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pandawritespoorly · 5 years

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With Time: Chapter 5 - 2 Truths, 1 Lie, and Many Puns

Author’s Note: Hot off the presses! I typically have these finished a day or two before I post them to give me ample time to edit them, but I've had a busy last few days. I wanted to get this chapter done though so that I can get to the next one, so I powered through it. This is one of the longer ones (page-wise) though it's got a lot of dialogue (which isn't my strong suit).

Finally got them all posted.

Chapter summary: The Quantic kids and Adrien get to know each other.

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There is an awkward silence for a second. Those at the couch were not expecting Marinette’s reappearance and are not about to tell her what they had just been discussing.

Claude, ever the actor, is the first to recover, “We were about to get to know each other! All we know is each other’s names and that we all are friends with you! Do you have any ideas on games for that ‘Nette?”

Marinette pauses, thinking, “Um… I guess… Two truths one lie? Or never have I ever? Are those okay?”

“Ooh! I haven’t played those in a while! Okay, we all know how to do those right? We’ll start with two truths one lie, then we can move on to never have I ever. Does anyone have anything to add or that they’re worried about?” The group glances around at each other Allegra shakes her head slightly, but Adrien cautiously raises his hand.

Marinette notices, “Adrien?”

“I’ve never heard of either of those before. What are the rules? How long do they take?”

There is a shocked silence from the group, but Marinette just sighs,”Right, okay. Um, I can explain them. But, um, do you guys want to head to my room first?” With everyone looking at her now, she panics, backtracking, “Not that we have to! Of course! I just, um-”

“Sure thing, ‘Nette.” Allan offers her a calm smile, and everyone nods, standing to follow her into her room.

Marinette goes first, holding the trapdoor open. Adrien is next, plopping down nearby on her case. As the others entered, she grew anxious, she liked her room, but they probably thought it was dumb, so pink and probably very immature looking, they would hate it, they would hate he-

“Ooooooh! I love your room Marinette!” Claude sounds as excited as ever. He and the others are looking around her room.

“I like it!” Allegra declares. She gestures toward the chaise, “Can I sit here?”

Marinette nods, and Allegra sits on one end of the chaise, Allan sits at the other end, cross-legged.

Felix sits, leaning against the side of the ladder leading to her bed, “It is certainly befitting of you.”

As Marinette sits against the case that Adrien is on she says, “Thanks. I’m glad you guys like it.”

Wheeling her desk chair to move it closer to his friends, Claude says, “Like it? I love it!” As if to emphasize his point, he spins in the chair, throwing his arms in the air.

“So, uh, how do we play these games?”

“We can explain them as we go. We’re starting with two truths and a lie, right?” Marinette pauses, double-checking.

“Yep!” Claude is slowing now, looking faintly dizzy.

“Okay, so, um, it’s pretty straight-forward. We take turns listing three things. Two truths, one lie, and everyone has to try to guess the lie.”

Adrien nods. “Okay, that makes sense. Who’s going first?”

“I can.” Allegra raises her hand slightly, then pauses, thinking, “Um, let’s see… I play the flute, I have 3 siblings and I do calligraphy.

Claude excitedly opens his mouth to answer, but she raises her hand, cutting him off, “Nope, sorry Claude, but I think Adrien should answer first, then Marinette, then the rest of you. We’ve known each other longer and these are pretty simple starter ones. You’ll all know the answers.”

Claude gives an exaggerated ‘harumph’, but turns to Adrien, who is thinking.

“Umm, I think the lie is… the calligraphy?”

Without a word, Allegra turns to Marinette, who is considering all of the statements. She knows the first one is undoubtedly true, as for the second and third… she isn’t as sure. Calligraphy is pretty specific, so that could go either way. Siblings… she knows Claude has three siblings, but Allegra only has two little brothers - at least to her knowledge, so, “Is it the, um, siblings?”

“Yep!” Claude and Allegra say in unison. She turns to him and he shrugs sheepishly, “Sorry ‘llegra. I just got excited.” She rolls her eyes.

“I have only two siblings, little brothers.”

Felix speaks up, “Perhaps to even this out, we should alternate between Adrien and Marinette having turns, and one of the four of us having turns. Otherwise there will be several rounds where many people know the answer.”

“Alright! I can go next.” Adrien thinks, “Okay. I play Ultimate Mecha Strike III, I take fencing, and do fashion design.”

“Fencing.”

“Ulimate Mecha Strike III”

“Fencing?”

“...you don’t do fashion design” Claude is the last to answer, but he seems the most certain of all of them.

Adrien nods, grinning, “Yep! As Mari here will be quick to tell you, I know nothing about designing clothing.”

“He really doesn’t”

If the others thought it odd that the heir to Gabriel Agreste’s company knew nothing about fashion design, they kept it to themselves. After a brief pause, Allan spoke up,”Let’s see… I bake, I have a little sister, and listen to Jagged Stone.”

“Is it the little sister?”

Marinette is pretty certain about Allan’s lie. She knows he has a little sister - she’s seen pictures - and is well aware that Allan is just as big a Jagged fan as Adrien as herself, so that leaves only one option. “I’m pretty sure you don’t bake… right?”

Allan nods, “Mhm. Pretty sure you’re the only baker here, ‘Nette.”

Claude claps his hands together excitedly, “Marinette’s turn!” Everyone turns to her.

“Oh!” Right. It was her turn now. Should she try to stump them? It could be fun to reach out to her more far-fetched interests, and come up with a more complex li- no. She would keep it simple. Her lies didn’t need to be big, only what was necessary. “Um… I knit, I love hamsters, and I’m a terrible runner.”

It’s part of the game. Why do I feel bad about lying to them? It wasn’t like she was lying for the same reasons as Lila did, but the guilt still burned through her, a familiar feeling from all the excuses she made for her alter-ego.

“I think it’s the last one!” Claude is the first to speak, drawing her back.

“I’m with him.” Allan jerks his thumb at Claude, and Felix nods.

“Same here. I mean, have you seen her when she’s running late? She looks like she’s an aspiring olympian!”

Adrien laughs, “It is impressive.”

Marinette nods, and Claude cheers before turning to Felix, “Felix! Your turn!”

“Alright. I do calligraphy, I have a dog, and I enjoy poetry.”

“You don’t have a dog do you?”

Marinette nods in agreement, Felix does not have a dog- to her knowledge.

“Indeed. However, I do have a cat, his name is Pluto.”

“ Felix , that was so easy .” Claude whined, “You gotta’ challenge him! I’ll go next, because I haven’t gone yet, and I shall be challenging!”

Allan raised an eyebrow at him, and Claude concedes, “Okay, not that challenging. Here we go! I am a thespian, I have a golden retriever, and I do origami.”

This was easy - for Marinette at least- Adrien, on the other hand, “Uhh, definitely not the first one… the origami?” He didn’t seem certain.

“Nope! I lamentably lack a pupper pal in my life. It’s tragic .”

Allan and Felix both give him a look. The latter says, “Claude. You do not have space for a dog. Not only that, but your father is allergic.”

“But it’s so ruff without a doggo in my life.”

After the proper groans and eyerolls from most of the group, Claude shouted, “Speed round! Allegra go!”

“What?”

“List three things, quick go! Then Adrien will guess, you’ll correct him if necessary, then we move on in the same order, going as fast as we can! Speed bonding! Go!”

“Alright, fine. Bullet journaling, I used to do gymnastics, and ballet when I was little.”

“Ballet!”

“Nope, gymnastics, your turn.”

“Um, I understand Morse code, I speak chinese, and I play the violin.”

“...Morse code?” Allegra is cautious, Allan nods in agreement, and after a moment so does Felix.

Claude on the other hand, confidently declares,”You don’t play the violin!”

“Yep! I do piano.”

“Okay, so it’s my turn now?” Allan speaks,“Well lets see, I’ve got a goldfish, I cook, and I cosplay.”

“Goldfish?”

“Nah, I don’t cosplay, that’s more Claude’s thing, if any of us.” The boy in question grins.

“Okay, um, my turn now?” Marinette thinks, “I have a fear of wasps, I do embroidery, and I love horror movies.”

She seems to have managed to stump most of them, except for Adrien who, after spending a good amount of time with her over the summer, knows the red herring. Claude seems fairly confident, but again waits for the others, who agree on the wasps being the lie.

“I disagree with my friends here, I believe the lie to be the horror movies!” Claude is once again correct and does a victory spin in his chair at Marinette’s nod.

“So, wasps, huh? Get a scare when you were little or sumthin’?”

Marinette hesitates at Allan’s question. What is she supposed to tell him, that her magical earrings make her feel like the wasps are going to eat her? As if . She feels the guilt bubble up again as she lies, “Yeah, uh, something like that.”

“Felix go! Remember, this is a speed round!”

“Hmm. Okay, I know the meaning of many common flowers, I prefer nonfiction books, and I am an only child.”

“The flowers?” At Adrien’s incorrect response, Felix gives a small smile.

“Actually, I prefer fiction books.”

“Aaaaaand now it’s my turn! Okay! I have two brothers, I am the youngest and I know the passwords of two other people’s phones in this room.”

For whatever reason, Allegra groans at that. Adrien seems to miss that, as he says,”the passwords?”

“Nope! I have two sisters, and one brother.”

The game continues for a few more rounds, Adrien and Marinette can’t help but notice that Claude gets every one right. Finally, Adrien caves,”Claude, how are you so good at this?”

Claude smiles mischievously,”I have become very good at reading people. Facial expressions are a good thing to be familiar with - especially when you can’t speak.” at Adrien’s confused look he adds, “I act, but I also do a lot of miming.”

Eventually, the game ends when Adrien says,“I have never told a bad pun, I can speak Japanese, and I’m a morning person.

“Adrien.” Marinette said flatly, “You’re only supposed to tell one lie.”

“I did.”

“I believe him Mari. There is no such thing as a bad pun!”

Marinette shakes her head, “That’s where you’re wrong.”

“We’ll just have to prove it to her then! Guys, I’m putting the game on hold, Adrien and I must do a pun-off! Dad jokes are acceptable as well.”

“I like the sound of that!”

Other than Adrien and Claude, only Allan seems to be enjoying this. The other three are rolling their eyes and groaning in preparation for what’s about to happen.

“The new clock was the tock of the town.”

“What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh!”

“Lumber companies have many board meetings!”

“Shepards are sheepish people who don’t like staff meetings!”

“What do you call someone with no body and no nose? Nobody knows!”

“Hey, do you know why a nose can’t be 12 inches long

“No, I do not. Why can’t a nose be 12 inches long?”

“Because then it would be a foot!”

“Of course! Hey, I decided to sell my vacuum cleaner - it was just gathering dust.”

“What do you call an elephant that doesn’t matter? An irrelephant.”

“What do you call a pampered cow? Spoiled milk!”

“The first carpenter to sail around the world took his screw with him.”

“A comedian stopped at a fabric store on his way to a gig - he was looking for new material!”

“If I had a nickel for every bread pun, I'd have a pun per nickel.”

“Some puns are so corny they hurt your ear.”

“Seven days without a pun makes one weak.”

“Wanna’ hear a joke about paper? Nevermind - it’s tearable.”

Claude holds up a broken pencil from Marinette’s desk, “Hey, Adrien, want to borrow a pencil?” He glances at it,”Nevermind, it’s pointless.”

This is the last straw. Marinette starts laughing, at first she tries to cover it up, but is unsuccessful - her glee overtaking her. Adrien looks over to her in surprise, then his face softens and he laughs with her.

Allegra smiles,”Felix, I think we’re the only ones here with a normal sense of humor.”

“Indeed”

Claude looks delighted, in between his own laughter he throws his arms in the air and proclaims, “I have won the pun-off!”

Marinette’s laughter eventually dies down, but a trace of a smile remains on her face as she asks, “Okay, what’s next? Do we want to continue ‘Two Truths One Lie’, or do we want to move on to ‘Never Have I Ever’? Or, um, if you guys wanted to do something else…?”

“‘Never Have I Ever’ works for me!”

“Alright.” Marinette turns to Adrien, “So, um, there’s a few ways to play this one? It can vary depending on who you ask? But I don’t know what rules you guys play by…?”

“I do not recall when I last played this game, however, considering our purpose is to get to know each other, we could simply move in a circle and list things we have never done before.”

“And then! If you have done it we can hear your cool story!” Claude excitedly adds onto Felix’s suggestion. “I’ll start! Never have I ever… been outside of France.”

“Really?”

“Yep! Never left!”

“Well it looks like you’re the only one Claude…” Allegra comments, “I’ve been to England.”

“As have I.” Felix adds.

“I’ve got family in Canada.” Allan looks to Adrien and Marinette, “What about you two?”

“Uh, I’ve been to China a few times? For, um, family.”

“I’ve had photoshoots and fashion shows in other countries before, but Father has me there for work, so I never really get a chance to look around or explore.” he shrugs, “But I can typically see some landmarks, so it’s not all bad.”

“That sucks dude,” Allan looks at Adrien sympathetically, “Your Pops should really lighten up on ya’.” It’s such a Nino thing to say, Adrien and Marinette share a look that the others can’t quite decipher.

“Allegra, your turn!” Claude startles them out of their thoughts.

“Why me?”

“Because you were first in the last game, and we should probably follow the same order.” he shrugs.

“Right. Me then. Okay, never have I ever… had a cat.”

Marinette and Claude raise their hands in agreement. He pouts dramatically though, mumbling something about allergies. Adrien looks down at his overshirt in an annoyed manner, and Marinette hears something that sounds like ‘lag’.

“Uh, we live in a bakery, so pets are kind of a no go…”

“Obviously I have Pluto.” Felix hold up his phone, displaying an all black cat with green eyes.

“We had one when I was little.” Allan says, “I’ve only got some blurry memories.”

“Uhh, same here! It wasn’t very well behaved though… it also got into our cheese a lot .” Adrien says the last part as though directing it at someone in particular, the others were confused, as was Marinette. She wondered if Adrien was still mad at the cat about the whole cheese-stealing thing. In the time the two had really known each other, Adrien always seemed to have Camembert on him. Maybe it was a habit he formed to protect it from the cat. Strange, but whatever, she wouldn’t judge.

“Uh, anyways! Is it my turn?” At the others’ confirmations Adrien nodded, thinking, “Okay, so never have I ever been to an amusement park.”

“Really?!” Claude seems horrified, “Even our resident grump has been to an amusement park!” Felix rolls his eyes at the moniker.

“I take it I’m the only one then?”

“I’ve been to one, though not for a while because of-” Marinette cuts herself off, because again, she can’t just say ‘because I’m Ladybug’, adding a (hopefully) nonchalant shrug she continues, “it’s just been a while.”

The others are seemingly too distracted to question her slip-up, Allan questions Adrien first,”So why not? Ya’ not like heights or sumthin’?”

“Father says that I must maintain ‘a prestigious image’ at all times, and that amusement parks and their attractions ‘do not allow for me to adhere to such a standard’.”

“I don’t think I like your father…” Allegra has the same face she did when she saw Marinette’s bruise, and Marinette still hasn’t figured out what it means, having only seen it twice now. Is it bad? It looks bad, it probably means Marinette messed up, though she isn’t sure how she managed it this time around.

“It’s fine, I’m pretty used to it anyways-” he is cut off by Allan.

“That really doesn’t make it any better…”

Adrien laughs dryly,”You sound like Ni-” he cuts off abruptly, glancing at Marinette who has stiffened almost imperceptibly, he puts an arm on her shoulder gently, trying to draw her back. “-one of my other friends.” He says the last word like he isn’t sure of it.

The whole interaction was short, honestly rather quick, but certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the other four. They cataloged it in the back of their minds, they may discuss this later. They tried to keep track of things that seemed to upset Marinette. While they may not know quite what happened, they still didn’t want to upset her and did their best to avoid things they thought might… remind her of whatever it was.

The game moved on and they made it through several rounds before Claude says,”Never have I ever met Ladybug!”

Adrien immediately lights up, “I have! She’s so cool!” No one notices Marinette’s light blush at this. She’s heard Adrien rave about her alter-ego before, but compliments will always fluster her.

“So have I, or at least I’ve seen ‘er in person.” Allan’s comment surprises Marinette. “Happened to be around near the end of an attack.”

When did that happen? Did she honestly miss one of her few fri- one of the few people she knew at an akuma attack? She was supposed to protect them, not miss them! What kind of a hero was she?

“Lucky! I’ve never seen her except on the news and stuff.” Allegra interjects, and Felix nods in agreement.

“Same here.” Marinette shakes herself out her self-critiquing. At her comment Adrien looks confused.

“Yeah you have!” Now Marinette is confused… what? He continues,”Remember when A- Timebreaker? When there were two Ladybugs and two akumas?”

Oh. Huh, she’d forgotten that Marinette and Ladybug had both been spotted together before. Thank you Adrien for that, it could be handy for protecting her identity in the future.

“Oh… yeah, I forgot about that.”

“How do you forget meeting Ladybug? ” Claude seems appalled.

“Well, we didn’t really meet. Also, um, I like Chat Noir better.” It was only natural, he was the better hero after all. Paris only favored Ladybug for her ability to clean up the damage.

Adrien’s face lit up even more, but he didn’t add anything.

Claude nodded, satisfied, “True, he’s pretty cool.”

The group continued to discuss (or gush in some cases) the two main heroes. Suddenly, Adrien’s phone beeped, and after glancing at it, he sighed. Marinette knew that face.

“Sorry guys, I have to go. Father is having me practice extra piano for a musical competition that’s in April.”

Allegra frowned at this, her face seeming to begin to stray towards that expression, though her voice betrays nothing as she asks, “Concours d'arts musicaux?”

“That’s the one.”

“I hope to participate too. I wish you the best of luck.”

“You too!” Adrien leaves and everyone settles back into their spots.

“So what should we do now?” Claude is spinning in the chair again.

“Homework.” Felix and Allan speak in unison, and Claude groans dramatically, but nevertheless plops down on the floor to begin work. After an hour or two, Felix glances at his watch.

“It may be best if we head to our own homes now. It is rather late and we would not want to intrude.”

Allan frowned, “It’s not that la-” he glanced at the time,”Nevermind, we should be going.”

Marinette nods and helps them pack up their stuff. As they head outside, her parents stop them.

“Oh, Marinette, are your friends going home?” her Maman asks as she finishes ringing up a customer. At her daughter’s nod, the woman says, “Wait one moment dears.” She heads into the back.

She emerges with four bags presumably filled with various pastries. “For you.” She distributes the bags to Marinette’s new friends, “ Thank you.”

“Ma’am, this isn’t necessary, at least allow us to pay.” Allegra is the first to recover from the surprise, but Sabine isn’t having any of it.

“No payment is necessary. Especially for you four, and any friends of our daughter.”

“... Uh, well thank you.” Claude and the rest give various thanks to the woman, who shakes her head again.

“No. Thank you. ” She turns and goes back to tending to customers. Marinette walks the rest of them out, and they say their final goodbyes as they head in their respective directions.

Marinette headed back to her room and lays down on her bed. She and Tikki talk for a little bit, but Marinette is exhausted mentally - today was quite the day - and she wants a moment to just think. After about 10 minutes she’s about to get up when her phone goes off. Glancing at it she sighs.

Akuma Alert:

Type 1

Eiffel Tower

More information and updates available.

“Tikki, spots on!”

---

Author’s Note: For anyone that's wondering, "Concours d'arts musicaux" is French for "Competition of Musical Arts" (according to Google Traslate, I don't know French).Some of the puns probably make more sense for an American setting, forgive me.Next chapter we've got our first akuma attack - at least the first one that we actually see. It's pretty clear how Marinette has been dealing with (and how she was affected by) the whole incident, but how is Ladybug doing? That should be the focus of the next chapter (hopefully).

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#miraculous ladybug #transfer #with time #fanfic #chameleon #salt #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #quantic kids #ml felix #puns

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