up."

"Well, you weren't telling me right away, I had to make a point," Maze says with a quick glare at him. "Apologize to Patrick."

Lucifer doesn't particularly feel like apologizing to Patrick for Maze's behavior, and Patrick seems a bit too busy with pitchers of sangria to do much of anything. There's a lull in their conversation as they get drinks out to the customers as fast as possible without missing any tabs or charges or anything else, but then it slows to something they can talk during.

"Well, I'm glad it worked out, I guess?" Maze says. "Did she, like, rip your shirt off or something? I didn't think Decker had it in her."

"No," Lucifer says. "While I'm not at all opposed, she actually just spilled some coffee--"

Maze laughs. "Holy shit, really? Wow, I didn't realize she was mad at you! I'm normally really good at picking up on anger!"

"It was an accident, Mazikeen, would I be in a good mood if it wasn't?" Lucifer says, annoyed, wiping down the counter with a rag just to get the worst of the condensation and sweat off.

She doesn't respond right away, and when he looks back, she's smiling at him, softer than she normally would. "Hey. I'm glad you're in a good mood about it."

"Okay?" Lucifer says, unused to Maze being nice when she doesn't want something from him. "Why--"

"Which is why I'm gonna tell you right now," Maze interrupts. "That you're my best friend. And that I care about you."

"I--okay? I--"

"And that if you hurt Chloe," Maze says, still smiling, still with that same casual tone. "I will fucking end you. Got that?"

"I haven't even done anything!" Lucifer protests. "Is she getting this same shovel talk? And besides, she's said she's not interested, it's just--friendly."

"Oh," Maze says, relaxing against the counter a little more. "Really? Wouldn't have guessed that. Also...yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, she got the same shovel talk," Maze says with another eyeroll, all trace of her sweet, fake smile gone. "Obviously. You're my best friend."

Lucifer nods, shoulders dropping just a little. It's not that he was worried Maze was picking between him and Chloe, like it's some sort of fight, but it's--nice, to be reassured that she's on his side anyway.

"Also?" Maze says, glare getting worse.

"Also...I care about you too?"

"Thank you!" Maze says in her sweetest, fakest voice of all. "Also, I'm guessing you two didn't exchange numbers again?"

"Shit."

"It's fine, I got you, let me just make sure Chloe's cool with it once I'm home," Maze says. "You're definitely both being stupid as hell, but whatever, at least it'll be fun to watch."

--

At 1:43am, after they've finished closing up and cleaning and getting everything ready for tomorrow, Lucifer checks his phone for the first time in an hour and sees a text from a number he doesn't recognize.

Hey! It's Chloe. Maze gave me your number, she said you said it was okay

If it's not, I'm sorry and I won't text again

And if you're not Lucifer, I'm sorry and please let me know?

Hello, Detective

She doesn't respond, but it's late enough that she's probably asleep, and frankly, after having to actually work tonight, he's about ready to pass out himself. So he does, gets into the most comfortable sheets he's ever head and is unconscious almost as soon as his head hits the pillow. He misses one more text, from a number he hasn't texted in years.

hey! i'm back in town if you want to meet up! let's partyyyy

#deckerstar #chloe decker #lucifer morningstar #lucifer on netflix #fox lucifer #fic: what do you truly desire? #my fics

[echos-orchard]

Equinox, Chapter 1

...so...I'm rewriting an old story of mine, and was actually pretty proud of the results of the first chapter so...yeah!

Equinox is the story of Chloe and Orion, newfound friends who find themselves struggling for survival after a geometric disaster.

The human mind, a dark and dangerous place...or at least it can be. It’s almost taunting sometimes, how it exploits our deepest fears and insecurities...regrets.

Chloe sat in silence, listening to her psychology teacher ramble on about god knows what. Honestly, she knew that this would probably be on the test, and that she should be paying more attention- but she just couldn’t. Instead, she continued to doodle in her sketchbook- a concentrated look on her face. 

“Psst, hey,” she heard the whisper of a boy's voice. It was probably one of her classmates asking  a question to someone- or seeking the attention of a friend while the teacher was distracted. She continued to draw in silence, stuck within her own little world. 

“Chloe, incoming!” the same voice whispered, a tad louder this time. She looked up, and was about to ask him what he wanted, when the teacher came and scooped up her sketchbook, idly flipping through and saying something about how it was a fine example of personality, but Chloe was far too embarrassed to listen. Mrs.Hemingway turned the book showing the rest of  her students- Chloe’s peers, the weird stuff she would doodle in her free time. 

The teacher placed the book back down on the desk with a smirk before walking back to the front of the classroom...what a bitch. Chloe placed her head in her hands, face redder than a beet. She could hear some of her classmates snickering, of course this would happen. The bell rang, Chloe practically threw her book bag behind her, and sprinted out of the room into the already growing mass of students flooding the halls. 

Lunch time was usually a time for friends to meet up, talk about life, and have fun together in a crowded lunchroom, but Chloe wasn’t about that shit. When she first transferred to this school two months ago to start her senior year, she made a vow to herself that she would never ever eat in that vomit inducing, disease ridden room. Instead, everyday she would go outside and read instead of eat- because fuck people, and fuck overpriced school lunch. Even so she was happy with her schedule. She would sit and read in silence, free from all the annoying assholes she went to school with. She was allowed to be lost in her own little world for forty five minutes before returning to hell. 

Chloe sprinted down the stairs to the first floor, where most of the students had already filed out. Taking a few deep breaths, she stopped in front of the bathroom, walking in cautiously. She checked every stall to make sure that they were absolutely empty, no one else needed to see her mess. She looked at herself in the mirror, sleep deprived dark brown eyes pooling with hurt and anger, her black hair that went down to the middle of her back was  disheveled, all around she just looked fucking terrible. 

She took a shaky breath. What the actual fuck? Why would her teacher do that? Everyone knew Mrs.Hemingway was a bitch but seriously!? It took everything in her power not to cry, but hey, she managed. Chloe combed her hands through her hair, trying to smooth out the previously perfect braid she once had, honestly just trying to regain her composure. She rinsed her face with cold water, reapplied her lip balm, readjusted her black sweater and skinny jeans, just doing some self care after that stressful situation. After calming down, she left the bathroom, entering the empty hallway- or well almost empty. A boy stood awkwardly reading a few feet away, on the opposite side of the hall, smiling ever so slightly. Though the content smile made the situation ever more strange seeing as he was reading outside the girls bathroom? The boys room was down the hall.

The dude had some decent height on him, Estella had to fucking look up to meet his eyes so.... He stood about six foot or six foot one or two?, while she herself stood about five foot five, which was a tad shorter than most of the girls around her school. He wore a red and white varsity jacket over a black t-shirt and some jeans. The guy had a mess of honey blonde hair and bright blue eyes that were looking down at a book he was slowly flipping through, no no not just any book. Chloe’s sketchbook. Fuck. This. Shit! How did he even get that, she was sure she had put it in her bag. What  did he come to tease her about it or something!?  Don’t fucking think so. Chloe snatched the small book from his hands, squaring her shoulders, and looking him dead in the eyes.   

The boy seemed taken aback for a second before smiling at her, “Sorry I didn’t really mean to snoop I just...you’re a killer artist dude!”

Chloe narrowed her eyes, gazing at him warily. Huh? The fuck did this man just say? Her drawings were trash, what was he thinking  of pulling here?  The jock stuck out his hand, “I’m Orion Berry, you’re Chloe Anderson, right?  We have a few classes together!”  He said cheerfully. 

Chloe shook his hand cautiously, honestly just confused about who the fuck this kid was, and why he was talking to her, if not just to bully her. “Yeah nice to meet you, sorry I’m a bit busy right now” Chloe mumbled, walking past him towards the double doors that led outside.

Apparently he didn’t quite catch the hint. Orion followed her, talking on and on about who the fuck knows what, Chloe wasn’t really listening. She sighed, fed up with this shitty day and this annoying kid she didn’t know or want to talk to, following her like a lost puppy...maybe this was why she had no friends actually. Chloe continued walking toward her usual spot on the bench in the courtyard, tuning out the overly excited jock to her left.

 “Sorry Orion, I actually need to meet up with some friends now, I really shouldn’t keep them waiting anymore” Chloe fake laughed, trying to get him to leave her alone.

“But you don’t have any friends Chlo-…” The boy blurted out, it only took a second for his eyes to widen and throw his hands over his mouth. ...okay ouch.

Chloe stopped in her tracks, “Excuse me?” she said, a sad melancholy filling her voice. 

“I have plenty of friends you douche!” She raised her voice slightly, catching the attention of some passersby.

Orion flung his hands off his face, shaking them panickedly  “No no no no that’s not what I meant to say, I just have never seen you hanging out with anyone before-”

“So what, you have been stalking me too!?” Chloe was both absolutely pissed with this kid, and sad at how obviously lonely she apparently was. Orion looked genuinely apologetic, but she didn’t even care, she wanted to but she has had such a shitty day. Her mother yelled at her that morning, and it was raining so she came in late and soaking wet. She forgot her math homework at home, was teased by a group of girls at her locker, had a sore throat from crying the previous night and was off key in choir because of it, and then she was embarrassed in front of her entire psychology class, and the day still wasn’t over! 

“No! We have a lot of classes together, I told you earlier! I just assumed- I’m sorry!” Orion tried to defend himself desperately. He definitely did not need a rumor flying around calling him a stalker. 

Chloe took a deep breath, “What. Do. You. Want.” She spoke clearly and harshly. Orion  frowned and faltered for a minute. “I just wanted to be your friend...you looked like you were having a hard day, and Hemingway obviously didn’t help... I’m sorry.” 

Fuck. Now she just feels bad. He didn’t want her to be stressed out and all alone. God fucking damn it. She sighed and put her face in her hands. “Well why didn’t you say anything before now?” she gritted out.

“I...I  did? Just a few minutes ago?” He mumbled. Of course. Of course he did. Right, when she wasn’t paying attention. I mean this wasn’t all her fault, right?...no it totally was, one hundred percent.

“Okay fine. You can tag along or whatever, just like shut up and yeah...sorry” She gave in. Orion brightened up a little, and the two of them walked in silence to the courtyard. Once she got there, Chloe collapsed onto the bench and closed her eyes. Orion smiled and sat by her. They sat there in awkward silence for a good few minutes, Chloe could feel his eyes on her and she sighed. 

“What do you want?” she asked, meeting his bright blue eyes. 

“What’s your favorite animal?” He responded innocently, a strange sense of wonder in his eyes.

“I don’t know, maybe like a panther, or owl, or something.” She replied. Then she sat there and answered questions for thirty minutes. She actually didn’t even mind it, he was pretty fun to hang out with. What the fuck? Chloe couldn’t believe how much of a bitch she was being to him earlier,  that was kind of fucked up. 

Still part of her struggled to believe it. He had to be planning something, maybe talking to her as a dare? When lunch ended they walked to class together, Orion still being his happy self and Chloe being tired as fuck but whatever.

When Orion said they had a lot of classes together, Chloe was expecting maybe two, not like the entire day...EXCEPT two. Honestly she did start feeling better, after completing her work in history she ranted about her day, it was nice to have someone listen. Orion even seemed happy to listen, and offered her some advice. They just kinda vibed and worked together all day. ...It was nice, unexpected, but nice.

The final bell had rung and Orion was still sitting and talking.  “Can I walk you home Chloe?” He gently asked.

“Absolutely not.” She laughed. Orion whined for a second before pouting. 

“But why not?

“Well first off I said no, second off I just met you, and third I said no, fuck you” Orion laughed at her response. 

“Well what are you doing later?” He asked cheerily.

“Studying, drawing, chores, the usual I guess. What about you?” Chloe said, honestly vibing with her new found...friend? Adopted son? She would totally adopt this dumb puppy.

“Visiting my little brother before his surgery.” Orion responded absentmindedly.

“Is he sick, or injured, or something?” Chloe questioned.

“His name is Oliver, he’s like twelve, he’s getting a tumor removed later today” 

“Oh, I hope it goes well.” She responded empathetically.

Orion smiled and thanked her. “We should hang out soon though, yeah?” Chloe tilted her head to the side “Do you have something in mind?” 

“How about we go to the movies?” 

Chloe nodded, “I’m free Friday?” 

”Sounds good! See you tomorrow Clo!” Orion said, walking out of the classroom, a slight skip in his step. ...Bro...Did she just agree to a date? Is she going on a date? Or like a friend date? Are they hanging out as friends...or? Chloe’s face flushed, no, no way it was just a friendly outing, they had literally just met. Either way she couldn’t help but smile.

...

...

...

...

God, she wished things could have just stayed that way.

#writing #writeblr #writblr #writers #creative writing #original writing #fiction #distopian #slice of life #angst #wip #ocs #oc #Skye's Storytime #equinox #fluff #drabble #rewrite #Chloe Anderson #Orion Berry #fantasy #disaster #sad #literature #love #friendship #sarcasm #action #adventure #art

[currentfandomkick]

Miraculous Team and the Batboys

Longer update, wrote the ao3 version first this time. if you want to find me there, crazyjc.

--

Thankfully there weren’t any akuma attacks that day or that night. Marinette was glad to get some sleep for once. Her body, confused and used to a few hours a night, got her up early.

Marinette decided to help with the morning rush—quick to handle the register and make adjustments to some people’s orders (no extra charge for the exhausted high school and college students) when she managed to find someone as dead as she was after an akuma messed up her commission schedule and sleep was skipped for a week.

“Wow, you’re getting the ‘Please Don’t Let Me Die Again Yet’ special.” Marinette turned before the zombie could speak. “Maman, watch the register, someone looks worse than midterms and commissions me.”

Once Maman took the register again, Marinette worked on her disaster drink that only a few particular customers knew of from her personal menu--mainly the dead college and high school students insane enough to pull a weeks worth of all nighters like her. And baby parents that liked her parents bakery.

Gurarana beans instead for the extra caffeine with her special blend of licorice root, peppermint and green tea poured in--double the caffeine with less effort, glucose for the brain fuel, sweet and mint for wakeup and focus, and green tea for lasting energy boost.

“Here, this should keep you up and a bit more functional than usual.”

The man raised an eyebrow.

“Oh my god, what got Finals Angel up this early?” One of the regulars almost yelled, staring at her with a look that screamed the universe was going to collapse in on itself, and they were now anticipating this outcome until they got their morning fix.

Marinette shrugged, moving to the next customer as the dead man took a seat and pulled out his laptop. She continued to help until it was getting close to class.

“Maman, the rest of that brew is under the cabinet for the laptop zombie, I’m taking my morning delivery now.”

Maman took over while Marinette made her way to school, passing out the usual deliveries as she moved about.

“Adrien, your insult to caffeinated monstrosities everywhere.”

“Thanks Marinette!” The blond held his (essentially) hot chocolate with one pump expresso, and five three shots of caramel on top of whip cream.

“Chloe, why you have me grab something this sweet this early is only further proof of your crimes against humanity.”

“You’re welcome Dupain-Cheng.” The girl nabbed her (in Marinette's opinion) low caffeine sugar water--licorice root with half a bottle of honey, and lots of ice with whip cream and honesy drizzled on top. She would never understand that order, but was too afraid to ask at this point. She might be taking the Bee thing too far.

“Alya, thank you for being a sane coffee person, Nino, we are having a talk about your scheduling.”

“Thanks gurl." Because close or not, Alya was an addict with a simple and reasonable coffee that restored Marinette's sanity while making it.

Nino groaned as he took his pastries and three cream, one expresso. “Not again, I still haven’t recovered from the last time.”

Marinette shrugged. “Your mistake, not mine.”

“Oh, did you get my cookies?” Sabrina asked.

Marinette rolled her eyes with a fond smile. She likes Sabrina when she isn't in full cling mode, and giving her boxes of pre-paid cookies put together on Marinette's whims? Very calming after dealing with Adrien and Chloe's offending orders. “Yes. You paid for a different set everyday.”

“Thanks!” Sabina examined her current mix, more obscure cookies since Marinette got them before the morning rush.

“Markov, please tell me Max got some sleep last night?” Marinette asked as she handed another of her special “Max needs a nap but is to stubborn to” order--which is essentially an energy drink blend with a few slow-release teas mixed in.

“Affirmative. He got the requested minimum of three hours. I will ensure he gets more once school is out.”

“I’ll take what I can get.” He was less prone to akumatazation with more sleep, and Hawkmoth does like using Max. Marinette likes knowing she can have her teammate in the field without wondering if he'll pass out.

Marinette took her seat by Alya. They weren’t as close anymore, but it did mean Lila was alone in the back and didn’t see the group document.

“Class, we have a new student today!”

Marinette frowned. She wasn’t informed of any newcomers. She looked over at Chloe who huffed. She didn’t know either then.

“Class, this is Damian Grayson from America. His father is here on business and will be joining us for the semester!”

Chloe and her shared a look. With Chloe as the current president and Marinette as the head of the welcome committee, this was very last minute for them not to be informed. Especially as Bustier had the time to since both were here early.

Alya shot her a look.

Marinette shook her head. She really didn’t know, and it bugged her.

Alya narrowed her eyes as the new boy came in. Black hair, stood too straight and Middle Eastern. She wondered what his first language was briefly--someone in school was bound to be fairly fluent. If it was related to Arabic, Rose would be a good translator. Her and Adrien both have Mandarin now, and her English was passable to Americans--not so much for the UK. Alya has Spanish while Nino has Portuguese covered. Chloe was good for UK English and so was Adrien, but those two weren't good for new kids... especially from the America. Mylene, Ivan, Nathaniel and Juleka were bad at talking most of the time, so they were no-gos...

And she still had to finish Ali's commission… This would be a headache if they were an old Chloe-type.

“Damian, why don’t you tell us about yourself.”

“No need to. I do not plan on making friends.”

And he was worse than an Old Chloe-type. There went her free period for commissions.

The entire class shared a look, and Marinette wanted to groan. This boy would be in for a rude awakening—there was no escaping friendship in Bustier’s class. And anyone difficult? They would sent Marinette as envoy--hopefully Alya didn't make easy.

“I presume my seat is in the back?”

“Actually,” Alya stood up with a grin, “I was going to sit back with Lila to help her catch up in our next class.”

Marinette froze as she realized what Alya was doing. Keeping the new kid from Lila was good, but she also needed to keep Alya from falling for Lila’s lies again. And she has no clue on his preferred languages and uh!

“Alya,” she hissed.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Alya moved to the back with ease before the boy could say a word.

Marinette hit her head. Why was her friend like this?

“I guess that means you’ll sit next to Marinette. Marinette, can you show Damian around during your free period?”

Marinette knew that tone. There was no refusing without a lecture on being a good role model and another reprimand for stepping down from class representative and student government when she got more commissions and needed more time.

“Of course Miss Buster.”

Damian took his seat without saying a word.

Marinette decided it was better to stay silent with this one--he didn't want friends, and would only be here briefly. She could respect that, even if she could feel the others scheming otherwise.

“What do you mean you know—“

“Oops,” Lila grinned. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

And that was what Marinette was hoping to avoid.

Damian twitched next to her. Marinette sighed, “One sec, I need to remind someone to check her sources before getting ahead of themselves… again.”

Nino shot Marinette a sympathetic look while Marinette linked three redacted articles that starred Lila as her main source.

“And done.”

Damian raised an eye brow at her. “You aren’t going to pester me, correct?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. Honestly? “You made your stance clear. I’m here as the actual head of the welcoming committee, and during free period I’ll just need to know your interests so we can avoid the parts of the school that aren’t relevant for you, and to make sure you have an idea how to handle akuma attacks since I’m going to guess they didn’t tell you about that before you applied.”

“tt,” Damian leveled her with a scowl. “Of course I know about them.”

Marinette didn’t bother to hide her surprise. “So you know where to go for shelter, the drills, the apps and news sources that are good for tracking, which hospitals are contactable during attacks and which ones go into lock down, oh and what actions are allowable and not as civilian aides to the miraculous team?”

The boy froze before her. He didn't then.

Her face slid into a more neutral one--keeping her gloating to herself.“That’s what I thought. I have a few flow charts in the committee room to grab since its an info dump and no one processes those well, and your learning style may benefit from it for all I know.” Marinette made sure not add ‘since some people can’t be bothered to tell me.’ The new boy clearly wasn’t interested in friendship, and despite what the class thinks, she is not friendship-nip.

“I…”

“Class, turn to page 67 of your textbook. Marinette, make sure to share with Damian.”

“Yes Miss Bustier,” Marinette moved the book between the two of them, ignoring Damian besides checking where his eyes were on the page before turning as they followed along.

Once their free period began, Adrien had a Chloe guarding him against the Lila octopus, with Sabrina flanking his other arm as backup.

“I take it those three are together?” Damian asked once they left.

“No, Chloe doesn’t share her friends well,” Marinette explained as they moved through the halls. “And it keeps away his fans, so no one stops it anymore.” Not unless they wanted the Mayor’s ire at least. It was very effective against Lila.

“I see…” He was watching her. She wasn’t sure if it was an American thing or just a tic of his. Possibly both.

“That’s where the teacher’s offices are for before and after school,” Marinette gestured to one wing. “All the doors are labeled, so its easy enough to find who you’re looking for as long as you have a name. You’ll find most of the school services there as well, minus the nurse who’s room is closer to the quad.”

Marinette smiled when they got to welcoming committee room. None of the other members were there at the moment, but the file cabinet was. She grabbed one of the ready-made packets and grabbed a spare Bustier Class packet too.

“Here’s the information for being new in Paris, everything from common places to eat, the good hole-in-the-wall places itemized by what you’re looking for, everything relating to akumas is on the red papers, and the yellow is the school’s map and procedures.” Marinette handed him the blue folder, then the orange. “This one is the Bustier-class specific one approved by Miss Bustier. It lists everything from class rules, what caused various akumatazations with the victim’s consent to disclose it, so not all are listed, and it has your schedule and the class outing dates plus who’s interested in what on the pink pages for possible friends, but you said you weren’t interested so we can skip that.”

Marinette watched him look over the papers for a moment, waiting until his attention was back to her. “Now, anything you have a vague interest in that you might have some random inclination to do at Dupont during your free periods, before or after school?”

Damian raised an eyebrow at her.

“Its you let me tailor the tour for you, or you have to go all over the school and talk to me the entire time, when we both know you’re really not interested.”

“Tt.”

Marinette shrugged. “Have it your way, now, on with the tour!”

--

Damian gawked at the core ciruculum including what he knew was more college level than high school level. Then there was the fact these students had access to multiple state of the art facilities tailored to current students interests on campus, with little issue getting them apparently.

“How does your school get all of this?”

The pigtail girl almost laughed at his question. “I guess they just sent you here since we have the most flexible curriculum routines then.” The girl shifted how she stood. “Dupont is an experimental school, everyone is given high expectations on entry but as long as you keep up with grades the school gets whatever any student requests—a few years ago we had one kid that was allowed to do rocket science as part of his program, he went to some German facility with a translator every other day. Alix has a blanket permit to do street art and installations on public property, as long as she gets her design approved and can give them her schedule as long as she helps other student with history classes. I get full access to any designing materials as part of my deal with the school in exchange for doing any school event costumes and tailoring jobs that I get a two week notice on.”

Damian nodded along, processing this new information. Suddenly, the high amount of akumas from graduates and current students of Dupont made sense. They were specialists, extremely skilled at their crafts and more likely to be knowledgeable than the general population on a variety of topics.

--

Marinette was glad for their hour-long lunch. “I’d ask if you wanted someone to eat with you, but you look like you need some time to process. I’ll check in before school ends.”

She ran home, noting that the man from that morning was still there but looked much less like he would keel over sometime soon. She knew that brew would help. She grabbed a croissant and ran upstairs to finish Prince Ali’s latest commission—a variant on his usual princely attire that was more maneuverable but still formal enough that no one would notice when he wore that one instead of the traditional one.

She had a feeling he was going to use it to sneak away from his guards.

She set an alarm and got to work.

She was quick to leave once the alarm sounded—she gave herself an extra five minutes this time.

“Hey, you’re the coffee angel, right?”

Marinette turned to see the man from that morning, now much more alive.

“I guess.” Marinette knew not to give out names to customers unless her parents deemed them not-stalker-y.

“Thanks, that thing actually worked. What’s in it?”

Marinette smiled at that. “Sorry, that’s a secret not even Maman and Papa get to know.”

“Huh,” the man processed her words. “Guess I’ll have to keep coming when I’m low then.”

Marinette nodded. “Guess so, good to see you’re no longer a zombie monsieur!”

She ran off at that, not sure what to think of them yet, other than if they needed that drink regularly, they might be worse than her. And she has heroing as an excuse. He doesn’t.

--

Holy shit was not expecting this response.

Thank you all so much, was not expecting this much positive response and i think my brain broke a bit, in the good way.

So, we have a new fan to Marinette's secret menu, and a Damian slowly realizing why the school is targetted who is also going with the 'I don't do friends' thing, again.

leaving this one as a poll: Damian calls out Lila by the end of the day for how Marinette and him end up as friends, or he puts together Marinette is doing a lot for the class by the end of the day and wants to figure out why, especially after reading the Ladyblog during lunch, or any other ideas.

Any ideas on how Marinette meets Dick and Jason for when she meets the next round of Batboys?

@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @littleredrobinhoodlum @northernbluetongue @kceedraws @pirats-pizzacanninibles @theatreandcomicfreak @daminett4life @catthhay @weird-pale-blonde-person @amayakans @chocolatecatstheron

#maribat #daminette idea au #miraculous team and batboys #my writing

[vln-vibes]

Ephemeral Flowers

WEEK 3 DAY 7 of Maribat March; BROKEN Part of Staying Whelmed and Erable.

Ships: Dickinette, AdriKon, NatMarc

Summary: They won. Earth was saved from the Reach... but at what cost?

Paris, France June 20, 12:20 CEST

“Everyone get to the shelters!” 

Adrien was lucky he was already out when this disaster began. His mom had called to see if he’d been alright, he felt an uneasy squeeze to his heart when he told her that he was in the safety of the Bourgeois hotel; he never liked lying to his mom before, but he didn’t have the choice right now. Not especially after he just got her back.

Somehow, he thought six hurricanes surrounding the Eiffel tower and making their way around the city was easier to handle than their Final Stand barely a month ago.

“You think this has anything to do with the Reach?”

“Most likely, Chaton” Ladybug’s voice was in his ear, the team going around and helping the citizens head to previously designated akuma shelters. Ryuuko had activated Wind Dragon form to try and contain the hurricanes in one place, but they seemed to be more powerful than the average hurricane… y'know, considering there were six.

“Any word from the Team?” Bunnix asked.

“Guys, I know what's causing these things!” Viperion’s voice was hard to hear, a lot of interference where he was. All their devices got pings, each of them showing an oval shaped device floating in the air with a swarm of drones surrounding it, currently in statis.

“What the hell are those things?” Monarch asked, indigo locks, where normally red hair was, blew wildly in the air.

“I’d say that looks pretty alien to me” Paon responded, their embroidered royal blue mask shaping to the same furrowed brow they had. “It's like the Reach’s final present to Earth, if anything. Y’know, one last kick to the heroes and all that.”

“Mon ange, now is not the time to think of how fitting this would be in a writing point of view”

“Look, it's either this or panicking.”

“It.. a.. Eiffel….attack..g hurry!” Viperion’s signal was beginning to cut out, but they all got the idea.

Paris, France June 21, 05:16 CEST

The Dupain-Chengs watched as the Justice league announced that the reach had been defeated; the world was now safe.

The world panicked as machines began to pop up in different places of the world, two even in Paris, but were dealt with by their own heroes. Many had wondered if they would continue once Hawkmoth was defeated, but they continued to protect their home. It was of no real surprise when they teamed up with the other heroes to take down the Reach. But something deep within told them that all was not well when the announcement was made.

“The Reach is being sent back into space and will be awaiting trial Green Lantern Corp.” Captain Atom announced as the crowd began to cheer, but his face was not one of celebration. Wonder Woman taking his place at the podium, sadness and acceptance in her eyes before speaking.

“But it was not without a cost; Today we mourn and celebrate the lives of the Parisian heroes who gave their lives to save the planet”

A hologram appearing behind them, one by one appearing as she said their codenames;

“Souris,Tyger, Paon, Monarch, Bunnix, Taurus, Roi Singe, Pegasus, Ryuko, Viperion, Carapace, Queen Bee, Rena Rouge, Chat Noir and Ladybug.”

The permanent smile on the holograms made Sabine’s heart ache, those young heroes who’d been protecting Paris for more than five years. They had finally defeated their villain only for them to parish.

But she knew there was more to it. She might have been paranoid, but a mother’s instinct was never wrong

“Oh their poor families,” Tom said, shedding a few tears for their beloved heroes. A knock on the door interrupting their solemn thoughts, going downstairs to open it they were surprised to see a red eyed Richard with his younger brother, Tim, and friends, Artemis and Wally.

“Richard? Is everything alright?” Sabine tried calming her voice, but alarms rang in her head as she noticed their matching expressions. The same look of guilt and regret as no one dared look her in the eye.

“I-It’s about Marinette “ Richard softly spoke, the group silently entering the apartment. “I think you need to sit down for this, both of you”

Tom and Sabine shared a look, both instinctively knowing that they would not be seeing their little girl for a long time.

“... She wanted to tell you for so long” Artemis’ voice cracked, handing them a small device. Sabine cradled it in her hands, one last thing from their daughter she was sure. Pressing the sole button on the device a hologram popped up before them; Marinette was there from the waist up, as though she had been sitting when recording this message, the only identifiable item of clothing was a black zipped up half-jacket.

‘Hi maman, papá. If you’re seeing this then it must mean that my mission is complete or I gave it my best til the bitter end’ her little girl looked so tired, as though the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Had she always looked like that?

``I don’t know how long I have before our final fight, but I gave it to Dick so he’d give it to you guys just in case. For nearly the past seven years, I have been at the front of what seemed to be an endless war. I’m sure I’ve changed, hopefully into a respectable woman that will make you proud. The truth is…’

‘Please don’t.’ Sabine stubbornly thought as the tears welled up in her eyes, her husband's squeeze on her hand tightened as they heard her next line, a familiar mask being placed on her face. The world froze and her blood grew cold.

‘I am Ladybug; wielder of the Miraculous of Luck and Creation, Guardian of Miracles and Protector of Paris. I wanted to tell you for so long, but with Hawkmoth out and about I just𑁋I just couldn’t! I couldn’t allow you to suffer, knowing I was out there everyday  risking my life because of some maniac with too much power in his hands. I didn’t want your lives in danger because of my selfishness.’

Their sobs echoed in the now too empty house, regardless of the other guests in the room who accompanied them in silent tears.

‘I hope you can forgive me for having to learn this way. I can only pray I made you proud. Know that wherever I am, I’ll always love you. Signing out, your daughter Marinette Dupain-Cheng.’

Paris, France June 21, 05:16 CEST

Conner Kent hated the news he had to give.

But he owed it to Adrien.

He stepped into the gates of the newly named Graham de Vanily Manor, knowing that it was late, but hearing soft speaking voices come from inside. Part of him wished that he had agreed to let someone come with him, but he knew that there’d be other places that need visiting.

Too many.

As he softly knocked on the door, knowing its residents could hear him, Conner felt like he would throw up. The last look of those emerald eyes haunted him and made his heart ache.

He heard the heavy doors open and thought he saw a ghost.

“A-Adrien?” he felt his throat tighten before noticing the differences; this new figure was taller, leaner, hair platinum blonde instead of honey, green eyes with specks of gray.

“No. I’m his cousin, Felix,” the lean man asked, clearly perturbed by the fact that a complete stranger was knocking at their doors at five in the morning.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Can I come in, it’s about Adrien” Conner could hear his spiked heartbeat as he moved to the side and beckoned him to the family room. 

In the room were three figures, two of them looking nearly identical if for differences in hues and a few hardly noticeable grays on the paler one (then again losing your sister and husband would do that to you). It explained why Felix looked so similar to him, at first glance they could be mistaken for twins. The other was a big burly figure, bigger than himself.

He knew Emelie Graham de Vanily and Guillaume ‘Gorilla’ Durand. He could only guess that the other woman was Amelie, the aunt that lived in England with his cousin that Adrien would sometimes talk about.

“Conner.” Emelie caught his attention from her wheelchair next to her sister. He hadn’t known her for long, mostly through stories he was told, until she was woken up; then he was introduced as Adrien’s boyfriend.

“Mrs. Grah- I mean Emelie” 

Conner couldn’t do this.

He didn’t want to.

But they deserved to know the truth.

“It’s fine dear. I’m afraid Adrien was going to spend the night with Chloe when that disaster started.” her eyes clearly worried, looking out the window, the first few rays of sunshine peeking through this somber morning.

“I hope they were fine” Amelie sighed in agreement, “Can I offer you something to drink?”

“No. No it’s fine, thank you” he took a deep breath, not wanting to allow his own emotions to overcome him. 

“I need to speak to you about Adrien.” Everyone’s heartbeat elevated as he did nothing to hide the somber tone in his voice, and Conner wanted to hate his super hearing. 

“Adrien left this behind. In case anything happened, he wanted for you to read it before letting anyone else say anything.” he pulled out a black envelope, in silver cursive it said, ‘To my Family’

“Co-Conner, what is this about?” Emilie’s hands shook as she got a hold of the thing, as though she were afraid it would burn her.

“I think you should read the letter first.”

‘Hey fam,

I know I just got you back, which is why I’m sorry this had to happen. What I’ve been doing this past half decade has been a real wild ride. After what happened with mom, Gabriel practically locked me up in the mansion, only letting me leave whenever it was for his convenience. I was just the trophy son, I wonder if he ever loved me.

Life is full of unexpected turns, one minute you feel like you’re locked up in the highest tower by an evil witch, the next you’re on the adventure of a lifetime with the best friend you can ever ask for.

There’s a lot of things I regret not doing; not stopping Chloe from becoming a total brat and bully when we were younger, not going to uncle Arthur’s funeral, being complicit in Gabriel’s will and therefore Lila’s and especially harassing one of my best friends because I couldn’t take no for an answer just like that man. 

I regret not telling you that I am Chat Noir, the Black Cat of Misfortune and Destruction and  Protector of Paris.

I hope you can forgive me for not coming out with the truth sooner but m’lady and I had already come to an agreement to not tell our families in fear that they’d be targeted by Hawkmoth; can you imagine what would have happened?

Even with all of that over and done with, the risk was too high, and honestly I didn’t know how to casually bring it up in conversation. Oops.’

Emelie’s voice cracked as she choked on a laugh, her vision too blurry to see what the next word was, quickly engulfed by her sister in a hug as she passed the note to Felix. His own eyes were bloodshot but he refused to let any tears run until he finished reading.

‘Most importantly I regret not proposing to Kon.’ 

Conner felt his heart stop. The world was spinning around as the line repeated in his head; did everything always look so blurry?

``I was going to ask mom for her ring, but I thought it’d be better for a wedding. I even started wedding planning with Mr. Dupain-Cheng, did you know he’s a hopeless romantic?. Mari thought I was insane when she helped me pick out the ring. We got it custom made too; Tungsten𑁋 one of the strongest metals on Earth, it’s harder than Steel!

I had hoped to give it to him myself but things don’t always turn out the way we want them to and I’ve learned that that’s okay. I lived my life to the fullest and experienced things no others have; pretty cool I’d say.

Forever your little cat waiting for his knight,

Adrien Agreste Graham de Vanily’

Conner hadn’t realized he was crying until he felt a small object placed in his hand, Felix having placed it as he shook in an attempt to suppress his tears. Connor realized that it was the ring Adrien had gotten him.

The mansion was filled with sniffling, the shadow of a cat seemingly looming over them.

The WatchTower  June 20, 07:16 EDT

Lex Luthor did not think everything would go to shit with the Reach so quickly. Neither he nor the Light trusted those aliens as much as Superman could throw them; that is to say they were just using them and planned on backstabbing them once their usefulness was done.

Not only had they killed one of the members of the Light, not that any of them thought he’d be gone for long, but they had also planned to betray the Light as well.

He convinced the most likely fired United Nations secretary general Zhang in order to call the League; he may not like them but he also enjoyed living on Earth… maybe until they find a sustainable planet to move their society to should anything happen.

“Luthor! What are you𑁋”

“ Secretary Zhang was kind enough to let me borrow his frequency,” he decided to ignore Captain Atom’s outrage and cut to the chase. “As I have a possible solution to our mutual problem”

“A problem created by you and the Light when they collaborated to bring the Reach to Earth.”

“But as I believe you know, the Light always planned to betray the Reach. Lexcorp𑁋”

“I think that’s enough of that Luthor,” the man could say he was surprised by the sudden appearance of the Parisian superheroes who’d “recently debuted” after defeating a magical terrorist that had been rampaging for the past years. He hated having not known that, apparently it was something no one in the Light knew.

Though Vandal Savage and Ra’s al Ghul gave interesting looks when finally catching glimpses of them.

“We have already created a solution, one that needs no help from the likes of you,” Ladybug’s eyes glowed red as she looked at Luthor, a ladybug themed flash drive on Nightwing’s hand.

“And trust that the Light will see justice for their crimes”

With that Chat Noir cut the transmission, the team turned back to Blue Beetle as he continued to create Reach Tech eggs, as per Ladybug’s instructions, and Pegasus transferred the flash drive's information into them.

“Alright guys, we have 19 Magnetic Field Disruptors to destroy and stop the world from ending”

They distributed the eggs with groups of two going up against each MFD; one as cover while the other went to disable the device. There were barely enough heroes available as the majority had gone out to help with rescue of the citizens.

“I love it when she takes charge like that.” Nightwing sighed before helping distribute the eggs and sending the teams to their designated areas.

Paris, France June 21, 05:16 CEST

Kaldur’ahm found himself in front of a ship, The Liberty. He never ceased to feel like it matched Luka’s easy-going attitude.

As he boarded the ship he could see some water remaining from the storms earlier, quickly using his hydrokinesis to throw it back into the river.

He was procrastinating.

He walked down the deck towards the door leading to the cabin. With a swift knock on the door, he could not hear anyone approaching; that’s when he noticed the bell. 

He needed to deliver the news.

He pulled on the rope as the bell chimed loudly, a muffled yelling coming from within. A woman with graying hair in a messy braid came out, although tired, there was a clear resemblance to them in the way she currently looked like she’d skin him alive and feed him to the fishes for waking her so early. It was a few times he’d seen the siblings genuinely angry and he could say it matched the woman before him.

“What’re ya doing on my Liberty so early?” she wipes the sleepiness from her eyes and adjusted her glasses. Despite how carefree she’d been described, he couldn’t help but think she looked older than she should.

Oh right.

She became a single mother of two at barely thirty years.

“My name is Kaldur'ahm, a friend of Luka and Juleka. I am… sincerely sorry. I am afraid I did not come bearing good news” the woman, Anarka Couffaine, looked alert and like she was about to fight him. He gave her the item the siblings entrusted the team to deliver should anything happen.

Luka and Juleka had left a song. 

Anarka did not hesitate to go down to her children’s room , an old radio with a DVD player being used to play the song; Luka’s soft guitar strums soon became accompanied by Juleka’s gentle voice.

Happiness and joy

Sorrow and sadness

You and I

We shared them together

Shared for a time

But suddenly faltered

Flowers of a dream

Anarka slowly sank onto the floor, Kaldur holding her to the best of his abilities as silent tears. As soon as the strums of the guitar started she knew what it meant; she had learned to understand her husband, and then her son's way of communicating after all.

A field of grass

Leads to heaven

A gentle wind passed by

When you gave a smile

Nothing to fear

Forever in my heart

Blooming flowers prevail

“H-How did they… ?” Anarka’s broken voice softly spoke as the music continued.

Despite what Nightwing had said earlier, he couldn’t help but blame himself; if they had captured all of them earlier, then perhaps the Reach would not have gotten the chance to implement the MFDs. If they had detected the two remaining at the poles, then none of this would be happening…

“They were heroes.”

Paris, France June 21, 05:25 CEST

Batgirl and Impulse were there at the Kante residence only for Claudie to beat them to the punch.

“Max programmed Markov to tell me everything if his vitals couldn’t be detected anymore” her sad but proud smile did nothing to help them feel less guilty for the single mother.

Wonder Girl stood in awkward silence as Eden and Roux Lavillant-Piaf reacted to the news of their daughter’s death. The two men taking comfort in each other's presence as they cradled one another, Eden humming a tune she thought was familiar while Roux shed silent tears, one she later realized was one of Souris’ favorite songs; La vie en Rose.

Kid Flash didn’t know what to take of Kagami’s note;

‘I do not need that woman’s tears, nor those of whom call themselves my family. I would rather tell the Dupain-Chengs or Couffeine, however, if these are being delivered they are already heavily burdened. Knowing my friends shall mourn my loss is enough’

He also didn’t know what to make of Nathaniel’s request;

‘Don’t tell my family about Monarch. I doubt they’d even care’

The beautiful smell of the land that lingers in our history

Sands of black that color every little corner

I saw eternity only once, but I realize it cannot be kept in sight

Paris, France June 21, 05:30 CEST

Bumblebee was not surprised by Abeille’s video to her parents or even the fact that she was ‘fired’ by Audrey Bourgeois. When Guardian asked her about it she just shook her head in somber.

“Some people mourn differently”

“I always knew my little Marc was a hero” Mrs. Anciel, Paon’s grandmother if Garfield remembers correctly, said as she sat in her rocking chair in a daze “I just never thought it’d be so literally”

The Le family had just thanked L’gann with clear tears forming in their eyes after giving them a letter in a language he did not recognize. It wouldn't be until after that he learned Roi Singe’s native tongue was Vietnamese .

Our lives are truly in a world of wonder

A poem of my life - it's a pretty song to remember

We already acted a thousand lives

For the briefest moment in our long history

Paris, France June 21, 06:16 CEST

Robin, Tigress, Blue Beetle and Miss Martian felt their hearts heavy.

They had decided to be the ones to inform the Cesaires, Kubdel and Lahiffes of what happened to their daughters and son.

They were the only heroes apart from the Couffaines that had siblings.

“If I had never given her that watch” Mr. Kubdel buried his face in his hands.

“You didn’t know but maybe she did… She was always a spitfire, I don’t think we could have stopped her if we tried” Jalil told his father. Neither men wailed, they simply hugged each other for a while.

“No! She𑁋She can’t be gone!” Ella and Etta had viciously tried to beat at Tigress as he kneeled down to them. The hug she gave the twins seemed to trigger the waterworks as they devolved to sobbing.

“I couldn’t protect her…”

“You can’t blame yourself for this” Blue Beetle tried consoling Nora as she sat on the couch, hand on her head as she hid her face from everyone; he knew that if he heard about Milagro he’d feel the same. 

“He’s too lame to be a hero!” Chris yelled out “You’re lying!”

“You know we’re not,” Miss Martian said soothingly from her place with Ms.Lahiffe, trying to help the crying woman.

“I hate him! I hate him!” Chris’ yelling got louder 

“No you don’t” Robin spoke next to him, “No matter how much you fight, no matter how much you get on each others’ nerves, no matter how much you wish you’d never see him again… You still love him. He’ll always be your big brother”

“How would you know?” Chris’ voice cracked as he finally realized that his denial would do nothing to bring Nino back.

“Because I lost my big brother too”

I love you; I miss all of you

No warning what had happened then

I won't ever say goodbye

Metropolis June 20, 08:30 EST

“So now that Hawkmoth’s gone are coming back to Gotham?” Robin asked from behind Taurus, the hero engaging in a fight with one of the drones, headbutting it into the other one.

“Don’t know replacement,” he grunted “I kinda like it there, but I do miss the English language, as annoying as it is”

“Well,” Robin continued, using his bo-staff to push away the drone blocking the main device, “You know you always have a place back home, right?”

With one last dash he pressed his egg onto the MFD, deactivating their device. The two heroes looked at each other proudly as Taurus smirked.

“Yeah I know”

Birds are singing

Clouds are drifting

Trees are rustling

They cover the night

Gotham City June 20, 08:30 EST

“Hey Ma fée?”

Nightwing leaped across the street, throwing an EMP on one of the drones before Ladybug used her yo-yo to throw them away.

“Yes, Mon coeur?” Ladybug looked at him curiously

“I was thinking” he touched the MFD with the egg, letting the machine fall onto the Gotham street, “Maybe it's time we take a break from the whole hero business. I doubt we’ll be able to fully take off the capes like Wally but𑁋”

The two shared a tender kiss, the last strike of lightning disappearing from the Gotham sky.

North Magnetic Pole June 20, 13:50 UTC

They missed two MFDs.

Their locations blocked them from the initial search until Blue Beetle and Tyger told them that there were still two out there in separate parts of the world.

Ladybug had volunteered her Team to go, originally just planning to go by herself and Chat Noir while Rena Rouge and Carapace could get the other; Viperion and Bunnix immediately objected and instead her whole team was deployed to go.

They were herself, Monarch, Paon, Taurus, Viperion, Ryuuko, Tyger and Souris. The other team was Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Abeille, Bunnix, Pegasus and Roi Singe. Pegasus would teleport both teams to their destinations due to the simple fact that there were no Zetas in the Arctic or Antarctic.

She would lead the team to the North Magnetic Pole; Chat Noir would go to the South Magnetic Pole.

“We’re too late…” 

Ladybug’s crestfallen expression was felt by her team as they watched the Magnetic Field disruptor reach its chrysalis state as they watched the ice cave collapse in on itself. The Earth will fall in a new ice age… 

South Magnetic Pole June 20, 13:50 UTC

“Both MFDs have reached Chrysalis state” Chat Noir informed the Watchtower. He didn’t think it would all end like this.

After everything they went to, after finally defeating Hawkmoth, after finally getting his mother back and the literal end of the world had to happen.

‘No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!’ Plagg’s voice echoed in his head, ‘We can still stop this if we combine our powers’

“Ladybug, is Tikki𑁋?”

“Yes, she also says we can do it.” Ladybug’s steeled voice responded before he finished asking.

They could still save the world, they could still stop the Reach from winning.

But Chat Noir knew better than to think that there would be no consequences to their wild plans.

“Are you in, Noir?” 

“Always, my Lady”

Adrien could only hope they could forgive him, and that the letter would get back to them in safety before feeling his consciousness merge with the god’s.

Time passes by

With merciless pride

The sun will rise again

Mount Justice Remains June 21, 00:02 EST

Batman found the need to stop himself from gaping at the remains of Mount Justice. Sure it had been sabotaged and destroyed partially before, but now it was gone.

All of it thrown with chunks of rock and metal scattered around the beach.

As he and the others descended with help from the Green Lanterns, Hal and John. He couldn’t help but fear it was too late. 

They were too late.

“By the Gods” Diana gasped, suddenly clutching at her head, “Something is wrong”

With a gust of wind they were greeted by Flash, followed by Miss Martian’s bioship landing on the beach. One by one the Team came in various forms of disarray and emotionally compromised.

“Oh” Martian Manhunter sumbered, likely reacting off of the wave of sadness the teenagers made no effort to hide. Batman missed the look of remorse and sympathy sent his way.

“What happened?” He hadn’t meant to growl it out, but there were only so many reasons why the whole team would feel this way; there were casualties.

Batgirl and Nightwing could barely look his way before Robin decided to take a step forward. Tim had always been able to push aside emotions better than Barbara or Dick.

Our lives are truly in a world of wonder

A poem of my life - it's a pretty song to remember

We already acted a thousand lives

For the briefest moment in our long history

“The Reach left one last surprise for Earth in an attempt to cover their tracks; Magnetic Field Disruptors meant to cause natural disaster before forcing the next ice age. All but two MFDs had been deactivated, each located at the two poles. By the time we arrived they were already at their chrysalis stage. Those sent were able to deactivate them… at a cost” Tim choked out as he heard Diana, Kal and Sheyra take sharp breaths, it had to be bad for him to get so emotional.

“Robin?” Batman kneeled as he placed a hand on the younger’s shoulder.

“T-There were no survivors B”

“... Who was dispatched?” Diana asked, fists clenched in frustration of being too late and having others pay the consequence.

Batman must have been too distracted by Tim’s state to have noticed Nightwing launch himself into his arms and silently cry.

“I’m sorry Batman.” Flash stepped forward, and he knew Barry well enough that the man was probably holding back tears. Batman felt a familiar sense of dread build up inside him; the last time he felt this way had been when….

“Team Miraculous was sent.” 

Bioship June 20, 13:55 UTC

“Whatever they’re doing, it's working!” Atom’s voice could be heard on the comms as Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Tigress, Robin and Nightwing sped as fast as they could to the North Magnetic Pole. Aqualad, Superboy, Impulse and Blue Beetle made their way with Sphere to the South Magnetic Pole.

“The power’s too strong” they could hear Chat Noir mutter with Plagg’s familiar echo.

“Can’t stop! Won’t stop now!” Ladybug gritted out as the interference with their comms got stronger.

“AHH!” The sudden screams made their blood freeze as they could only think of the worst case scenario.

“It’s not time, not yet!” their mantras continued as the static became painful.

Both groups made it to their destinations as the bright white light of the MFDs became tinged with color. The rainbow of lights shot up higher in the air before a similar bridge of light joined it, both Team’s powers combining in that moment.

“They’re doing it!” M’gann and Bart cheered before Jaime and Tim interrupted.

“Something’s wrong!”

“What do you mean fade!”

Suddenly the light began to expand, encasing the heroes inside before their figures began to shimmer and break.

With one last look the lights gave one last powerful glow, it dissipated, spreading a warmth like that of a hug to each of them.

But by the time each group managed to look, the cold finally seemed to reach them.

There was nothing left behind.

Paris, France June 26, 10:00 CEST

The official story was a kidnapping.

The teenagers that disappeared some time last week during what many had taken to calling “The Reach Invasion”; Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Graham de Vanily, Luka and Juleka Couffaine, Chloe Bourgeois, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Cesair, Nino Lauffey, Max Kante, Le Chien Kim, Alix Kubdel, Nathaniel Kutzberg, Marc Anciel, Rose Lavillant and Jason Todd-Wayne. The fourteen children and single adult had been caught up during the chaos of the Reach’s invasion and had been taken when looking for shelter. 

There is always a little truth in every lie.

The amount of missing children cases in general had been increasing since the Reach had arrived on Earth, but even after sending them off to Oa they had yet to find evidence of all of them. Only a small percentage had been freed, now having to undergo Metahuman training, and sent back home or relocated. 

Over half had been deemed unsatisfactory and were subsequently terminated.

But that still left about forty percent of potential victims to be found and rescued.

But their parents knew that their little heroes would not be part of that percentage.

They had saved their planet at the ultimate sacrifice.

“Today… We would like to honor the fallen heroes of Paris by lifting a new statue in their memory for all their services… One that is long overdue and that we can only hope they will see from wherever they are'' Mayor Bourgois spoke, though his eyes seemed so far off, not that anyone would blame him after they caught word of his daughter’s disappearance. There was a major turnout for the unveiling, it seemed as though all of Paris was present; guests like Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Bruce Wayne and his sons Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, Oliver Queen and his newly found son Roy Harper, Lex Luthor, Prince Ali of Achu, Audrey Bourgois and reporters like Lois Lane, Cat Grant and Iris West-Allan were in charge of reporting live.

The statue was golden, each hero caught as though they were in the middle of action with it’s two longest heroes in the center, the rest surrounding them for a 360 effect; 

Ladybug and Chat Noir back to back, one with her scarlet yo-yo flying midair and the other using his baton to jump like a cat with a black gloved hand behind him. On Ladybug’s side was Viperion strumming his harp, his arm’s bangle glowing turquoise, while on Chat Noir’s was Rena Rouge caught playing the orange flute in the middle of a leap. Next was the newest heroes Monarch and le Paon on Ladybug’s side, one with a white with purple butterfly about to fly away from his outstretched hand, the other blowing into a single blue feather, while Tyger and Souris were on Chat’s, Souris also leaping while using her pink jump rope and Tyger getting ready to roar, magenta claws cusping around her mouth. Roi Singe was in the back of Ladybug and Chat Noir, his yellow glowing bo staff frozen mid twirl before calling for “Uproar”, assisting him was Bunnix, using her umbrella with a baby blue glow at the tip as a sword, and Pegasus with his horseshoe boomerang, arm encircled with a blue ring. Ryuko, in the middle of transforming into Wind Dragon form, with her ruby sword at hand and Abeille, launching her glowing spinning top, charging into the fray. On the sides were Carapace, with his shield armed up in front of them, the beginnings of his shield being formed in a translucent green glass, and Taurus, with his fists in the middle of punching and eyes glowing red, defending the group from oncoming attacks.

“I’m so sorry,” Dick found himself whispering once the ceremony was done and everyone had left their offerings. If only he had done better; if only he had asked them to join the raid; if only they had caught everyone instead of leaving them divided and scattered;

The rose gold ring weighed heavily in his pocket.

I love you; I miss all of you

No warning what had happened then

I won't ever say goodbye

They talked about what would happen in the future; neither saw themselves leaving the hero business anytime soon, it was too hard to after so long. She  had dreams of becoming a top-tier designer while he wasn’t sure what he’d do. They jokingly said he’d be a stay-at-home father or a model for her line.

Now none of that would be happening.

“He looks different from when he was Robin” he heard Tim whisper, melancholy and reminiscence, in his look as he stared at Taurus. Definitely more brute stregth and hands on but that look of mischief and cockiness were the same as Robin II. 

“He was always a little shit” Dick laughed softly, remembering that they’d be adding the Miraculous team to the new Grotto at the Watchtower, Jason’s being specially made to display both his time as Robin and Taurus.

Today would be his last day at the Watchtower for a while.

He was tired, after all of this, and was ready for a break. He knew Conner also planned on doing the same thing while Artemis was coming back to active duty despite Wally’s reluctance. He wasn’t too sure about his best friend, but the redhead insisted that he wanted to get his degree first before going back to the hero business, even part time, he even began hinting that Dick could go to college and try and get a semblance of normal life; they both knew it was in vain but neither said anything.

But before any of that he still had business to take care of.

Paris, France June 19, 00:20 CEST

Marinette woke up in a cold sweat.

The same nightmare she’d been having for the past week.

Her Team would fall for the sake of the world.

“I think we both know what this means Mari,” Adrien said silently as they watched the Parisian night atop of the Eiffel Tower.

“I don’t want it to come true” Marinette could feel the tears starting to sting her eyes.

“Then we’ll do our best to stop it” Adrien’s determined face made a soft smile appear; something told her that as hard as they’d try it wouldn’t change a thing.

But it was nice to hope.

“Why should we make these goodbye messages?” Chloe asked skeptically that morning after the team had gathered. They had just been told to do them or write any  requests for someone to follow if anything should happen to them. After all Marinette and Adrien had finished theirs.

"Come on Chlo, just do it."

"Better to do it than regret not doing it."

"Think of it as a little thing to look back at when we come back after missions. A motivation to come back and destroy it"

They just hoped they’d be forgiven.

Paris, France June 26, 12:30 CEST

Walking into the Dupain-Cheng household he found that it was much colder than anytime he’d come to visit. Sabine and Tom had let him in with no hassle, the duo still reeling in the fact that Marinette was gone, he was too. They made little small talk for once, just checking to see how the others were doing and to not be strangers, before they excused themselves to meet up with Tom’s parents. Dick went up to the familiar step of stairs and opened the familiar hatch.

Her room looked the same as it ever did except it was missing a certain shine, an aura of creativity. He supposed that with the owner of the room and the goddess of Creation missing that would happen.

Her scattered design sketches and pieces of fabric reminded him of the latest project she told him about. Balls of yarn from when she started knitting or would use to play with the Kwami, and Adrien from time to time. Schedule reminding him of all the plans they had for once Hawkmoth was caught.

He made his way to her desk, a secret compartment on the side of the desk had been almost invisible to all except those who were aware of its existence. Opening up the small door he let out a small gasp, the Miracle box reminding him so much of her again; 

The box was in the shape of an apple blossom, fading from red at its center to white at the tips, overall its appearance was rather simple but then again they always said appearances are deceiving. He then took out an old phonograph, a tablet, and an ancient book, the Miracle Book or Grimoire. With a sad sigh he pressed the small apple blossom’s center at the top before tapping the top petal, followed by top left, bottom right, bottom left, top right and center again. The lid to the compartment lifted, revealing seven empty slots, before opening up its petals, two layers of six petals stretching themselves so as to not cover each other. Only four compartments were being used. Using a bag he carefully stored the box inside the phonograph while using a satchel for the Grimoire and tablet.

He already told Zatanna and Zatara about the Grimoire, the two assuring him that it would be safe and that they’d even get other magic users like Constantine and Doctor Fate, who seemed to think he owed a debt to the Kwami and would honor their remaining comrade, to help protect it. The tablet could go to Tim and Barbara who’d have the best bet in perfecting the translations and encrypting it further so even if someone got their hands on it they’d have a hard time even unlocking it.

But he hadn’t thought of the Miracle box.

He looked up at the pink room with nostalgia, remembering every video chat, midnight meeting, talks at the terrace, impromptu sleepovers, designing frenzy, fashion talks, modeling session, strategy meetings, emotional breakdowns and kisses they shared in the very room.

He couldn’t help but want to take it with him.

Dick looked at her desk, a photo from when they were still Ladybug 1.0 and Robin, one he took as Dick Grayson when he commissioned her to make him a suit for the Wayne Gala (only to wear it to the Sweetheart’s Dance), one from Rolling-Stone wedding as he was twirling her around the dance floor and another from a few weeks ago when they were celebrating Hawkmoth’s capture with the Team. More photos littered her wall; Adrien and Wally arm wrestling, Artemis and Alix doing parkour, Kaldur learning some guitar from Luka, Conner being subjected to a makeover from the girls and Adrien (which he needed after his third year of wearing the same outfit), M’gann meditating with Barbara, Nino and Marc, Tim and Max looking at some sort of schematics on screen, of Jason during combat training with Kagami, Chloe and Black Canary.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

“Are you alright?” Dick hadn’t realized that the tears began to fall again. He turned around but saw no one there.

No one would be there.

“We miss her too” the voice spoke again, Dick knew he couldn’t be hallucinating, looking inside the bag he noticed the Miracle Box glowing even as it was held shut. With far more patience and calm than he truly felt Dick opened the Miracle Box again with four bursts of lights appearing as he did so.

He barely remembers Marinette explaining the Miraculous to him but he did recall the kwami’s names and powers;

Barkk, dog kwami of Bonds and Foraging.

Ziggy,  goat kwami of Endurance and Speed.

Daizzi, pig kwami of Abundance and Ingenuity.

Orikko, rooster kwami of Forethought and Cycles.

“I miss our Guardian” Daizzi cried into Ziggy who seemed to be in a similar state, Orikko looked quiet but clearly saddened given his downward feathers and comb, Barkk was the one who had been speaking to Dick.

“You loved our Guardian, she loved you very much” Barkk sniffled sadly.

Dick realized that they not only lost their Guardian but their fellow Kwami as well;

He wasn’t the only one left with a gaping hole in his heart by the love of his life and little brother.

“Hey now,” he said, taking the miniature gods into his arms in a small embrace, “You won’t be alone. We’ll make it through this, together”

As Dick made one last glance at the room, memories playing out like ghosts before him, he secured the bags containing Marinette’s precious items and made his way out of the cold apartment.

He didn’t know if he’d ever recover, just like with his parents; But he knew he wouldn’t be alone.

He just hoped that he’d make them proud, from wherever they were watching.

Nothing to fear

Forever in my hear

Blooming flowers prevail

Ko-Fi

#maribat au #Maribat #MaribatMarch2020 #Maribat March #Week 3 day 7 #Broken #Dickinette #Dick x Marinette #dick grayson x marinette dupain-cheng #AdriKon #Adrien x Conner #Adrien Agreste x Conner Kent #angst week #ml x dc #ml x yj #mlb x dc #mlb x yj #Staying Whelmed & Erable

[dakotacrisis]

Deal’s End (4)

Operation: Get Marinette a Boyfriend Through YA Novel Shenanigans is a go!

(Read on AO3)

---

It took Marinette a whole of five minutes to start regretting making her deal. After the contract was signed and they shook on it Felix went into planning mode. He was rambling off a bunch of ideas on how to get Adrien to notice Marinette more and get them alone together. That itself wouldn’t have been bad, in fact she was actually impressed with his forethought to the situation.

No. It was when the ideas came into practice that she started to panic. She was sitting in her seat waiting for class to start and Felix was standing next to Adrien talking. Felix had said he would talk her up to Adrien and to not worry about it.

She had entrusted her love life with a demon. It felt like there was plenty to worry about!

The two continued talking and a couple of glances got sent Marinette’s way before class started.

Her leg was bouncing the entire class period. She couldn’t wait to know what it was her demonic wingman had said about her to her crush.

At long last the bell rang and Marinette shot from her seat to ask Felix what he had told Adrien.

“Cool down, love.” He assured her, “I didn’t say anything weird. All I did was spin a tale about a funny moment we had back at your place.” “What funny tale? How is that supposed to help?”

“The story was a subtle way of conveying that you are fun and funny. Therefore you sound like an entertaining person to be around.” he tapped her nose.

“That’s…” Marinette thought it over a moment, “not totally dumb.” “Oh why thank you.” Felix rolled his eyes.

“Can you blame me for being worried? Whether or not Adrien becomes my boyfriend is in your hands.” She dropped her head to the desk, “Oh god, why did I make this deal? This is a disaster.”

“God isn’t here, love.” Felix tilted her head back up, “Will you trust me? If you have forgotten I have lived a long time. I know how and when to be serious about something. Especially when it concerns one of my deals. I’m not gonna blow this. If you two don’t end up together then I’ll be unable to fulfill the deal and Hell help me if that happens.”

“Does something bad happen if you’re not able to fulfill it?”

“To me, not you. Don’t worry about it.”

“Wait, Felix, what is gonna happen if for some reason you can’t deliver on my wish?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“But I…” Marinette caught herself. She shouldn’t go around saying foolish things.

“But what?” Felix leaned closer with his mischievous smile. “Don’t tell me you’re worried about a spiteful entity like me?”

“I’m not!” Marinette said but she knew it was useless. Felix could see through her lies like glass.

“You humans are so strange.” Felix shook his head. “You find sympathy for everything and anything. Is it humanity that causes this kind of naivete?”

“Not wanting others to hurt is not naive.”

“It is very human though.”

“And what of you, mister demon? Have you never felt a need to spare someone some pain?”

“No. It’s in the job description.”

“Then what of me? You worked to find a middle ground with me and spare me some pain with my fate instead of using your powers to tempt me into a deal. It couldn’t have been just because you were bored.”

“Says you.”

“And it’s true.” “Stop smiling.” he grabbed her and pulled her along to the next class. “What are you doing talking to me anyway? You should be spending this time talking to mister perfect. Remember?”

Marinette didn’t argue with him more. He obviously wasn’t going to hear about him not being ruthless. They continued on to class and by lunch time Felix had come up with another idea. Not that he told Marinette any of this. For some reason this demon found it funny to jump into action without letting her know what the plan was.

Marinette trailed close behind as Felix approached Adrien and threw an arm around him. “Adrien, lad,” Felix said, “I was talking to Marinette earlier and she recommended that the three of us have lunch.”

“Oh really?” Adrien looked back at her with a surprised smile. “Just the three of us?”

“That was the plan. If you’d rather not tag along that’s fine. Marinette and I can have our own fun, can’t we love?” Felix glanced back at her with a wink. “But you are her friend and she talks about you often enough I have to admit I’m curious to get to know you better.”

“I’m looking forward to get to know you better too.” Adrien nodded. “I’d love to come to lunch with you.”

“Perfect, there is the sweetest little cafe Marinette was talking to me about earlier that sounded like it would be perfect.” Felix reached for Marinette and pulled her up alongside the two boys so she was sandwiched in the middle of them. “You can take the lead, love.”

“Thanks.” Marinette was trying her best to not freak out. But Felix was keeping a close but subtle push on her left side so that her right side bumped into Adrien as they walked. She hadn’t mentioned any cafe to Felix but now that she was out she was gonna have to find one.

After a couple minutes of walking they came to a cafe Marinette loved and the three sat down to eat. They had just ordered their drinks when Felix’s phone began to ring. Wait, since when did Felix have a phone?

“Well darn,” Felix sighed dramatically, “I gotta take this. You two order without me, I don’t know how long this is gonna take.” And with that Felix was out of his chair and around the corner out of sight.

This was his plan! To force them out on a pseudo lunch date by taking a fake phone call? What kind of romantic comedy shenanigans was he playing? This is what she gets for letting him read her YA novels. At least this was better than him suggesting they fake date in some dumb reverse psychology way of making Adrien jealous.

“That’s a shame.” Adrien shrugged after Felix had gone. “I hope he won’t be too long.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Marinette concentrated on her breathing.

The pair sat in silence for what felt like a lifetime. Shouldn’t she say something? It was Adrien, he was her crush but he was also her friend. She should be able to come up with some form of conversation.

“So,” she started in hopes that something charming or funny would spring forth in the moment. It didn’t. “Nice weather today.”

“Yeah, I guess it is nice out.” Adrien leaned back soaking in the sun of the afternoon. “Summer is right around the corner.”

“I can’t wait for it to be warm enough to break out the sundresses.” Marinette thought of the good chunk of her closet reserved for the light flowy dresses. “They’ve been locked up for too long.”

“Right, you and the girls have that sundress day, don’t you? Every year you pick a warm day and everyone comes in wearing a sundress. Even Chloe does it.”

“Yeah. It’s a lot of fun.” Marinette relaxed as the conversation eased into more topics. She was pleasantly surprised to realize how easy it was to talk to him once she got over her fright. He really was like any of her other friends. Why had she been so scared before?

Neither of them particularly noticed Felix’s absence until Marinette found herself telling an edited version of the time Felix almost threw her game controller into the screen after she won again and had to quell him with chocolate.

“Did someone say chocolate?” A waiter different from the first one approached the table with a plate and set it down between them. “Good thing I’m here then.”

“Oh, we didn’t order any dessert.” Adrien said.

“It’s on the house. For such an adorable couple.”

“Oh we’re not…” Marinette trailed off as she caught sight of the waiter’s eyes. Silver.

He caught her gaze and gave her a wink before walking away. Marinette looked back at the plate of dessert and had to resist a bark of laughter. It was a single slice of devil’s food cake.

“Well I’m not gonna say no to free cake.” Adrien beamed. “How should we split this?”

“I say we just eat our fill.” Marinette stabbed a fork into the cake taking a sizeable chunk off it. She popped it into her mouth and almost moaned at how moist and rich the flavor was. “Wow, that is good.”

Adrien took a bite as well. “You were right, that is delicious.”

“Someone might say downright sinful.” Marinette chuckled at her own joke.

“It is devil’s food cake. I guess if we were having angel’s food cake it’d be heavenly.”

“I guess it would.” They polished off the cake as they continued making bad food based puns. Felix came back just as they were wiping the crumbs from their mouths and sat down.

“Sorry for missing lunch, call took longer than I thought and then I got put on hold. It was a whole big thing.” He waved it off, “Hope you two weren’t bored without me.”

“No. Marinette is always excellent company.” Adrien said causing a wave of warmth to wash through her. “Sucks that you missed lunch though.”

“I wasn’t that hungry anyways. I have a bag of crisps in my locker I’ll nibble on before class.” Felix shrugged. “Looks like you two were rather peckish though. Order dessert without me?”

“We didn’t actually. A waiter came over saying it was on the house.” Adrien swiped a bit of frosting left on the plate. “Accidentally took us for a couple but it was rather fortuitous in the end. I think that was some of the best cake I’ve ever had.”

“Now I’m really sorry I missed it.”

“Don’t be. It was indeed great but everyone knows the best cake comes from Marinette’s parent’s bakery.” Adrien waved for the check. “I’ll get this one guys.”

“But we invited you. I’ll pay for what I got.” Marinette pulled out her wallet.

“Seriously, it’s okay.” Adrien said.

“I insist.” Marinette handed over her own money to the waiter.

“Alright, but next one is on me though.” Adrien put away his own wallet. “Should we be heading back?”

The three stood up. Felix stayed behind as Marinette and Adrien took the lead. Their conversation from the cafe continuing into their stroll back to the school. There were scraps of an attempt to include Felix but he was giving little response to them. Marinette knew what he was playing at but she couldn’t help but feel bad of his exclusion. She never wanted anyone to feel like they weren’t a part of the conversation.

After classes wrapped up Marinette and Felix returned home. Marinette flung herself onto the couch with a squeal of delight. “It worked! I cannot believe that actually worked!”

“And to think you doubted me.” Felix stood triumphant, “I told you, love, I know what I’m doing.”

“Sure, it was incredibly cheesy but it worked out in the end.” Marinette sat up. “Also, wasn’t the cake a little much? Don’t want to be too on the nose do we?”

“You loved it. I say next time I can have you two feeding each other.” Felix flopped down next to her. “See what happens when you actually put in some effort? The boy was practically mooning over you the entire time.”

“We’re you watching us?”

“Duh. I needed to make sure you weren’t going to drop the ball on the conversation. Had me worried there at first what with that remark about the weather. Was that really the best you could come up with?”

“I panicked! And you,” she smacked his arm, “You need to tell me what the plan is before you go about starting it! You threw me into the deep end without any warning!”

“It was the only way to get you to stop overthinking and embrace the moment. That is a huge problem I’ve come to realize about you. You think about everything! Did you know that?”

“I do not!”

“Yes, love, you do.” He flicked his wrist and a calendar appeared in his hand. “Every second of every day you have planned. I mean, look at this mess. Not to mention you take half a lifetime to pick out what you’re going to wear the day before.”

“Lots of people choose their outfits the day before.”

“They don’t spend that much time on it. I mean, look at me.” He gestured to his dark jeans, red shirt and black vest. “Took me a whole of ten seconds to put this together and I look great. You on the other hand spend half an hour picking out a cardigan.”

“Well I’m sorry if I don’t have your demonic good looks. I need to put in a little more effort.”

“You don’t though. You’re beautiful enough already.” He made the calendar disappear again.

Marinette felt herself blush slightly at the compliment. Her friends called her cute and pretty all day long but no one had ever looked at her and said beautiful before. No one outside of her parents that is. It hit different hearing it from someone not her family.

“Thanks.” She caught his eye and she immediately turned away. “I um, I don’t have any homework today so I thought I’d get some work done on my designs. Were you okay to chill down here?”

“Go on,” Felix looked at her with a knowing expression. “I have some work of my own to do.” He pulled a notebook out of thin air.

“More brilliant date ideas I’m assuming?”

“If you want this boy pulling you into a brooms closet for some hot and heavy makeout sessions then I need to get these right.” Felix tsked as he looked over his notes. “You are a lot of work, love. I hope you appreciate the effort I’m putting in for you.”

“I do.” Marinette smiled. “I know you didn’t have to do any of this middle of the ground work but I am glad you did. I’d almost go as far as to say it was rather nice of you.”

“Don’t let down below hear that. I’m not supposed to be nice.” Felix scoffed.

“You’re not supposed to but you are.” Marinette pointed at the fridge. “And since you missed lunch you can help yourself to anything in the fridge.”

“I don’t need to eat.”

“But you still like to.” Marinette called back from her room. She sat down on her chaise with her sketch book in hand. She had a million other designs to start and finish but her creativity was flowing as she put pencil to paper. She didn’t know what she was going to make but she was certain that it was going to be silver.

---

(1) (2) (3) (5)

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(tagged)

@sannsibarr @miss-mysterys-blog @maribug-adrienoir @mermaidreject @corabeth11 @goblinwhoships @symwinter

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #felix #felinette #demon au #writing

[aliciameade]

A Thousand Cuts

Title: A Thousand Cuts Author: aliciameade Rating: M for alcoholism and angst Pairing: Beca/Chloe Summary: Beca doesn't realize she needs to get her shit together until it's too late, or, my take on a prompt I was sent to write something based on Taylor Swift’s “Death by a Thousand Cuts.”

Also on AO3

My heart, my hips, my body, my love / Trying to find a part of me that you didn't touch

Gave up on me like I was a bad drug / Now I'm searching for signs in a haunted club

Our songs, our films, united, we stand / Our country, guess it was a lawless land 

Quiet my fears with the touch of your hand / Paper cut stings from my paper-thin plans 

My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust / Trying to find a part of me you didn't take up 

Gave you so much, but it wasn't enough / But I'll be alright, it's just a thousand cuts

“You don’t mean that.” Beca’s voice cracks over the words; she’s moments from crying and she knows it.

Chloe’s already crying. “The hell I don’t.” Her voice is steady despite the tears. Her jaw is set, the muscles in her left cheek tensing with how hard she’s clenching it.

“Where am I supposed to go?” That’s when the first tear finally hits Beca’s cheek. They don’t stop after that and she doesn’t bother trying to wipe them away. “I don’t know anyone else here!”

“That’s not my problem.” Chloe walks away so abruptly, steps so heavy it makes Beca jump. She’s digging through the trunk that sits at the foot of their bed and pulls out Beca’s duffel bag to toss it onto the bed. “Pack. And get the rest of your shit out before the end of the month whenever I’m not here or I’m throwing it all away.”

Beca’s sure this must be what it feels like for the earth to swallow one whole. Her world’s been ripped out from beneath her feet.

The thing is, it’s her fault. She can’t argue that it’s not. She could have tried harder, not allowed herself to grow complacent. Chloe was someone who loves with her entire being, every inch of her soul. And Beca adores her. Loves her. But she has struggled to keep up with just how much Chloe needs from her in return for all the love she gives Beca. Truth be told, it’s scared the shit out of Beca since the day they exchanged their first ‘I love yous.’ She had even prefaced her confession by saying she will probably mess it all up.

Fucking self-fulfilling prophecies.

“I’m going for a walk,” Chloe says as she pushes past Beca more physically than necessary. “Don’t be here when I get back.”

When the door slams behind her, Beca fights the urge to crumple onto their bed and weep. They’d just made love on it this morning and she thinks if she touches it, it may burn her flesh.

Instead, she grabs the bag Chloe threw onto it and starts stuffing clothes and toiletries into it. Her head pounds and her chest aches with the need to sob but she won’t give this tiny apartment, their first home together as a couple. She fills the bag until she can’t zip it and throws her laptop into its case to swing them both over her shoulder.

On her way out the door, she rips a photo of the two of them in front of their Christmas tree last year off the fridge—not to destroy it, but to stuff it into her bag.

She wonders if Chloe will even notice it’s gone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beca takes the train into Manhattan. Brooklyn feels too small, too familiar. She wants the city to swallow her since the earth only pretended to. She doesn’t have a single New York-based contact in her phone except for the ramen house Chloe and she love and the main number for her office. She doesn’t particularly like her job and has made no effort to get to know anyone there. 

In the future, she’ll realize this could be a theme in her life.

She ends up at a hotel by Union Square. She can’t afford it. It’s nearly $200 for the night and it goes on an already precariously charged-up credit card. She’ll move to a hostel tomorrow; tonight, she needs privacy and space and the freedom to have the breakdown she’s been staving off for the two hours it’s been since Chloe told her it was over and threw her out of their home.

Once she gets to her room, she drops her bags on the floor and immediately throws up.

It’s the longest night of Beca’s life.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She doesn’t get the rest of her belongings back. She’s living in a hostel in a room she shares with five other people, at least one of which is new every night. She has to wait her turn to use the bathroom and to shower and most of the time, there’s no hot water.

The good thing, she supposes as she tries day after day to find a single good thing in her life, is that at $35 per day, she can actually afford her room and board and even feed herself twice a day and keep her phone bill paid.

Thank God for ubiquitous free WiFi.

But that one good thing, just keeping herself in room and board, doesn’t do anything to outweigh all the bad.

She hasn’t spoken to or heard from Chloe in two months. There was no final warning about coming to get her belongings or they’d be trashed. Chloe hasn’t checked in with her a single time.

Not that Beca’s reached out to Chloe either.

She’d thought escaping Brooklyn would help protect herself. Far from away all their usual haunts, she would be safer from the constant reminders of all the moments she and Chloe shared in the year-and-a-half they spent living together there.

Instead, she’s faced with bigger reminders in Manhattan. So many date nights spent there at restaurants and concert venues and theatres and sunset strolls through parks.

“Oh, my gosh, baby, this is so romantic, we have to take a selfie,” Chloe said as she grabbed Beca’s hands to spin them in a circle that almost had Beca tripping over her own feet. “Wait, no! Excuse me, sir?” Chloe asked a passerby. “Would you take our picture, please?”

“Sure,” he said as Chloe handed him her phone. “Tell me when.”

“Just take a bunch,” Chloe answered before Beca had even had a chance to weakly and pointlessly protest the impromptu photoshoot.

Then they were kissing on Gapstow Bridge with Central Park and the New York skyline behind them and Beca forgot why she would ever want to protest such a thing.

She can’t even walk through Times Square without her eyes pricking with tears at the memory of Chloe dragging Beca up the red stairs in the middle of a snowstorm to take a selfie at the top while they kissed wearing beanies and scarves and gloves.

The photo came out looking like they were in a snow globe and felt as magical as it looked. It’s saved in her favorites on her phone, but she refuses to let herself look through that album.

Even when she’s alone at night in a strange place that is her home but feels nothing like it, Chloe is everywhere. She can feel her phantom arms around her waist to pull Beca back against her to settle into sleep. In the shower, her hands travel over her body and she remembers all the times and all the ways Chloe has touched her here, and here, and here.

Alcohol doesn’t help, though Beca gives it her best shot.

It leads to her waking up in the beds of people whose names she only sometimes remembers.

A man she goes home with makes her leave when she won’t stop crying when he tries to touch her.

A woman she goes home with spends the night holding her. They even have sex, finally, in the early hours of the morning. But all Beca can think about is how it’s not right. How she isn’t Chloe and she doesn’t know how to touch Beca as Chloe does. It does nothing to help Beca forget or move on. In fact, it only makes her miss Chloe more.

She stops trying to escape into other people and goes back to drinking alone. It’s cheaper that way, too, which is a nice bonus. One bottle of whiskey runs her $40 which gives her far more drinks for her dollar compared to going to bars.

Eventually, she finds someone in need of a roommate through a coworker and she has a room to herself in Washington Heights. Her roommate is nice, a few years older than Beca, and works for the city’s child services department. She’s a good listener on the rare occasions Beca confides in her when her emotions become too much to take alone.

It turns into a relationship of convenience. They both acknowledge that’s what it is and that they’re setting themselves up for disaster if (when) it ends because someone (Beca) is going to have to move out when things become too messy.

But until that happens, it’s nice to feel at least somewhat normal again. She doesn’t feel like she’s ready to fall apart if someone looks at her the wrong way on the street.

She still thinks about Chloe at least once every minute when she’s conscious.

And usually, even when she’s not.

She knows she’s fixating. It’s too hard to not spend as much energy as she can berating herself for messing up and losing Chloe. It’s delicious torture to hate herself so much and replay the details of every moment of their relationship and pick out every time she fucked up and think about how she could have done it differently, how she would do it differently if she had the chance.

What’s most irritating of all is that there is no one singular cataclysmic event she can blame. It was her series of micro-aggressions, so seemingly small (to Beca), that piled up until replying to Chloe’s multi-scroll-long text message telling Beca that she needed more from her with “k” got her thrown out on the street.

And she knew—knows—she deserved it.

She wishes she could go back in time and slap herself and tell her to get her shit together before she loses the best thing to ever happen to her.

But she can’t. She keeps drinking and it’s never enough to forget Chloe.

Eventually, her behavior lands her out on her ass again, but this time, she expects it. What girl wants her not-girlfriend crying about her ex every time they have sex? At least there’s a discussion first and she’s allowed a couple of weeks to find a new place to live.

A year has passed since she fucked up her relationship with Chloe but, somehow, she’s managed to get her professional life into something resembling moderate success. She’s surprised when she downloads bank statements at the balance in her account to have when she goes apartment hunting. She’s done nothing but pay rent to her now-ex-roommate and buy what few things she’s needed to get by (mostly alcohol). She thinks she remembers an email from HR about a bonus or royalty payout around Christmas…?

It affords her the ability to get her own apartment, a one-bedroom in Harlem.

It also affords her the freedom to indulge in all her vices without someone passing judgment. She can drink herself to blackout. She can have anonymous sex. She can cry until she’s sick or lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling all night in a drug-and-alcohol-induced stupor. None of it really matters, anyway.

She fits right in with the people she’s finding herself forced to be around more often. She gets wasted with colleagues and A-listers under the guise of networking. She impresses men with her ability to out-drink them despite her stature. And if one of them offers cocaine? She can be the last one standing in the early hours of the morning.

She prides herself on her endurance, though not more than she prides herself on the fact that no matter how hammered she gets, not once has she drunk-dialed Chloe to beg forgiveness.

She hasn’t dialed her at all, for that matter.

She’s never apologized.

She wants to point out that showing up at her former apartment building when it’s dark and the streets are empty repeatedly pressing the buzzer for what used to be her apartment is not drunk-dialing nor drunk-texting.

“Hello?” Chloe’s voice crackles through the shitty speaker and Beca slumps against the wall next to the metal intercom at the sound of it. “Is anyone there? I swear if you kids are pulling this shit again, I’m calling the cops.”

Beca laughs to herself, memories of a group of teenagers that roams the neighborhood raising havoc of the relatively painless variety. Things like Ding Dong Ditch and hiding delivered packages from their recipients. It always infuriated Chloe and made Beca laugh and tell her to calm down, they’re just kids and they could be getting into much worse kinds of trouble.

She considers continuing to ring the buzzer just to keep Chloe on the line; it’s been so long since she’s heard her voice. Maybe she could just sleep on the building’s stoop?

She’s still thinking about it when she hears the familiar squeak of the door opening.

“Beca?”

She wonders if maybe she finally passed out to slip into dreamland because Chloe’s standing in front of her in plaid sleep shorts and Beca’s favorite vintage David Bowie tee.

“Hey, babe,” she slurs.

“What are you doing here?” Chloe takes half a step out of the door and starts to reach for her but stops short. “Are you drunk?”

“What if I am?” she says as she pushes herself away from the wall to stand upright again, though everything feels like it’s tilting. She points. “That’s my shirt.”

Chloe crosses her arms over her chest as if that will hide it. “I asked what you’re doing here.”

Beca has to think hard. She doesn’t remember how she got to Brooklyn. She doesn’t know what time it is. “I’m tired,” she answers. “I came home.”

“You don’t live here anymore.”

“I didn’t say I live here. I said I came home.” She tries to walk forward but trips and finds herself caught by Chloe before she hurts herself. “Cat-like reflexes,” she says with a chuckle before catching the scent of the laundry detergent and lotion Chloe always uses and the tears come out of nowhere.

She’s vaguely aware that Chloe’s helping her walk and it’s up the stairs and into the apartment they once shared, not out to the curb.

The last thought that passes through her mind as Chloe helps her into what was always Beca’s side of the bed is that even through her blurry vision she can see a picture on the refrigerator. A copy of the same photo she’d taken with her the day Chloe had thrown her out, placed in the exact place the original had been for so long.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She wakes to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Her head throbs but not too painfully; she rarely gets hungover these days. She knows where she is. She knows the feel of the bed, the softness of the sheets, the scent of breakfast and the sound of the quiet tings and thuds of cabinets opening and closing, of plates, mugs, spoons, and knives.

She doesn’t want to open her eyes. Maybe if she pretends to be asleep she could stay there all day without having to be embarrassed by her actions. She can just hold onto this unexpected return to a past life for a few more minutes before it’s ripped away from her again.

She starts when the sound of a mug being placed on the nightstand near her head comes unexpectedly.

“Morning,” Chloe’s quiet, husky morning voice whispers as she sits on the edge of the bed next to Beca.

Beca grimaces and pulls the covers up over her head. “No.”

“I have to go to work.” Beca didn’t even think about the fact that it was a weekday. Her own schedule doesn’t conform to the typical Monday-through-Friday model. “But I’m going to call out sick for the afternoon and come back at lunch.”

Beca slips the covers down until they’re under her chin. She knows she looks like shit but Chloe looks more beautiful than she remembers her.

“You can stay here until then. Help yourself to breakfast. We’ll talk when I get home, okay?”

Beca just nods, afraid that anything more than that will wake her from whatever dream she’s having. She feels Chloe’s hand on her leg, a brief touch before she’s leaving too soon.

Beca watches her gather her things and leave the apartment, locking it with her keys.

She knows she should go back to sleep. Sleep off the last bits of the drunkenness she can still feel swimming in her. But she’s been thrown back into her old life, her old home, and like so many mornings, Chloe’s just gone to work after making coffee for Beca.

Slowly, she sits up to take in her surroundings. The small studio looks much like she’s remembered it. There’s a lot more of Chloe in it now, though. More photos of her and friends Beca’s never met. The band posters Beca had insisted on putting up have been replaced with generic canvas prints from Target that feature the Eiffel Tower and a recreation of a poster for la tournée du Chat Noir avec Rodolphe Salis. It makes her smile; Chloe’s always had an obsession with Paris and it had only gotten worse after they went to Denmark—but not France—in college.

Driven by her roiling stomach she forces herself out of bed. When she stands, she has to do a double-take looking down at herself. She’s not wearing the clothes she’d left her apartment in yesterday. She’s not even wearing pants. Her legs are bare and she plucks at the shirt she’s wearing to see it’s one of her old concert tees.

A memory flashes of last night, of Chloe in the doorway wearing Beca’s shirt.

It makes her feel lightheaded and she reaches for the coffee Chloe’s left bedside before crossing the room to the kitchen. Everything’s still in the same place and it’s mindless yet spine-tingling to go through the motions of finding something to eat in that room just as she’s done countless times in the past.

She plops down at the small table that she once imagined proposing to Chloe over on a Sunday morning over a cozy winter brunch they prepared together and is about to dig into her bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch that Chloe miraculously has on-hand despite claiming to hate it when she freezes, spoon halfway to her mouth.

On the clothing rack in the middle of the room, the one they had to fight over for valuable space, hang all of Beca’s clothes she’d left behind when she was forced to flee.

Her chair screeches as she pushes it back to rush over and quickly flip through the blouses, pants, and dresses she hasn’t seen in more than a year. She tugs open the third and then fourth drawers of the dresser they shared to find them both still stuffed full of underwear, bras, socks, tank tops, shorts, and Beca’s beanies and gloves she’d really missed that winter. She drops to her knees and reaches under the bed to find the sharp plastic edge of a storage bin and pulls it out. All her shoes, still in their place.

If not for the changes in decor, she would believe she never left. Nothing has changed since her last morning with Chloe.

It’s overwhelming. Chloe had threatened to throw everything away if Beca never picked it up. Beca never did, but Chloe didn’t follow through.

Her head swims and her eyes prick with tears. She thinks she might be sick from the rush of emotions and adrenaline; Chloe hadn’t tossed their life in the trash even though she’d tossed Beca to the curb.

She isn’t sick, though. Instead, she strips off her shirt and crawls into the bathtub and turns on the shower to sit under the spray and cry.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beca’s heart races when she hears Chloe’s keys in the hallway seconds before they rattle in the lock. She watches the door open slowly, Chloe peeking in carefully until they find Beca sitting at the table.

“You’re awake,” she says as she enters with less care now that Beca’s not asleep. “Did you find something to eat? I brought lunch just in case.”

Beca’s eyes drop to the bag in Chloe’s hand; there are familiar round plastic take-out containers stacked in it and Beca doesn’t have to ask to know it’s from the ramen place they frequented. “I did, yeah.”

Chloe sets the bag on the table and Beca watches her take off and hang up her coat. When she turns back around, she pauses. “Oh.”

Beca wonders what she’s looking at until she realizes it’s Beca’s clothes. “You didn’t throw my stuff away.”

Chloe takes a break as though she’s about to speak but instead she sighs and says nothing in reply as she sits down in her chair to Beca’s left and starts unpacking the lunch she’s brought.

Beca catches her hand when it’s busy setting up soup and sides and Chloe’s entire body seems to flinch, but she doesn’t pull her hand away. “You didn’t throw me away, did you.”

Tears are welling in Chloe’s eyes when they meet Beca’s but she still doesn’t speak.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Beca rushes when she realizes she’s the one who has to do the talking. “But I do. Will you hear me out? Give me ten minutes. Five.”

“Okay,” Chloe says quietly as she pulls her hand back to resume passing out utensils.

Beca waits until she’s finished, until Chloe’s no longer distracting herself with busywork and her eyes land on Beca nervously so she can finally say, “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

The End

#bechloe #bechloe fic #bechloe fanfic #fanfic

[tabloidtoc]

Globe, December 28

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Farewell to 93 legends we loved and lost in 2020 

Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Steve Martin holds a green pepper on the NYC set of Only Murders in the Building, Derek Hough is light on his feet at the MTV Movie & TV Awards 

Page 3: Julia Roberts looks scary skinny during a solo stroll in Hawaii, Chris Pratt hoists a hoverboard during an L.A. workout 

Page 4: Troubled twosome Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are hoping to put their year from hell behind them by renewing their vows over the holidays in a desperate big to keep their love alive -- Ellen wants to prove her long-suffering wife comes first ahead of Ellen’s daytime talk show and her many celebrity friends and is going all out to show it -- penny-pincher Ellen opened her wallet as wide as her heart telling Portia she could spend whatever she wants on clothes, food, drinks, music and invite whoever she wants at the New Year’s vow ceremony on a Santa Barbara beach

Page 5: Obsessive Blake Shelton is so stressed over his upcoming wedding to Gwen Stefani he’s turning into the Groomzilla from hell -- he is sparing no expense and shelling out millions to redo his Oklahoma ranch to impress the couple’s Tinseltown friends but the mountain of stuff still to be done is driving him around the bend even though no one’s putting pressure on him but he’s obsessed with the wedding details and driving his staff crazy with his constant orders and revisions -- he’s building a chapel on the ranch and a lighted boat for a romantic wedding cruise on the lake and picking the style of the canopy for the banquet floor and re-landscaping the grounds and adding a color-themed garden

* Kenya Moore of Real Housewives of Atlanta reveals she went on a date with Kanye West but bolted when she caught him watching inappropriate flicks -- she described the outing with Kanye as a disaster date and they ended up going to his house where he left her alone, wandering around and when she followed the noises he was watching something on TV that he probably shouldn’t have been and that was her exit 

Page 6: Matthew Perry was such a slave to his addiction his former galpal Kayti Edwards says he’d send her to score drugs while she was pregnant and Matthew insisted she was the perfect drug mule because he believed cops wouldn’t stop a gal in her condition Kayti claims in a shocking tell-all about her 2011 romance with Matthew -- she says his ravenous cravings for cocaine and heroin were so out of control that he once superglued his hands to his legs and he took up to 80 Vicodin pills daily -- Kayti claims she was trying to protect Matthew because she feared he’d end up wandering around the streets and being nabbed by cops or snapped by photogs but she was also getting paid big bucks like $3000 to $4000 a day 

Page 7: Duchess Camilla’s taste for an early morning tipple has rubbed off on husband Prince Charles who is now so hooked on the sauce he starts the day guzzling a powerful gin martini with breakfast and now Charles’ alarmed staffers and pals are talking about an intervention to remind him not to go down the path that put his second wife in rehab -- Charles’ booze consumption has been off the charts for years but drinking first thing in the morning with his breakfast is a new low -- Charles laughs off suggestions he has a booze issue but one look at his bloodshot face tells the story 

* Now that a COVID-19 vaccine’s been approved in Britain Queen Elizabeth says she’s going to get the shot but wait her turn instead of pulling royal rank but she and husband Prince Philip won’t wait long because at their ages they’re in the second group to get the vaccine which is health care workers and people over 80 

Page 8: Helena Bonham Carter has a world-shakin’ suggestion for gals frustrated by the COVID-19 lockdown: get a vibrator -- she says women shouldn’t worry about snaring a beau during the pandemic but that’s easy for her to say because she’s currently cuddling with toyboy writer Rye Dag Holmboe 

* George Clooney confesses wife Amal Clooney had him shaking in his boots when he popped the question and she didn’t answer -- he asked her out of the blue but instead of squealing yes immediately the brainy lawyer just stood there -- George says he was on his knee for like 20 minutes and finally said he was going to throw his hip out -- Amal finally agreed and the couple have three-year-old twins 

* The nip/tuck freak daughter of Olivia Newton-John is being blasted as a hypocrite for coming out against the new COVID-19 vaccines -- Chloe Lattanzi claims she doesn’t trust doctors or the vaccine but critics note she had no problem shelling out an estimated $550,000 to plastic surgeons for nose jobs, super-sized boobs and ballooned lips 

Page 9: Since his life-threatening health scare game show icon Pat Sajak’s been testy and snapping at contestants and crew members leaving insiders fearing he’s heading for a breakdown -- the once-cheery Wheel of Fortune host is a different man since recovering from emergency surgery for a blocked intestine and is having difficulty coping with the workload -- he just can’t keep up with the pace and he’s pushed to the very limit and can’t seem to function doing this job and it’s all spilling over and manifesting into these ugly outbursts which are shocking viewers -- he even glares at long-time help-mate Vanna White when he gets frustrated or forgetful and she is really too nice to complain about it but she’s definitely been taken aback by his behavior 

Page 10: Proof UFOs are real -- new photos taken by Navy jets reveal we are not alone 

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- WWE legend Ric Flair (picture), Real Housewives of Orange County’s Braunwyn Windham-Burke maintains she’s not attracted to men despite renewing her wedding vows with her husband of over two decades -- she says she is gay but she loves husband Sean Burke and they plan on staying married although they don’t sleep in the same bedroom and they are raising their kids together but he knows the girl she’s dating and he’s been given the thumbs-up to date too, Liam Payne believes he’s being haunted by spooks -- convinced spooky spirits were inhabiting his West London digs Liam moved but spooks popped up at the new pad and he thinks the new house is even more haunted than the old one, George Clooney handpicked an even better looking doppelganger to play his younger self in his new flick The Midnight Sky who is screen legend Gregory Peck’s grandson Ethan Peck -- George said it was tricky because people know what he looked like when he was 35 years old but he rejected the high-tech gizmos used to weirdly reverse Robert De Niro’s age in The Irishman but he did mix his voice with Ethan’s since his voice is pretty recognizable, Matthew McConaughey’s kids Levi and Vida used their phones to photograph him for his latest magazine covers because of quarantine they couldn’t do normal photoshoots so the kids became the photographers 

Page 13: Tom Arnold dines out in Rome (picture), Aubrey O’Day (picture), Brooke Burke in Mexico (picture), pregnant Meghan Trainor was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and she’s healthy and her baby boy is healthy but she has to really pay attention to everything she eats 

Page 14: Luke Evans denies hiding in the closet to advance his Hollywood career saying it was the last thing he had because everything else he’d given to the world and adding that he left home at 16 because he was gay and went into the world as a kid because he had to, Mindy Kaling managed to keep two pregnancies under cover and kept the kids’ middle names under wraps until now -- a fan wondered why Mindy who is of a Indian heritage gave her kids Caucasian names but their names are Katherine Swati and Spencer Avu 

* Fashion Verdict -- Blanca Suarez 3/10, Olivia Palermo 1/10, Nicky Hilton 9/10, Bella Heathcote 2/10, Catt Sadler 8/10 

Page 16: True Crime 

Page 17: Martha Stewart confesses her painful divorce in 1990 was a terrible thing and she hasn’t talked to ex-husband Andrew Stewart since but she bounced back from the pain and her infamous prison stint because she’s very strong and motivated to get on with life -- still Martha admits being dumped by her husband for another woman after 29 years of marriage nearly did her in -- Martha also reveals serving five months in West Virginia in 2004 on a federal insider stock trading rap was a struggle but she got through it by working on her arts and crafts 

Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Don Lemon 

* Dolly Parton pulled no punches when discussing her longtime romance with Carl Dean dishing she and her husband have been together for 57 years and married for 54 and she’s sick of him and she’s sure he’s sick of her -- the couple have rarely been seen in public together and she says their marriage succeeds because she stays gone and they’re not in each other’s faces all the time 

* Miley Cyrus says she’s mastered the art of staying safe during lockdown love and it’s by having online sex -- she said the safest sex in these COVID-crazy times is the virtual kind and that’s where Miley has been hooking up

Page 21: Cover Story -- Thanks for the Memories -- tribute to the stars we loved and lost in 2020 

Page 22: Alex Trebek 

Page 23: Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna, Kelly Preston 

Page 24: Kirk Douglas, Sean Connery 

Page 25: Olivia de Havilland, Chadwick Boseman 

Page 26: Robert Conrad, Naya Rivera 

Page 27: Regis Philbin 

Page 28: Kenny Rogers, Roy Horn 

Page 29: Eddie Van Halen, Little Richard 

Page 36: Health Report -- eating bread can toast your brain 

Page 38: Ghostbusters icon Dan Aykroyd has turned into a ghoulish recluse who rarely leaves his $25 million Martha’s Vineyard estate where he’s now eerily planning his own funeral -- the bizarre 68-year-old appears perfectly healthy yet he spooks around in his bed clothes muttering about who he wants to officiate at his memorial service and the goodies the chef should serve at the wake -- the curious thing is he appears to be in no danger of dropping dead anytime soon and he’s sturdy as a horse which is surprising given the cigars and the vodka and the big meals he enjoys -- Dan’s wife of 37 years Donna Dixon has gotten used to her husband’s ghoulish monologues

* Bob Dylan sold his extensive back catalog of more than 600 songs including Blowin’ in the Wind and Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door to Universal Music in a blockbuster deal topping $300 million 

Page 40: Patrick Stewart confesses he’s been furious all his life and he’s still seeing a shrink to control his rage -- he reveals he’s burned with rage inside since childhood when he witnessed his dad’s violence against his mom and he had to suppress all that anger -- at age 14 he feared he’d explode and kill his headmaster when he caned him and later he worried he’d hurt his two children with first wife Sheila Falconer in a fit of fury and now at age 80 it’s still there so he sees a therapist every week 

Page 44: Straight Talk -- The Weeknd has his nose out of joint because he wasn’t nominated for any Grammys this year and he claims he’s being snubbed because he’ll be starring on the February 7 Super Bowl halftime show a week after the Grammys 

Page 45: Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell is a paranoid mess losing her hair and wasting away in federal prison where she’s terrified shadowy forces have marked her for death -- the shrinking British socialite who denies recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein’s twisted lust is charged with sex trafficking minors as she rots in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting trial next year 

Page 47: Bizarre But True 

#tabloid #grain of salt #tabloid toc #tabloidtoc #ellen degeneres #portia de rossi #blake shelton #kenya moore #kanye west #matthew perry #kayti edwards #prince charles #queen elizabeth #helena bonham carter #george clooney #amal clooney #chloe lattanzi #pat sajak #wheel of fortune #ufo #ufos #martha stewart #don lemon #dolly parton #miley cyrus #dan aykroyd #bob dylan #patrick stewart #the weeknd #ghislaine maxwell

[backdeck-potato-novelist]

I Get The Feeling That I’m Right Where I Belong

Chapter 6

AO3

Beginning, Previous, Next

Chloe spent Saturday morning arguing with her father. She didn’t really know what about, just that she didn’t like how he had it planned. Once they had reached a settlement, one that was definitely more in her favor than the original plan had been, she moved on to negotiating with her mother. This discussion was about fashion, and so she was much more invested, to the point of actually caring to remember what she was arguing about. There was a charity gala and auction in two weeks, and Audrey had been working on a new line based on the local Parisian heroes that she wanted Chloe to wear to the gala. The event had something to do with raising money to help with disaster relief somewhere that had been hit by a hurricane, or maybe an earthquake, Chloe didn’t remember. Audrey wanted her in the Ladybug dress. Chloe finally managed to talk her mother down to the Queen Bee tuxedo. Audrey thought it was a bit tacky, Chloe going in an outfit inspired by her own super alter ego. Chloe knew that red did not do her complexion any good, but black and gold, especially the dark gold of this specific ensemble, looked fabulous on her. There was a reason her costume looked like it did. Chloe had also managed to convince Audrey that Kagami should at least try the Ladybug dress, and that if it worked for her, she should wear it to the gala. Chloe was very excited for whenever they would schedule Kagami’s fitting. Her dragon looked very good in red.

Adrien spent Saturday morning in his room. He did not want to be in his room, but he had haggled and bartered with Gabriel for an afternoon out. In exchange, he was stuck in his room. Two hours of piano, an hour of Mandarin, and finishing all of his homework for the next week was probably the second worst Saturday morning he could possibly imagine. The worst was a tie: either his current situation but without Plagg, or Gabriel seeing him on a date with Luka. The first would bore him out of his mind, and the second might result in police involvement. Neither was a good option.

Kagami spent Saturday morning baking. She particularly liked making cookies, and was absolutely fantastic at it, but Chloe loved her blondies, and so whenever she turned the oven on, she would make them. When she was younger, Kagami had decided that baking was stupid and any woman who wanted to bake and went out of her way to do so would only ever amount to being a housewife. That was until Marinette had befriended her, despite Kagami’s attempts to not be taken in by the girl’s charm. Kagami had come over to the bakery one afternoon, before she knew Marinette was Ladybug, and had accidentally ended up helping Sabine make a batch of cupcakes. She stopped by the library on the way home and checked out three cookbooks, and had turned it into a weekend tradition ever since. Marinette had also tried teaching Kagami to knit, though she hadn’t taken to the needles as quickly as the pots and pans.

Nino spent Saturday morning sleeping. He also spent the early afternoon sleeping.

Luka spent Saturday morning walking along the Seine. His mother’s boat could be rather restrictive, the sounds of the people and the water around him were very inspiring, and Juleka snored. A lot. After half an hour of slow meandering, he realised he had subconsciously been making his way towards Adrien’s house. As much as he wanted to see his boyfriend, he turned around. It wouldn’t do either of them any good for him to be seen by the adults of the Agreste manor. Three more weeks. They could wait three more weeks to be seen in public together.

Marinette and Alya spent Saturday morning in Marinette’s room. Marinette woke up first, and so spent some time embroidering a dress she was making for herself. Alya woke up when she rolled off the beanbag she had spent the night on. Marinette helped her back onto the cushion, joined her, and then the two girls spent quite some time pretending they were getting up and ready for the day. Eventually, Sabine poked her head into Marinette’s room and got them actually moving.

At exactly three o’clock, two unremarkable high school students entered the front door of the Grand Hotel of Paris. One of them said goodbye to the gorilla of a man who had driven him there. The other carried a large tote bag stuffed to the brim with somethings that looked suspiciously like cookies wrapped in aluminum foil and plastic wrap. When the first tried to reach for one, his hand was slapped away. Overhead, three superheroes went shooting across the sky, jumping and swinging from rooftop to rooftop. If anyone on the streets of Paris had looked up, they would have seen two blurs, one of red and one of orange. The third teal one was nearly invisible against the clear Parisian sky.

At seven minutes past three, a very disgruntled DJ slammed through the back door of the Grand Hotel of Paris, sprinted up the employee stairwell, and burst into one of the penthouse suites up on the fifteenth floor.

“You’re late,” Chloe said. She didn’t even bother turning around.

“Yeah, yeah, I overslept,” Nino grumbled, maneuvering around a large spread of papers on the floor. He made it to the sun room and collapsed into a large and fluffy armchair. “Did I miss anything?”

“We ate all of Kagami’s cookies without you,” Adrien announced around a mouthful of said cookies.

“What, really?” Nino sat bolt upright. Wayzz emerged from Nino’s hat and flitted around his wearer’s head.

“No, not really. I saved some for both of you.” Alya came and sat down in the chair with Nino, forcing her boyfriend to move over. She handed him a plate piled with cookies and blondies. As Nino breathed a sigh of relief, Wayzz did a little celebratory spin in the air before landing on the plate.

“Thank you, Alya,” the Kwami smiled, before he began eating.

“You’re welcome, Wayzz.”

“Now that everyone’s here, we can actually begin,” Marinette said, cutting off the turtle’s response. “Because, y’know, we’re here to do more than just hangout.” She gave Alya and Nino a look. Alya winked back while Nino had the decency to look sheepish, before sprawling out across Alya’s lap. “So Chloe, I hand it over to you. Any updates?”

“Thanks, Maribug.” The blonde stood up at the head of the table. “To make it short, I’ve got nothing. No progress, at least, since last weekend. We’ve had the list of people who have the time, money, and schedule to be Hawkmoth for a while. Mayura’s been a little trickier to track down, but I am working on that. As bad as it is, the more they attack together, and really the more akuma attacks in general, the easier it is to track them down. I still haven’t gotten into the city camera network. I mean, it’s a long shot, but as far as I know, you can see akumas on film and tracking them all across the city would narrow that list down a ton. So, uh, yeah. That’s my update. Next?” Chloe sat back down. Kagami reached over and grabbed her hand to give a little squeeze.

“Cool. Thank you, Chloe. Alya, how’s the online scene? Anything going on?” Marinette turned to her best friend.

Alya stood up, prompting a whimpered “No” from Nino as his pillow left.

“Yes. Big time. Someone got a photo of Viperion and Chat Noir having a midnight picnic on the Eiffel Tower. Roses, candles, that whole aesthetic you two put together every time. They posted it on Wednesday and people want answers.”

There was a beat of silence, broken by the sound of Adrien’s head hitting the table.

“Can’t you take it down?” Luka asked, rubbing his boyfriend’s back. “I feel like that would be much easier than, well, any of your other options.” Alya shrugged awkwardly.

“As your friend and teammate, I want to. As a journalist running the largest and best superhero blog in the whole country, I can’t. It would raise too many questions. For the sake of keeping our identities well hidden, I need to not just keep the photo up, but react big. As far as everyone else is concerned, Bug and Chat were a thing this whole time. The photo is a big shock, and I need to treat it as such. So, Marinette, Adrien, Luka, can we coordinate that after this? I think an interview would probably be a good idea.”

Marinette and Luka nodded as Adrien grumbled “Ok” from his facedown position

“And Adrien! I appreciate that you play favorites with the Ladyblog, but you don’t need to turn down interviews with other people. Aurore is a very nice person, and her blog is actually pretty dang cool. She just happens to be a regular civilian and so can’t organize interviews with any of you whenever she wants to. So, as a general note for everyone, you can take interviews with other journalists. I’m not holding you to some kind of exclusive contract. Oh, and Gami? This applies to you too. Please be nice to other reporters. Please. People look up to you. Children admire you. Be a good role model and please stop threatening people who have cameras or mics.” Alya gave Kagami a mock glare. Kagami glared back, before sighing and shrugging.

“Fine. I will attempt to be less rude to those who have made it their mission in life to invade my privacy and personal space.”

“I’m willfully choosing to pretend you aren’t being sarcastic, so thank you. With that, it’s back to you, Marinette.”

“Thank you for that, Alya. Alright, next-” Marinette stopped suddenly. “Did any of you hear that?”

Adrien was just about to ask “hear what?” when there was a scream from the streets. As one, the seven miraculous wielders were up and moving out onto Chloe’s balcony, trying to determine where the scream had come from.

It didn’t take long to spot the source of the terror. Up near the Eiffel Tower, smoke filled the air as five explosions went off in quick succession. With a resounding crash that echoed off the Paris skyline, the Tower itself toppled to the ground. 

“Well,” Marinette groaned. “Duty calls.” She quickly backed away from the edge of the balcony, out of sight of the street below. With a flip of her hair, Marinette whispered, “Tikki, spots on!” 

The six other heroes mirrored the actions of their leader, and within seconds, they were leaping across the sky.

Damian spent Saturday morning glaring at Tim. Despite all prior evidence suggesting it was impossible, Tim had slept the entire flight over to France, as well as through most of the morning in Paris. Damian had slept on the plane, but decided not to sleep at the hotel, as much as his jet lag protested. If anything, that was why he wanted to stay awake. He was here for a month. The sooner he could get over the five hour time difference, the better. Tim was of the opposite mindset. In the five minutes of quasi-conscious conversation Damian extracted from him in the car over to the hotel, Tim explained that since this was a fake recon mission, he was going to be remaining on Gotham’s schedule. His rationale involved something to do with board meetings. Damian thought that was all a bunch of bullshit to excuse sleeping in until 5 pm on a Saturday.

As three twenty rolled around, Damian was suddenly very glad that Tim was still holed up and passed out in the hotel room. The explosions that shook the building could only mean one thing, and as skilled as Red Robin was, he had never fought an akuma before. Technically, Robin never had either, but he’d supported Team Miraculous more than a few times and had even been a part of Ladybug’s backup plan once.

Three minutes later, Robin was standing on the roof of the hotel. It wasn’t difficult to see the smoke rising from where the Eiffel Tower had stood only minutes ago. Unclipping his grappling hook from his belt, he began to pray that his angel would be there soon. He was good, one of the best in the world, but even gods were occasionally too much for him. 

Oh well. He’d do what he can for now.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #luka coffaine #Nino lahiffe #alya cesaire #chloé bourgeois #Kagami Tsurugi #daminette #adrien x luka #alya x nino #chloé x kagami #my fic #marinette x damian

[gryffindorcls]

It’s You (Part 1)

This AU is based on a drawing made by the amazing @yunyin that you can find here.

Enjoy!

---

Marinette was not having a good day. It was bad enough that Chloe was in her class again, but now Paris had a supervillain...that she had to fight! At least that’s what the little red bug-mouse had told her. Marinette could barely walk a block without tripping on a rock. How was she supposed to be a superhero?

Even though she was scared and unsure, she still transformed and swung into action. The thought of her fellow classmate being under the control of an evil butterfly man helped her choke back her insecurities...well, for about thirty seconds. While she managed to successfully attach her yo-yo onto one of Notre Dame’s gargoyles, her landing was not very graceful. She quickly found herself hanging upside-down in a tangled mess with what looked like a cat-themed superhero.

“Ugh...what a terrible first impression,” she thought while tugging on her yo-yo.

“I bet you’re the partner my Kwami told me about!” he said with a grin.

“He probably wishes that he was partnered with someone who knew what she was doing.”

“I’m...hmmm...Chat Noir. Yeah, Chat Noir...and you?” he asked, still smiling.

“Be cool...be cool...be cool! Don’t say something stupid. Don’t say…”

“Marinet…uhhh…” She groaned.

“STUPID! YOU’RE SO…”

“STUPID! Ohmygod...I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I just said that!” She hid her face with her hands.

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. Consider it forgotten. It never happened. We’ll work on your superhero name later.”

Her heart thumped in her chest as he cast her a sympathetic look. “Thanks. Uhm...I can’t get my yo-yo free. It’s stuck on your baton. Could you help me?”

“Sure, and don’t worry. I’m still learning the ropes, too.”

“Thank you.”

He jumped up and grabbed his baton. Once he got it to retract, the tangled string fell to the ground.

“Hey, you know...with the spots and all...you kind of look like a Ladybug,” he remarked.

“Ladybug...hmmm...yeah! Okay, I’m Ladybug. Nice to meet you, Chat Noir!” she giggled.

He laughed. “Likewise, Ladybug. So, partner...we have a job to do. Shall we?”

She smiled. “We shall.”

The newly named superheroes leaped onto the rooftops together to face their first foe. Upon reaching the stadium and seeing Stoneheart, Ladybug froze while Chat Noir took action.

“Come on, Ladybug, we can do this together!” her partner called out from the field.

Trepidation kept her feet glued in place, but she didn’t want to let down the nice boy who had shown her kindness despite her blunders. Ladybug took a deep breath and attempted to find the courage to fight.

Suddenly, she heard a cry from the far corner of the field. Ladybug’s eyes landed on Alya who had almost been killed by a flying soccer net and Chat Noir who had been captured by Stoneheart.

“What are you waiting for, super red bug?” Alya called, “The world is watching you!”

The fear of failure immediately turned into the desire to save Alya and Chat. After mentally steeling herself, Ladybug found her resolve. She used her yo-yo to swing onto the field, rescue Chat Noir, and get Alya to safety.

While attempting to find a way to break the Akumatized object, Chat prematurely used his Cataclysm.

“Uh, oh! I guess I only get one shot to use my power,” he said with a sheepish grin.

Ladybug sighed as she watched Chat get punted across the field. “And you only have five minutes before you transform back. Didn’t your Kwami explain anything to you?”

He smiled. “I guess I was a little excited about my new life.”

“It’s alright. We’ll figure something else out. I think we’re both allowed mistakes today.”

“Thanks, but what are we going to do?”

“Hmmm...well, I haven’t used my superpower yet.” Ladybug tossed her yo-yo into the sky. “LUCKY CHARM!”

A wave of confusion washed over her as a spotted wetsuit landed in her hands. However, after talking it over with her new partner, the solution came to her easily.

Ladybug’s chest swelled with pride as she broke the Akumatized object and watched the purple butterfly flutter away. She turned to Chat Noir and beamed.

“You were incredible, Ladybug. You did it!” he exclaimed.

“No, we both did it. I couldn’t have done this without you. Even though we made a few mistakes along the way, I think we’re going to be a pretty good team. Pound it?” She held out a fist for him to bump.

He returned the gesture just as his ring started to beep. “Uh, oh.”

“You better get going before you transform back. We don’t want any of your secrets being revealed. I just hope I didn’t mess up too much by accidentally telling you my name.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t get out much, and I only have one friend. I’m hoping to make more soon, but what are the chances of us running into each other in our everyday lives? Paris is a big city. I’m sure you’re fine.”

“Still, you better get going.”

“You’re right. See you around, my lady.”

She giggled and rolled her eyes as he unsheathed his baton and vaulted away. After comforting Ivan and announcing her superhero name, Ladybug followed in suit and returned home to rest after the day’s excitement.

When she detransformed in her room, she breathed a sigh of relief and turned on her computer. “I did it Tikki!”

Her kwami nuzzled her cheek. “You see! You were up to it!”

Later that evening, the television blared while Marinette’s family cleaned the kitchen after dinner. Marinette’s joyful mood vanished when Nadja Chamak interrupted the broadcast with news of Parisians being turned into an army of silent stone beings.

Marinette rushed to her room and called for her Kwami.

“Tikki,” Marinette cried, “What’s going on? I don’t understand.”

“Did you capture the Akuma?” the red Kwami asked.

“What's capturing the Akuma got to do with the other stone beings?”

“An Akuma can multiply, that's why it must be captured. If Ivan's emotions become negative again, then the Akuma will turn him back into Stoneheart! He'll control all the stone beings and bring them to life to serve as his army!”

“Oh, no,” she thought, “I messed up even more than I thought...I don’t know what to do.”

Marinette withered upon finding out that the appearance of Stoneheart’s minions was due to her failure to cleanse the Akuma. She’d been so excited while watching that beautiful purple butterfly disappear into the distance, but it turns out that she’d only created a bigger mess.

“So that means... this is all my fault? I knew it! See, Tikki? I'm not cut out to be a superhero! I'm only gonna keep messing up.”

“Keep calm. It was your first time. You're going to go back and capture Stoneheart's Akuma, and you will do it successfully!”

“I can't! I told you, I'm clumsy! I create disaster all the time! I'll only make things worse for me, for you, and for everyone. Chat Noir will be better off without me. I'm quitting.”

“Don’t say that, Marinette. You are going to be a great Ladybug. It’s only your first day. Besides, Chat can’t do this without you. You’re the only one who can cleanse the Akuma.”

“If Chat Noir can't capture the Akumas, then... just find another Ladybug. I told you, I'm not cut out for this!” Marinette began to take off her earrings. “I'm sorry, Tikki.”

The Kwami held out her paw in an attempt to stop her holder. “No, don't do tha...”

Tikki was silenced before having the chance to finish.

Marinette looked around the room, but the Kwami was nowhere to be found. “Tikki? I'm really sorry, Tikki.”

She then put away the earrings, stored the box in a drawer, and slumped against her dresser. This was turning out to be the worst day of her life.

“Chat needs someone who can do the job right the first time,” Marinette thought, “Alya will make a much better Ladybug.”

***

“Ladybug’s name is Marinette,” Adrien sighed as he watched Paris’ new heroes on the nightly news.

Plagg shook his head. “Yeah, kid, you’re not really supposed to know that. Let’s just hope that you don’t come across any spunky, pigtailed girls with that name in the near future.”

“Would it really be that bad if I met her in real life?”

“It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would make things more...difficult.”

“How so?”

“Usually, we like our holders to have a little bit more time to bond before we even begin to consider an identity reveal. It helps to build trust.”

Adrien flopped onto his side. “I don’t know...we had a connection out there earlier today. I think she and I would be able to overcome anything.”

“Great!” Plagg threw his hands into the air. “I got another lovesick one.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s not uncommon for my cats...well, you’re more of a kitten...anyway, they tend to fall in love with their bugs. It’s all part of that annoying yin and yang ‘made for each other’ mumbo jumbo.”

“So...Marinette and I are...like soulmates?”

“Not ‘like soulmates’. You are soulmates.”

Adrien beamed. “Wow...I have a soulmate. I hope I get to meet that girl in person one day.”

“Life always seems to have a way of working itself out,” Plagg assured, “I’ve been around for eons. Trust me, this isn’t my first rodeo.”

“You think so?”

“Yes...now...onto more important things!”

“What could be more important than my soulmate?”

“Uhhhh...my stomach,” Plagg noted while turning his nose away from the various dishes put in front of him. “Eww! What is this!”

Adrien was offended. “Seriously! My personal chef made all of these!”

“If you expect me to get my energy back after a transformation, I need to eat something more... delicate!”

“Okay. What do you want?”

“Hmmm...we’re in France, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Look, it’s been a while since I’ve been activated, and I recall one of my holders visiting France about three hundred years ago. He came across a particularly lovely cheese called ‘Camembert’. Do you have any of that around?”

“You’re joking right.”

“I would never joke about something like this. You’d know if I was. You’d be laughing.

I’m hilarious.”

“Camembert is the ripest smelling cheese.”

Plagg shrugged. “Fine. I guess you don’t want to be Chat Noir.”

“Ugh,” Adrien groaned, “Okay. I think we might have some in the kitchen. I’ll check. Everyone at school is going to think I’m the weird new kid. I mean, who carries around camembert?”

“You’re not seriously going to school tomorrow, are you?”

“Well, yeah. I am. This time, no one is going to stop me.”

“You’re crazy, kid.”

“And you have a terrible taste in food.”

Plagg smiled. “I’m glad we understand each other. Call me back when the cheese comes.”

Adrien frowned. “Camembert cheese. Fantastic. All he eats is camembert, which means I'm gonna smell like stinky, old cheese.”

He turned his attention towards the television. Adrien leaned forward in his seat while he watched a breaking news report.

Nadja’s voice rang through his room. “These victims transformed into stone beings are still like statues. The police are perplexed as to what will happen to them. Will they come back to life or be frozen in time forever?”

Adrien looked at his Kwami. “Plagg? What's going on? I thought we defeated him.”

Plagg shot him a worried expression. “Did you cleanse the Akuma?”

“What do you mean?”

“If Ladybug doesn’t cleanse the Akuma after it has been released from the Akumatized object, then it will fly away and multiply. That’s what you’re seeing on your moving picture box right now.”

“Can I cleanse the Akuma?”

“No.”

Adrien sighed. “So, I can't do anything without my partner?”

“Only Ladybug can capture Akumas and repair damage caused by supervillains,” Plagg responded.

“Well, should I transform right now and wait for Ladybug to show up?”

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do unless that boy gets Akumatized again, and trust me...it will happen again. Things will sort themselves out...eventually. I just hope that Ladybug’s Kwami is preparing her for what comes next.”

“Well, Marinette is awesome, so I don’t think we have to worry about anything.”

Plagg nodded. “Yeah, kid. Like I said before, things will work out. ANYWAY, I’m tired and hungry. I think it’s time for you to go get that cheese.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. He was excited to be a superhero, but he knew that life with Plagg was going to be...interesting. (Nonetheless, he already loved him. It was nice to have someone to talk to for a change.)

He spent the rest of the night strategizing his next attempt to get to the school. He was determined to make it all the way this time. Adrien couldn’t understand why his father was so adamant about keeping him home. What was so bad about making friends anyway?

The next day, ALMOST everything went according to plan. He made it to school, and people seemed friendly...and then Chloe surprised him by trying to put gum on another person’s seat. He knew that Chloe could be a little spoiled sometimes, but he never expected her to be so mean.

“Hey! What are you doing?” an annoyed voice asked behind him.

Adrien jumped back and his green eyes met a familiar blue. “Uhhh…I…”

He cringed while he heard Chloe and Sabrina laugh at his interaction with the enraged girl standing before him.

The girl huffed and shot him a hurt expression. “Okay. I get it. Good job, you three. Very funny.”

Her words made him panic. “No, no, I was just trying to take this off!”

She only seemed to become more annoyed upon hearing his explanation. “Oh, really? You're friends with Chloe, right?”

That was the second time someone had asked him that question today. Adrien hung his head and trudged to his seat. “Why do people keep saying that?”

Chloe snickered. “Now do you see what I mean about respect?”

At that moment, he didn’t know if he wanted to cry, scream, disappear, or all three.

The boy in the seat next to him looked up. “Why didn't you tell them it was Chloe's idea?”

Adrien shrugged. “I've known Chloe since I was a little kid. I know she's not perfect, but I can't throw her under the bus. She's like my only friend.”

The boy smiled, surprising Adrien. “I'm Nino, and it's time for you to make some new friends, dude.”

He shook his Nino’s hand. “Thanks.”

“You seem super chill. Unlike Chloe. How do you two know each other anyway?”

“Our parents are...or maybe were...I don’t know. They were friends. I didn’t get out much when I was little, but they let me play with Chloe.”

“That’s rough, bro.”

“I still can’t believe she was so mean to those girls. I never expected that from her.”

Nino shook his head. “Chloe has always had it out for Marinette. I have no idea why, but they’ve never gotten along.”

Adrien’s brain short-circuited. “I’m sorry. What did you say her name was?”

“Marinette. She’s really cool. I think the new girl she’s sitting with is named Alya.”

Visions of red and black spots flashed through his mind. The ocean-blue eyes he’d seen earlier fused with the striking azure irises he’d seen the day before. He glanced in Marinette’s direction and saw the familiar bob of two raven pigtails.

It was her.

It was her.

It was her.

Adrien couldn’t believe that he’d found his Ladybug. Joy flooded his body but was quickly replaced by icy panic.

“Oh, no. She hates me,” he thought.

“Agreste, Adrien,” called a voice from the front of the room.

Nino nudged him. “You say ‘present’.”

His nerves were already frayed, so the shock of this new experience caused him to leap out of his chair, stand at attention, and raise his hand. “PRESENT!”

The rest of the students giggled while he sheepishly sat down again. The teacher continued roll call until she reached the name of a student who was not in the classroom.

“Bruel, Ivan?” she called.

A large stone being broke through the door. “PRESENT!”

Adrien ducked out of the way as the re-Akumatized Stoneheart grabbed Chloe and another student before crashing through the wall. He knew he needed to transform, but Marinette was still in the room. He paused to look at her.

His mind was reeling. “Why isn’t she leaving? She’s Ladybug.”

There were other people in the room. Adrien couldn’t tell her that he knew who she was, but he didn’t want to transform before he was sure that she was going to fight by his side. He’d just found her, and he wasn’t ready to leave her behind.

He turned to Marinette. “You need to go.”

She looked at him with fury in her eyes. “Excuse me?”

His heart sank. “Ohmygod...she really does hate me.”

Adrien tried to find the right words to say. “I...uhhh...I what I meant...I uhhh...I don’t want you to get hurt, and you should probably find a place to hide.

She scoffed. “Ugh...thanks for the concern, but I can handle myself.”

He watched as Marinette ran to Alya. She attempted to give her friend a messenger bag; however, the phone-wielding girl ran out of the classroom before taking the satchel. Adrien looked up at the dejected-looking Marinette who was still holding the blue bag in her hands.

Adrien knew that look…it was the look of defeat. It was the same look that he had every time his father stopped him from living his life. He didn’t want her to give up. She was amazing, and he knew that he couldn’t stop the Akuma without her.

“Paris needs you,” he noted cryptically before making his way towards the exit, “and I need you, too. Please. I’ll explain everything later.”

Adrien dashed into the locker room and called for his transformation. Within minutes, he was standing in front of a roaring Stoneheart. However, his partner was nowhere to be seen.

“If you can hear me, Ladybug, I could use a little help!” he yelled.

After using his baton to prevent a car from crushing Alya, he was scooped up by one of the stone beings.

In a final attempt to get away, he flailed his legs in protest. “Let go, you rock-head!”

“This is it for me,” he thought, “I just hope Ladybug can help everyone else.”

However, just as he began to lose hope, he heard Ladybug call out to him. Somehow, she managed to return his baton. After freeing himself, the duo raced to standoff against Stoneheart at the Eiffel Tower.

They leaped over the police barricade just as Chloe was flung to the ground by the Akuma. Chat found himself (once again) in awe as Ladybug swooped in and caught Chloe in her arms.

“Even though Chloe was terrible to her, she still saved her. She’s beautiful, brave, and kind. Is there anything she can’t do?” he thought lovingly.

“We’re clear to attack!” screamed Officer Raincomprix.

Ladybug looked at the police officer with pleading eyes. “Wait! No, don’t attack them! You know it will only make it worse!”

The man sneered. “I have a new plan, unlike you! Move aside, and let the pros do their thing. You’ve already failed once!”

The spotted heroine turned towards Chat and hung her head. “He’s right, you know. If I had captured Stoneheart’s Akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened! I knew I wasn’t the right person for the job.”

Chat’s heart broke. “No...doesn’t she realize how incredible she is? Doesn’t she see what I see? How can she keep doubting herself? Say something...help her to believe that she can do this!”

“No,” he began, placing a hand on her shoulder, “He’s wrong. Without you, Chloe would no longer be here. Considering how awful she was to you earlier today, that couldn’t have been easy.”

She knitted her brows. “What? How did…”

Chat quickly cut her off. “Nevermind. I’ll explain everything later. But for right now, just remember...without us no one will make it, and we’ll prove that to them. Trust me on this. Okay?”

Confidence flared in Ladybug’s eyes. “Okay...oh, and I’m holding you to that explanation later.”

“Don’t worry...when this is over, I’m all yours.”

“Thanks.”

Their heads snapped towards Stoneheart as he roared and released a swarm of cursed butterflies into the sky. Within seconds, the Akumas formed a menacing face.

Chat’s heart seized as the cloud of butterflies began to speak. “People of Paris, listen carefully. I am Hawkmoth. Ladybug and Chat Noir, give me the ladybug earrings and the cat ring now. You've done enough damage to these innocent people!”

There was something eerily familiar in the way Hawkmoth spoke. It made his blood run cold.

Ladybug clapped and sauntered towards the Eiffel Tower. “Nice try, Hawkmoth, but we know who the bad guy is. Let's not reverse the roles here. Without you, none of these innocent victims would be transformed into villains. Hawkmoth, no matter how long it takes, we will find you, and YOU will hand us YOUR Miraculous!”

Chat stared in awe as she used her yo-yo to cleanse the Akuma cloud.

Standing triumphantly atop the monument, Ladybug declared, “Let me make this promise to you. No matter who wants to harm you, Ladybug and Chat Noir will do everything in our power to keep you safe!”

“Wow,” he whispered under his breath, “I’m definitely in love with her.”

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t hate me when she finds out who I am,” he added mentally.

In a matter of minutes, the battle was fought and won. The heroes eventually found their stride and worked in tandem to defeat Stoneheart and purify the Akuma. Once they were safely on the ground, Chat’s Miraculous beeped.

Ladybug looked up at him. “You’re going to transform back soon. You still owe me an explanation.”

Chat smiled. “I know, but not here. There are too many eyes. Just...go back to school, and I will explain everything there.”

“You keep saying things like that. Do we know each other? Did you already meet the civilian me? Oh, no. Hawkmoth could use that against us. It’s one thing to know my name, but it’s another thing to know who I am. This is really bad, Chat!”

“No, it’s not. It’s going to be okay, I promise. Please...just trust me. I would never let anything bad happen to you, my lady.”

“Okay...I trust you. Thanks, kitty.”

“Kitty...hmmm...I think I like the way that sounds.”

“You know...I’m pretty sure school is canceled for the rest of the day. This whole Akuma business really scared everyone.”

“Then I will talk to you tomorrow.”

Her Miraculous beeped. “I need to go.”

He nodded. “Yes, and don’t worry. I will explain everything!”

She smiled and swung away on her yo-yo. After a moment, Chat used his baton to vault towards the Agreste mansion.

***

Despite the anxiety that boiled in her gut regarding her impending discussion with Chat, Marinette felt a burst of confidence as she reclaimed her seat and told off Chloe. However, her mood quickly soured when Adrien walked in and waved at her.

Anger flared inside of her as she turned away from him. When Miss Bustier called the class to order, Marinette found it hard to concentrate. It took most of the morning for her to calm down.

By the end of the school day, the sun had disappeared behind the clouds. She held out her hand just as rain began to fall from the heavens. She sighed as she prepared herself to get wet on the way home.

“Hey,” a familiar voice said behind her.

“Chat?” she thought, “We do know each other. It’s now or never Marinette.”

Her heart sank when she looked up and saw Adrien trying to wave at her again.

He hung his head and opened his umbrella. “Marinette...I told you that I owe you an explanation. Look, I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat...I swear. I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me.”

Adrien turned towards Marinette and held out his umbrella for her to take. When their eyes met, something inside of her brain clicked.

Thoughts raced through her mind as she processed her revelation. “Those eyes...it’s the same look Chat gave me when I messed up. He told me that he owes me an explanation...wait which he? Both of them...they both said that...they both...that’s his voice...his eyes...it’s...it’s him…I can’t believe...”

“It’s you,” she finally managed to whisper.

The softest smile spread across his lips. “Yes, my lady. It’s me, and I swear...I would never intentionally harm you or hurt your feelings. I meant it when I said I would never let anything happen to you. You told me that you trusted me yesterday. Please...I need you to trust me now.”

She did her best to control her breathing. “Oh my God.”

He frowned. “Is that all you can say?”

“I can’t believe this. When you said all that stuff to me yesterday, I had a feeling that you met civilian me. I didn’t want it to be true...one of the first things Tikki told me was ‘don’t tell anyone your identity’, and I blow it on the first mission!”

“My lady, it will be okay. It’s not so bad. Besides, we’re classmates. How long could we have really kept this a secret? Even if you didn’t tell me your name, I feel like I would have recognized you anywhere.”

“I guess you’re right. Wow...what are the chances?”

Adrien’s eyes lit up. “I’d like to believe that this was fate.”

Marinette giggled. “Whatever you say, kitty. And for what it’s worth...I believe you. It’s not beneath Chloe to let her friend take the fall for something she did. Wait...I was so focused on the whole identity thing...did...did you say that you’ve never really had friends before? Yesterday, you mentioned that you only had one friend...were you talking about Chloe?”

He bit his lip and scratched the back of his neck. “Uhh...yeah...Chloe was my only friend until I met Nino.”

“That’s terrible.”

“It’s okay. Now that I’ve convinced my dad to let me go to school, I can start meeting new people. I’m...uhhh…I’m really happy I met you, Marinette. You’re incredible...and not just because you’re Ladybug. You’re amazing because you’re you.”

“Oh.”

Adrien once again held out his umbrella. “Here, my lady. I don’t want you to get wet.”

Their fingers briefly touched as Marinette tentatively took the umbrella. It promptly closed, trapping her inside. She heard Adrien laugh as she lifted the fabric and wire away from her face. Seeing his joy made her begin to laugh with him.

He looked at her again and smiled.

All at once, something seized inside of Marinette’s chest. There were no words to describe this new sensation. It had been building for two days, but whatever it was, it took her breath away. It was a feeling she’d never experienced before. Within a millisecond, the whole universe was crashing down on her at once, but at the same time, the whisper of a cool summer breeze gently caressed her face. It immediately became her new obsession. It was filled with sunshine, green pastures, and a laugh that sounded like the sweetest symphony.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Adrien smiled and placed his hand on her arm. Fireworks exploded from point of contact and spread throughout her body. It was exhilarating, and she never wanted it to end.

“I need to go now. Goodbye, Marinette. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With a wave of his hand, he turned and began walking away towards his family’s car.

She held up her hand to wave back. “Uh… see you to…mo… tomo… Haha! Whoa, why am I stammering?”

Tikki zipped up to her face and nuzzled her cheek. “Hey! I think I might have an idea!”

Marinette took a deep breath and let the new feeling wash over her a second time. After taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she made her descent down the stairs and onto the sidewalk.

“This must be what it’s like to fall in love,” the thought quietly to herself.

Next --->

AO3

FanFiction

---

Hello, lovely readers!

Thank you for reading Part 1 of the It’s You AU.  My plan is for this to be three parts.  It diverges from canon a lot after this.

Anyway, thank you for reading!

My username on Fanfiction and AO3 is clslovegood47.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #miraculous fanfiction #fanfiction #ao3 #It's You AU #Part 1 #Thank you YunYin for the inspiration #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #adrien x marinette #fluff #tooth rotting fluff

[tcdarkeststorms]

Mother’s Day special

Since it’s Mother’s Day, I wanted to give some tribute to the moms we see in Trauma Center, along with headcanons about how a couple of ‘em are as moms and generally exploring stuff. This is my ship hell, just a fair warning.

HERE WE GO!!!

Cybil Kasal

Cybil and Greg, honestly thought long and hard about starting a family. Neither, were entirely sure, because of their GUILT and worrying if it would potentially cause issues with having kids or create issues for the kid once they were born. Privately, they got gene screening done.

They were so relieved when they were told they could in fact have a family safely.

Kari was born 10 months later.

Greg gleefully was telling those they were comfortable telling “She’s Gregnant.” including his mother in law. Cybil was bemoaning the fact, that this was his first dad joke and only the start of a lifetime full of them.

During her pregnancy with Kari, Cybil didn’t even stop working. While anesthesia isn’t an easy specialty by far… It was pretty much a situation of let her or lose a hand. Greg just kept a careful eye on her but put his foot down finally when she was in her last trimester.

The night Kari was born, Greg actually nearly missed it because of an emergency patient. He wanted to pass them off to another doctor, but Cybil insisted he go, she was gonna be fine. He made it with literally seconds to spare as the first thing he heard when he came into the room was Kari’s first cries.

Kari’s name actually has some significance to them both. Derived from HIkari since she was their little light of Hope.

For the first few months, Kari could only fall asleep if she was nestled between them. Cybil lost a LOT of sleep making sure their little girl was fine. (She had a little cot that she was tucked into that was above their own blanket)

Kari’s first words were….

“Dada”.

Greg would never forget the LOOK Cybil gave him when that happened. He tried to convince her, she really said Mama but they both knew.

She took her first steps for Cybil though and that was enough for her. (And Greg got it all on film including the crying from Cybil.)

As she grows, Kari and her mom are very close and Cybil does her best to be there as much as she can. She still works, but she’s not ashamed that she did indeed bring her little one to work a few times.

The first time Kari got sick with something more serious than a cold, it was a good number of sleepless nights. (Poor kiddo had food poisoning. It was not fun for Kari who was five at the time and Greg and Cybil were taking shifts all night to make sure she was comfortable/hydrated)

Kari was born on Mother’s Day of 2021. (May 9th) Cybil boasts that she was the best present she ever got.

Cybil is THAT Mom during sport events at school and the like. Cheering as loud as she can, booing the other team, boasting: “THAT’S MY LITTLE GIRL!!!” And generally just… embracing the role of “embarrassing mom” with utter pride.

They never had another child. They only planned for one and they got their little miracle child.

Naomi Kimishima

Naomi after she woke up from surgery had Alyssa moved to her room. Alyssa actually never slept in her hospital bed again, they slept in the same one together.

Alyssa doesn’t really sleep in her own room all that often. She prefers being near her mother, since she’s so busy… and Alyssa privately, feels safer being right next to her. When she gets older she’ll gradually sleep in her own bed more and more but Naomi doesn’t mind…. Privately, she feels better having her kid right there.

Alyssa, doesn’t remember the first time she called Naomi “Mom” however Naomi does. It was while she was dropping Alyssa off to play at Joshua’s house and Alyssa shouted over her shoulder “Bye Mama! I’ll see you later!”

She’d never admit this out loud to anyone (Except Little Guy) that she sat there in her car for nearly ten minutes crying.

Naomi… doesn’t really get along with the other moms that volunteer at Alyssa’s school. She comes across as intimidating to them and she thinks they’re too protective. (She got a pretty nasty set of glares, when waiting for the kids to be done messing around after school, Alyssa fell. Instead of rushing to her and fretting, she just called across:

“You good!?”

“Ahuh!”

“Good, get up and keep going.”

She could FEEL the judgement)

She… generally dislikes parental participation during events. She loves spending time with Alyssa, but she’ll be the first to admit, she’s more of an introvert now than she used to be and being around so many people is exhausting. She’ll suck it up for her sake though…

Except for Bake Sales.

She refuses to bake. She’s not a disaster chef like Gabe jokes, she can make basic meals and the most advanced thing she can make is various curries (all from scratch and both Indian and Japanese style curries) but unfortunately, that’s not exactly… welcomed at bake sales. She has no shame buying stuff at the store and dropping it onto the table.

There’s a few other moms she works with at CIFM, but they don’t talk…. And actually, Naomi avoids talking to them in particular, because she… really, REALLY hates how often they try to envelope her into their “Mom Clique” at work.  (She got enough of it, after being told how often Alyssa should be snacking, ect and flat out said: “She’s breathing and suffered no brain damage from the explosion. But you know, let’s hear again how I’m a terrible mom for letting her stay up late on weekends and letting her eat candy.”)

They give her a wide berth now as if she’s cursed.

That’s perfectly fine with her.

While they eat out often, Naomi does ensure Alyssa and her both eat a variety of food. Lot of vegetables, fruits, ect.

She became closer with her own mother, after adopting Alyssa since her mom was elated at having a granddaughter… and elated her child was going to live.

Naomi and her mom were close when she was growing up and she wanted the same for her and Alyssa… Luckily for her, Alyssa utterly adores her.

Alyssa shows interest in biology, but she’ll admit, she doesn’t think she could do the work Naomi does. She knows how hard it is emotionally on her at times and has stayed up with her, distracting her after some rough cases. Mainly in the form of watching movies and lots of cuddles in a blanket nest.

On her days off, Naomi always tries to see what Alyssa wants to do, before making plans… most of these plans, include teaching her about meditating, telling her stories, or facetiming with Naomi’s parents. Making blanket forts and watching cartoons, or reading together. (Naomi’s just… baffled at how easy going of a kid Alyssa is. She realizes she lucked out with having a child that’s so calm)

Chloe is still a problem cat and Naomi laments frequently, she didn’t expect to share a familiar with Alyssa.

She’d do it all over again for her sake.

When she and Little Guy get married, Naomi makes one thing clear - she wants ONLY one child and she’s got that already. Navel happily agrees.

Tomoe Tachibana

I like to imagine, Tomoe does want to be a mother someday. It’s just a matter of getting there… and being patient, even if it’s hard sometimes…. Sooo here we are.

In every timeline, when she gets with CR-S01, they struggle for awhile to have kids.

And in each timeline, they adopt after a certain point. They take in a little girl, named Rizabelle who is the utter light of their lives and they adore everything about her. Later on, they’ll have another child, a son (Galen, who you can find here: https://theblueskyphoenix.tumblr.com/post/612419824029777920/citra-torres-teresa-cunningham-galen-muller

Tomoe’s a very gentle and nurturing parent. While their daughter’s pretty hyper, she does her best to help her slow down and appreciate the life around them.

Their little girl, is generally just a ray of sunshine to everyone she meets and a very kind little girl. She adores her parents and spends as much time as possible with them when their home… and even at work.

Tomoe wants to teach both of her kids, martial arts, only if they want to though.

Rizabelle wants to. SO BADLY. Unfortunately, she’s a bit of a frail little thing so it’s not until she’s a little stronger that she starts learning the basics. There is absolutely no desire to take over the Tachibana clan though.

With both of her children, Tomoe emphasizes wanting them to know about their family’s background. A lot of history lessons, Japanese lessons… but she emphasizes she wants them to be kids as well. She never wants them to feel the pressure she did growing up, to do everything a proper “lady of the clan” would do.

Tomoe and Erhard both are guilty of being WAY too excited, to shop for their kids back to school supplies. Rizabelle had JUST turned six when they adopted her, so she was phasing out of Kindergarten when that happened. (They both went overboard. A LOT of books, too many backpacks, specialized stationary, Rizabelle genuinely lost count of how many bento boxes she has for her lunches. They were just so excited to have a kid to shop for. The same thing happens with Galen when it’s his turn, except he does use a few of Rizabelle’s hand-me-down’s since at least there were a few backpacks that weren’t too girly for his tastes and bento boxes didn’t really matter if they were cutesy or not)

Tomoe, privately really enjoys anime unironically, it’s just what she grew up with. It was a real joy to her, to get to share some of her favorite series with her kids. (Black Jack, the original Sailor Moon, stuff she remembered fondly as a little girl).

Movie nights are frequent in the Tachibana-Muller household, with everyone taking turns.

When Tomoe did fall pregnant with their son finally, she was excited, nervous, terrified. She was just… so looking forward to meeting him.

Oddly enough, she didn’t have much in the ways of severe symptoms. She was one of the lucky ones, who didn’t deal with morning sickness and she worked a good deal of the way into her pregnancy.

Erhard came home from work, quite a bit to find his wife and daughter fast asleep, with Rizabelle having her ear pressed to her mom’s stomach trying to hear what her new sibling was up to.

He has a lot of pictures of those times.

Tomoe is… VERY protective of her kids. Rizabelle got pushed and almost punished in the third grade, because it counted as a “fight”.

That was the last time, someone messed with a Tachibana child, as Tomoe went NUCLEAR. (Erhard took a step back and focused on making sure Rizabelle was alright).

No one ever picked on the Muller kids again after that.

Tomoe intimidates the other moms just as much as Naomi and… she honestly doesn’t care. As far as she’s concerned, if they don’t like how she raises her children, they can keep their opinions to themselves.

She admits, she’s a little lost sometimes initially and wishes she could ask her own mother for advice.. But she picks herself up and keeps going. (And asks for advice a LOT from Lisa and Naomi at the start. She realized very quickly to not worry so much since as long as their kids were eating enough, sleeping enough, ect then she couldn’t really mess up)

Lisa Cunningham

Lisa wanted to be a mom, ever since she could remember. When she fell in love with Gabriel, the first thing she warned him was that she did want kids and if he didn’t, then she would let him go right then and there, during their first date.

Luckily he agreed… When they had Joshua, it was still when Gabe was in the reserves. She quickly got on with the other military moms, who all had husbands in the same program as Gabe was. They got along pretty nicely and frequently lamented how often their husbands were busy.

Gabe only had to report to training so many times, never deployed. She still held things together though, when he needed her to.

They lived in California for part of Joshua’s life, before moving to Portland. Both are actually from Portland, but due to Gabe’s work lived in Cali for awhile. She misses it… especially when it’s cold.

When she first became pregnant with Joshua, she was mostly exhausted all the time… and mostly cried at stuff, when her hormones got to her. She could never remember actually being mad. (And Gabe would agree. He just felt bad when she was having a hard time.. And he also wishes he could forget some of the cravings. (“Who the heck dips pickles in peanut butter? For the matter, how many jars of those did you even eat!?” “Your son, wanted them.”)

They had a few names picked out but Joshua was the one they both liked the best. (It’s actually Gabe’s middle name, since he didn’t wanna saddle the kid with being “Gabe Jr.”, Lisa thought it was sweet… and it’s actually a family name, since it was also Gabe’s grandfather’s first name.)

They had some trouble deciding on a middle name though. It was a week long debate, over dinner because both wanted Joshua to have one of his grandfather’s names as a middle name.

They literally had this discussion until Joshua was born.

They settled on Joshua Thomas Cunningham… Neither grandfather's name won. Instead, Joshua’s named after one of the members of the band Styx, Tommy Shaw (Gabe’s favorite band EVER)

Joshua was a C-section baby. He was in distress and they both agreed it was best to just get him out ASAP. (Lisa was honestly terrified and tried to put on a brave face. Gabe stayed by her side the whole time. She can look back on it with humor nowadays though. “He didn’t want a squished head. He was already fluffy thanks to his dad here.” “Hey!”)

Lisa’s a doting mother on Joshua. Loves her baby more than anything else and does whatever she can for him… even if for part of his life, Gabe wasn’t in it.

They are very, very close due to this. Joshua wants his mom happy and does his best hoping not to worry her… even if she still worries like crazy.

They have tried to reconcile several times, meeting privately and talking over the course of the last year or so.

She was mentally burnt out by the time the outbreak had ended. She was so stressed out, it took a toll on her. She and Gabe were together again by this point and… yeah. It was rough. She was having trouble relaxing, neither were sleeping well.

Gabe declared they needed a vacation and they headed to California for two weeks.

Lisa… honestly gets a kick out of the fact, she gets asked for advice from one of Gabe’s old friends, about parenting… and happily will offer it if it’s wanted

A year later, they have another child, their daughter Terry… this time, everything goes nice and smooth and Lisa thanks her lucky stars it went just as planned.

She’s a loving dedicated mother and will do anything for her kids and husband.

While being married to Gabe wasn’t easy at times… she is glad they were able to work it out. (Though she gave him SUCH a look when someone at Resurgam said: “Didn’t you say you were gonna divorce her?”

“Oh please, he wouldn’t survive without me.”

“It’s true.”)

They both have had to put a lot of work into making their marriage work but it’s worth every second.

Angie Thompson

Angie and Derek’s first kid came along exactly 9 months after they got married. They really wanted a family of their own. They were blessed with their first daughter, Luna Stiles.

Derek has quite a few photo’s and notes from over the course of that particular pregnancy, to put in Luna’s baby book later…. Including some of the sillier things. (“Please tell me you didn’t take pictures of that time I cried because you made me eggs with a bacon smile.”

“Noooooo. NOOOOO never….” He did. He got a smack on the arm for it later. It was worth it.)

Angie, didn’t work in the OR at all during this. They worked with too many potential hazards and the smell of the disinfectants made her morning sickness act up BIG TIME. She instead, worked directly with the patients for most of it.

Derek spoiled her rotten and made sure to do as much as he could to make it easier for her… Including, overhauling paperwork duty for them both. (And later realized, he may have made a mistake as Angie now calls him on it every time. “What? Do we need another kid to make you do it on time again!?”

“A-Angie!!!”)

Angie and Derek both agreed, they didn’t want a lot of prying when it came to their children coming into the world. She quietly checked into Hope Hospital and after a long, LONG night… Luna was born and they couldn’t be happier.

Two years later, they were blessed with a little boy, named Glenn.

Angie dotes on them both equally. She was just so happy they were finally here, safe and sound… healthy…

Glenn is a mama’s boy. He happily will cling to her leg when she gets home from work, or if she brings them to work for a bit. He loves spending time with her and getting to know more about her job.

Her favorite part of her day is coming home to their kids and getting to enjoy their evenings with them… or mornings, depending on the shift. Either way, it’s her favorite part.

Angie and Derek both have days where they take one of the kids with them to do an activity solo with that particular parent, along with family outings all together. That way, they get some one on one time along with full out family time. (Derek’s forbidden Disneyland as a “solo parent activity” cause deep down he’s a big kid at heart who loves going just as much)

During the earlier parts of their kids lives, they lived in a few different areas, due to work reasons. They got to see quite a bit of the world before the age of ten, but were very happy to go back home for good. It was around when Luna was 6 and Glenn was 4 that they decided no more international medical work unless absolutely necessary. (“As in, we better be the last ones called.”)

Nap piles are a must. She didn’t understand initially the appeal of mid day naps before she and Derek got together… She admits, there is now nothing better than, taking a midday snooze, her kids her husband all together with her in their big queen sized bed.

Angie is a total helicopter mom when her kids are sick. She’s on top of everything… Derek’s involved with it too, but he’s mainly reminding Angie that they’ll be fine. He’s actually the calm one.

Angie is a member of the now unofficial “Moms who aren’t liked by the other moms at school” club, with Tomoe and Naomi.  It’s more to do with the fact Angie gets recognized from being in the news so often… More so because she refused to give free medical advice.

(“They do know, I’m not allowed to do that right?”

“I got snubbed for not freaking out over Alyssa falling.”

“They were afraid of me.”)

No matter what, she wouldn’t change a single thing.

#Trauma Center #Trauma Team #Cybil Meyers #Angie Thompson #Tomoe Tachibbana #Naomi Kimishima #mothers day