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mintaka14 · 30 days

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Welcome to Chapter 9 of Living Arrangements, my Lukanette ML AU fanfic where they were roommates! Thank you for your patience, and now, sit back and hopefully enjoy:

Living Arrangements

A Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction

By Mintaka14

Chapter 9 – Old Friends and Complications

'Cause she don't need umbrellas in a summer rain She could catch the eye of a hurricane in blue jeans and pearls

[I Met a Girl: William Michael Morgan]

The café that Adrien had suggested wasn’t one that Marinette was familiar with. She checked the address, and checked it again before she pushed open the doors. The café was full of hushed, business-like conversations going on over the soft clink of gleaming silverware and tasteful china.

A young woman around Marinette’s age in a starched black and white uniform greeted her with a bright, customer service smile.

“Welcome,” she said, “and how may I help you today?”

“I’m… uh, meeting someone here,” Marinette said a little uncertainly.

“Of course. Do you have a reservation with us today?”

“Sorry?”

“Your reservation. What name is it under?”

What kind of café needed a reservation?

“… Agreste,” she said, and the waitress’ smile grew more perfunctory. She glanced down at the appointment book in front of her.

“We do seem to have a booking today.” Her gaze swept over Marinette, and lightened as she seemed to reach a conclusion. “You must be here for an interview with Gabriel’s recruitment manager. She’s not here yet, but we’ve reserved the usual table -”

“Actually, I’m meeting Adrien Agreste,” Marinette tried to clarify. The customer service smile grew condescending.

“I’m afraid Adrien Agreste doesn’t usually meet with new hires in person. But you’re welcome to wait until Mlle Garamond arrives.”

“No, I –“

Before Marinette could finish trying to explain, the waitress had turned away to lead her to a reserved table. Marinette gave up the attempt. She shrugged herself out of her jacket, and draped it over the back of the chair, setting her bag beside her as she sat down.

Marinette could hear Tikki rustling around in her bag as she stashed it near her feet, and it was very distracting. Usually, Tikki was content to snuggle down, and maybe play a silent game or two on Marinette’s phone, but the kwami was oddly restless. The bag gave an odd little skip, and tipped over.

Marinette bent to straighten it, and whispered into her bag, “Is everything okay?”

Tikki blinked up at her, almost vibrating. “You’re going to see Adrien again,” she whispered back. “Are you okay?”

“Mademoiselle?” the waitress said from somewhere above her. Marinette’s head slammed into the underside of the table as she jerked upright. When she straightened, rubbing the aching back of her head, the waitress was regarding her with a raised eyebrow and a menu in her hand.

“Would you like to order anything, mademoiselle?”

Marinette fumbled her sketchbook out of her bag and held it up with a nervous little laugh.

"Just… doing a bit of work. I’ll wait for… I’ll wait, thanks.”

The waitress’ eyebrow climbed even higher, but she turned away without a word.

Marinette opened her sketchbook, sparing a grimace in response to Tikki’s wide-eyed look of sympathy from the depths of her bag, and started making notes to distract herself from the whispers and glances around her.

She flipped another page, losing herself in the movement of her pencil, and didn’t notice when the café door chimed and all the subdued conversations in the café seemed to pause for a moment.

A hand drew back the chair opposite her.

“You’re early. That doesn’t seem like the Marinette Dupain-Cheng I remember,” a voice said lightly, and Marinette looked up, startled, into Adrien Agreste’s famous smile.

“Oh my god,” the waitress gasped, sharp over the soft buzz of whispers and recognition that rippled through the café. “It really is Adrien Agreste!”

It was like a spotlight had been switched on, glinting on his golden hair and brilliant, photo-ready smile. Marinette’s practised eye for fashion design couldn’t help sweeping over the lines of the casual suit he was wearing that was anything but casual, and she would have bet that it cost more than her entire wardrobe. It did sit well on him, she had to admit, even if he did look as though a team of stylists had spent hours crafting the perfect look (Summer Catalogue, page five. Cool linens for that casual look, said a sarcastic little voice in her head that sounded like one of the kwamis, and she hastily silenced it).

Marinette blinked, and glanced away, half-expecting the flash of cameras to have followed him in, but all she saw was café patrons watching with varying degrees of avid attention, and the waitress with her wide eyes fixed on Adrien and all traces of supercilious boredom gone. The girl was practically trembling with speechless excitement, and Marinette felt like she was staring at her fourteen-year-old self. Marinette looked away, to find Adrien still smiling down at her, his hand resting on the back of his chair.

He still had that air of open guilelessness that she remembered from the boy she’d known before, but now, on the man he’d grown into, it felt as much of a curated image choice as his suit did.

“Well, we’ve both changed a bit in the last few years,” she said.

“You’ve certainly grown up since I last saw you. You’re looking well,” he said with unmistakable admiration in his voice as he sat down, and Marinette couldn’t help blushing furiously. Back in collège, something like that from Adrien would have reduced her to an incoherent mess. As it was, she dropped her eyes, focusing on the table for a moment.

“I’m feeling a little underdressed, though,” she admitted. “If I’d known what this place was like, I would have dressed up more. I think I’m the only one wearing jeans here.”

Adrien looked around in mild surprise. “I suppose you are. I know our recruitment manager likes to hold business meetings here because she likes the rhum baba, and I used to come here with Father sometimes when he met with private clients. I remember it as being good.”

The waitress had recovered from her starstruck paralysis, and rustled between the tables towards them with a couple of menus clutched in her hands.

Adrien turned his attention back to Marinette, his gaze raking over her as he said, “You might be the only one wearing jeans here, but no one else could make them look that good.”

“Adrien!” she sputtered, feeling her face burn.

Then he said, “You’re injeanious,” and his professional, perfect smile cracked into a shit-eating grin that was so unlike the Adrien she knew that for one wild second Marinette didn’t know how to respond. She stared at him, and tried to suppress the weird sound between a groan and a snort of laughter that escaped her as his words sank in.

Adrien’s grin grew wider.

“Was that meant to be a pun?” Marinette asked in disbelief. Since when did Adrien Agreste make puns? “That was terrible!”

The waitress flashed her a disparaging look, and then ignored her completely, as she breathed, “Adrien Agreste!” She thrust the menus at him. “I’m your waitress. I’m Josephine. What can I get you? Can I get you anything? Anything you want, just let me know...”

Adrien was still watching Marinette, with a hint of that grin lingering.

“Have you ordered yet?” he asked her. “What would you like? Coffee? Tea? Or they used to have a really good vin chaud here.”

Marinette had a memory of Luka in the kitchen that morning, smiling his slow, sweet smile as he handed her a mug, and his voice a little rough with lack of sleep as he asked, “Coffee, Melody?”

“Tea with lemon would be lovely, please,” she said. She wondered if she was actually going to get the tea. She wasn’t convinced the waitress had actually heard her.

“I’ll have a black coffee, thanks,” Adrien said, hitting the waitress with that dazzling smile.

Adrien settled back into his seat, and he waited until Josephine was gone, his eyes on Marinette. He seemed to be studying Marinette’s face as if he was looking for something, and she shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

“Your recruitment manager must come here a lot. The waitress was convinced that I was here for a job interview with Gabriel,” she said to break the awkward silence.

“Gabriel would be lucky to get you.”

Marinette couldn’t help the dismissive sound she made. “You don’t have to say that to be polite. You don’t even know if my work is any good.”

Adrien’s smile grew warmer. “Don’t forget, I’ve worn your designs. You got Father’s attention back in collège, and believe me, that’s not easy to do.”

“For a kids’ competition,” Marinette scoffed, feeling her cheeks heat up again. “That’s a long way off scoring a position at Gabriel, or any of the fashion houses for that matter.”

“It’s only a matter of time,” Adrien shrugged, and glanced up to give the waitress a smile and a murmured thank you as she settled his cup of coffee in front of him and fussed with the placement of the teaspoon and petit fours beside it. “Alya showed me some of the photos from your showcase last year. This is your third year at IFM, isn’t it?”

Marinette nodded faintly.

Josephine slid a dish of tea in her direction. Marinette thanked her, and decided not to mention the absence of lemon. She lifted the dish to her lips and sipped the scalding tea carefully.

“So what are you planning to do after that?” Adrien asked, and Marinette responded, but she felt very aware of the waitress hovering around their table with carafes of water and cutlery they didn’t need. Marinette answered Adrien’s questions and talked self-consciously about her plans and possibilities, and tried to ignore that Josephine and half the café were likely listening to every word.

Adrien, on the other hand, seemed sublimely unconcerned by the surreptitious interest around them. He flashed Josephine a smile every time she topped up his already full glass of water, and he leaned in a little closer to ask Marinette about her fashion marketing classes when Josephine finally ran out of reasons to linger and retreated to the café counter.

He knew most of Marinette’s professors when she mentioned them, and when she told a story about one of the guest lecturers who had been particularly brutal, he laughed.

“I don’t know about that,” Adrien said, “but I do know that Father refuses to work with him again.”

Marinette leaned forward, and propped her chin in her hands.

“Father brought him in for a ready to wear line,” he went on, “and they fought over the whole thing from start to finish. Things really blew up, though, when the patterns went out to the manufacturer, and somehow no one spotted that some of the dimensions were out by a factor of ten.”

“No!” Marinette pressed her fingertips to her lips to suppress a horrified snort of laughter.

“Oh, yes. Father blamed Fabian, Fabian blamed my father, and I don’t know which one of them threw the bigger fit about it, but in the end Father threatened to have security fling Fabian into the street if he ever darkened our doors again.”

“The glamorous world of fashion,” Marinette giggled, and Adrien gave an exaggerated sigh.

“The things I’ve seen since I started working with my father.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing since you left Paris? Working at Gabriel?” she asked. “I mean, we know you’re still modelling, obviously –“ It would have been hard to miss - there were still billboards of him all over Paris, and every fashion magazine had him splashed all over the covers. Adrien pulled a wry face that didn’t make him look any less perfect.

“That wasn’t exactly my idea, but it’s good for Gabriel’s profile, according to Father’s PR gurus. And I’ve been shadowing Father in the company, learning more about the business side of things, since I passed the international bac.” He picked up the teaspoon beside his half-drunk coffee, turning it in his fingers.

“And now you’re back in Paris.”

“I’m back to stay,” he agreed.

“It’s good to have you home again,” Marinette said, and Adrien’s green eyes lit up at the polite sentiment. “It’s been too long since we’ve heard from you.”

“Yeah, I know I haven’t been that good at keeping in touch,” he said a little guiltily. “Things have been rather busy the past few years.”

“We were all a bit worried when you just left without a word, and even Nino didn’t know what the story was.”

“It was nothing that exciting,” he said, absently stirring a pattern in his coffee. “Father had been considering going to New York for a while, to oversee a few changes the company was planning to make there, and then… well, a few things happened, and we had to leave for New York pretty quickly. I wanted to say goodbye before we left, but Father didn’t really see any point…” Adrien trailed off, looking uncomfortable for the first time since he’d walked into the café, and Marinette was suddenly very conscious of all the surreptitious eyes watching them, and the ears listening. Over by the counter, Josephine had given up all pretence of doing anything but eavesdropping on their conversation.

Like they always did when Marinette was nervous, a jumble of words crowded into her mouth, and before she could stop herself, she found herself blurting out the first thing that came to her, “At least we knew you hadn’t been abducted by aliens or anything.”

Marinette cringed, but the discomfort in Adrien’s face disappeared. His eyes flicked up to hers with a startled look.

“Aliens?”

“When you left Paris, we knew you probably hadn’t been abducted by aliens, because you were all over the magazine covers, and we saw all the interviews you did,” she ploughed on, and then giggled. “Although Kim did come up with a whole deep fake theory for a while, until Max talked him out of it.”

Adrien stared at her. “I’m almost afraid to ask –“

“The board of directors put it out that you and your father had moved to New York so that no one would find out that they’d locked you both in the basement and replaced you with AI simulants,” she recited glibly.

Adrien’s startled laugh was loud enough to draw attention from everyone in the café. He glanced around apologetically, with that bright golden smile of his that melted all the disapproving looks into indulgent smiles, and he turned back to Marinette.

“Seriously?” he asked. “Why?”

Marinette was trying to keep a straight face herself as she told him, “Well, Kim couldn’t decide if it was because your father was about to announce a line of clothing so horrendous that it would destroy the company if they didn’t get rid of him, or if it was because he’d come up with a revolutionary new flipper shoe and had to be stopped before foreign agents could steal the designs and weaponise them.”

Adrien started laughing helplessly. “You’re so funny, Marinette.” His laugh faded. “I wish we’d been able to talk like this, the last few years. I’ve missed this,” he said, his green eyes meeting hers, and she felt a pang of sympathy for the boy who’d been so desperate for friends, for school, for something resembling a normal life. And he’d just disappeared one day without so much as a goodbye to any of them except Nino.

“We missed you, too,” Marinette told him gently. “I know Nino’s organising some sort of a collège reunion party while you’re in Paris.”

“No, I mean –“

“Can I refill your coffee for you?” Josephine asked, materialising beside them.

Adrien’s practised, brilliant smile switched on as he turned to glance up at the waitress hovering at his elbow with a coffee pot in her hand.

“No. No, thank you. I’ll be up all night if I have another coffee now, and I have a photoshoot at the crack of dawn tomorrow,” he said with a charming, self-deprecating roll of his eyes that had Josephine practically swooning. “Although your coffee is nearly worth risking Vincent yelling at me when I turn up with bags under my eyes.”

Josephine was still giggling as she backed away again.

Adrien glanced at Marinette’s empty tea cup once she’d gone. “She forgot your tea.”

“I think you have a fan there,” Marinette said quietly, and Adrien glanced behind him.

Josephine was on her way back to them before he’d even finished turning his head.

“Is everything alright?” she asked eagerly, the words tripping over themselves in a way that felt all too familiar to Marinette. “Can I get you anything?”

“My friend would like another cup of tea, if it’s not too much trouble,” he said.

“No, it’s okay,” Marinette protested, but neither of them seemed to hear her as Josephine spilled out apologies, and Adrien cut the waitress off with another smile.

“We really appreciate the way you’ve looked after us today,” he told her.

“I’m such a huge fan,” she blurted out, and Adrien’s smile grew brighter.

“And I’m so glad to have the support of fans like you, Josephine. I’d be happy to take a photo with you, if you have a camera handy,” he offered, and Josephine stammered out something before bolting hastily. She came back with a phone in her hand.

Adrien turned that smile on Marinette, one eyebrow lifting.

“Would you mind?” he asked her, and she took the phone while Adrien smiled at the camera and Josephine gazed up at him as if she couldn’t quite believe he was real. Marinette handed back the phone.

“No one would have believed me, if I just told them I met Adrien Agreste,” Josephine sighed happily. “Thank you. I… thank you!” And she disappeared into the back of the café, clutching her phone as if it held something unspeakably precious.

“You still get a lot of that,” Marinette said, quietly enough that no one nearby could hear, as Adrien sat down again. His brilliant smile grew a little wry.

“I’m used to it. Remember the day we hid from that mob that chased us?”

“I remember.”

“It’s not uncommon, although that’s the only time I’ve hidden in a fountain to get away from them,” he teased.

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “I still can’t believe I did that.”

“Hey, it worked. They can be pretty persistent sometimes.”

“That’s why Luka dyed his hair and wears long sleeves when he goes out,” Marinette said, and reached for the empty teacup to hide the fond smile she could feel spreading across her face. She instantly felt silly for pretending to drink tea that clearly wasn’t there.

“Luka?” and Adrien’s brow creased at the unfamiliar name. “Who’s Luka?”

“He’s Juleka’s brother,” she explained, trying not to sound self-conscious. “I moved in with him and Juleka a few months ago.”

Adrien’s frown deepened. “Is he your –“

“Your tea!” Josephine interrupted brightly as she returned with a fresh, steaming cup, but her eyes were on Adrien.

A look of cold annoyance flashed across his face at the interruption, and for a moment the resemblance to his father was uncanny, then it vanished, wiped away by his habitual, charming smile, but Josephine’s hand jerked nervously and the teacup skittered in its saucer with a clatter of china as she put it down.

Marinette barely had time to feel second-hand cringe before the cup tipped, sending the tea spilling down the front of her blouse in a scalding splash. She couldn’t help the faint cry as hot liquid hit her blouse and soaked through the thin fabric, dripping in burning trails down her chest. She hunched over, trying to pull the blouse away from her skin.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Josephine gasped.

Marinette glanced up, her mouth open to respond, but the girl was staring at Adrien, her eyes wide in horror.

Adrien gave Josephine a reassuring smile.

“I’m such a klutz,” she was babbling. “I can’t believe I was such an idiot in front of Adrien Agreste.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “No harm done.”

Marinette glanced down at the spreading stain on her shirt. She had a sudden, unpleasant flash of memory – Adrien, in collège, telling her not to call out Lila’s lies because they weren’t hurting anyone – and she shifted uncomfortably, pushing the moment aside. The waitress wasn’t Lila, and hadn’t deliberately spilt the tea on Marinette.

“It’s fine,” Marinette said wearily. “Accidents happen, I know.”

And Marinette was rewarded with Adrien’s full-wattage smile, but she was too distracted to appreciate it. She took the napkin that Josephine was holding out vaguely in her direction, and patted at the damp brown spot without much success.

“I should go,” she sighed, dabbing at her shirt again. “Maybe if I get this in to soak quickly, I can get the stain out.”

She put down the napkin and reached for her bag, but Adrien stretched out a hand as if to hold her back.

“Oh, no, do you have to? It’s barely noticeable, and it’ll dry soon.”

He was right, it would dry quickly, but that was the problem. Once the stain was dry, it would set beyond much hope of repair. Maybe if she got some bicarb soda and detergent on it, she could still save it… Adrien was saying something.

“… I’m sure Josephine can bring you another cup of tea, and we can finish catching up.” That famous smile was still turned on her. “I’ll get you a new blouse, it’s the least I can do.”

Marinette didn’t mention that finding a replacement for this particular blouse would be impossible. Josephine was spilling out reassurances to Adrien that she’d replace the tea, bring petit fours on the house, anything he wanted, anything at all …

“It’s okay. I really do have to go,” Marinette apologised, and started to gather up her bag and her jacket, shrugging it on over her soaked blouse. She stuffed her phone into her bag, and rummaged around in the depths under the tangle of keys, tissues and pencils trying to find her wallet, until Tikki silently pushed it into her hand. “It was nice to catch up, though.”

She tugged her credit card out of her wallet, and held it out to the waitress to pay, but before Josephine could take it, Adrien had produced a sleek black visa card.

“Don’t worry about the bill,” he insisted. “There have to be some advantages to having a company credit card.”

“Adrien –“ she protested as Josephine froze, with her hand hovering between the two proffered cards. Her anxious gaze shifted from Adrien to Marinette and back again.

Rather than leave the poor girl stuck while she argued the point with Adrien, Marinette put her card back into her wallet, and stuffed it into her bag.

“Okay,” she gave in, “but next time is on me.”

His smile grew, as if he’d just scored a point. “It’s a deal. I’ll look forward to next time.”

When she brushed a quick bise against his cheek in farewell, Adrien seemed to lean in to it. His hand tightened briefly on her forearm.

“Until next time,” he told her, and Marinette hurried out the door of the café in a jangle of bells.

~~~~~

Luka was there when she got back to the apartment, stretched out on the couch and focused on his laptop.

“You’re home early,” he said, looking up as she came in, and gave her a smile that faded into a look of concern as he caught sight of her blouse. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s just a tea spill,” she tried to say lightly. “It’s not a big deal.”

He was still frowning, as if he wasn’t buying it, but all he said was, “Is there anything I can do? I’ve got to take a load of washing over to the Liberty later anyway –“

Marinette shook her head, and her own smile felt a little crooked. “It’s fine. I’m just going to try soaking it in the bathroom.”

She’d changed into an old t-shirt and was standing over the bathroom basin, anxiously eyeing the blouse soaking in cold water and working a bicarb and detergent paste into the tea stain, when her phone rang. Alya had obviously given up on waiting for a response to the increasingly peremptory string of texts that had been pinging on Marinette’s phone and had decided on the direct approach.

“Well?” Alya’s voice demanded. “Don’t keep me hanging here! How did it go?”

Marinette sighed, and stirred the blouse in the cloudy water. “Do you ever have the feeling you’re cursed?”

“What?”

“Nothing. Look, Alya, I’ve got to go finish washing this tea stain out.”

“What tea stain?” But Alya had obviously come to her own conclusions, and a sympathetic, if slightly impatient, laugh came through on the other end of the phone. “Girl, you’re hopeless. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Marinette found herself protesting to the sound of the dial tone. Alya must have been already on her way, because it wasn’t long before Marinette heard the doorbell ring. Nothing motivated Alya like the scent of gossip in the water.

The doorbell rang again impatiently, and she heard Luka getting to his feet. She wrung out the blouse to drape it over the towel rail. It would have to do.

She came into the living room just as Luka opened the door, and heard Alya asking him with studied casualness, “Hey, Luka. How’s it going?”

Alya followed Luka up the steps into the living room, and her uncomfortable defensiveness was obvious to Marinette as she came into view. Judging by the way the way Luka’s mouth twitched imperceptibly, it was obvious to him too.

“Not bad,” was all he said, amusement lurking in his voice. “And you?”

“Oh, good, I’m good.” There was an awkward pause. “If you’re not doing anything, you should come to Nino’s next gig on Friday,” she added abruptly, and Marinette suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the unspoken no hard feelings in Alya’s voice and posture. “You’d probably enjoy it, he’s really good.”

Luka’s easy expression didn’t change, but there was a gleam of humour in the depths of his blue eyes. “I’ll see if I’m free,” he said easily.

Alya abandoned the attempt at pleasantries as she caught sight of Marinette.

“Alright,” she demanded. “Spill. How did the date go?”

“Alya –“ Marinette sighed.

“I know, I know. Not a date. You were having coffee.”

“I didn’t get coffee - it was just a cup of tea,” Marinette protested, flicking a quick glance at Luka as she moved past the couch towards the kitchen, but he’d gone back to frowning at his laptop screen as if he hadn’t heard anything. “I didn’t even have anything to eat with it.”

“Oh-kay…” Alya said, giving her a bemused look and following on her heels. “Well, whatever it was, stop holding out on me and spill the details. What did he say? What did you say? I assume you can actually talk to him these days. And what was all that cryptic stuff about being cursed?”

At that, Luka shifted and got to his feet with a sigh. His eyes met Marinette’s, and the corner of his mouth turned up in a brief half-smile that didn’t give much away.

“This paper is giving me hell, so I’m going to go out for a walk, try to clear my head.” He reached for his coat draped over the back of the couch beside him. He shrugged himself into it, and glanced over his shoulder to tell Marinette, “The place is all yours for a few hours.”

“You don’t have to leave for us,” she protested, but he just gave her a quick smile, and headed down the steps, his shoulders hunched and his hands shoved into the pockets of his coat.

Alya watched him leave, and before the door had even closed properly behind him, she turned back to Marinette with a knowing smirk.

“Do I detect a hint of jealousy there?”

“Who, Luka? Why on earth would he be jealous?”

“Well, he didn’t exactly want to hang around and hear all about your coffee date, did he?”

Marinette levelled a look at Alya. “Or he didn’t want to stay so you could be hostile at him again.”

“Hey, I was perfectly friendly! I invited him to Nino’s gig, didn’t I?” Alya protested. She followed Marinette back into the living room as Marinette scooped up her jacket from where she’d left by the door when she’d come home. “And of course he’s jealous. The guy looks at you like you’re his favourite snack - of course he’s jealous that you just spent the afternoon with Paris’ most famous supermodel and heir to the Agreste empire.”

Marinette stopped in the middle of folding her jacket, and turned to knit her brow at her best friend. Alya had said something at the bar the other night about the way Luka looked at Marinette, but she’d just dismissed that as too many cocktails and Alya reading too much into things.

“Paris’ very single supermodel,” Alya added slyly.

“Oh, but Adrien’s not single,” Marinette cut her off brightly, “not according to the Daily Mail – he’s in a very serious threesome with one of the British royals and that guy from last season’s I’m a Celebrity. And I know how you feel about the Daily Mail’s sources on these things.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Alya grumbled. “But I’m right about this. I know what I’ve seen with my own eyes. You can’t say that’s not reliable –“ Marinette chose not to respond to that “- and, since we’re talking reliable sources, I’d just like to point out that I know for a fact that the first thing that Adrien did when he got back to Paris was ask me and Nino for your number,” Alya pointed out triumphantly.

“Seriously, it was just catching up with an old friend from collège. I’m not even sure we have all that much in common anymore.”

“You’re both in fashion. You have that in common. You didn’t talk about that?”

“Well, yes, until I ended up with tea all down my blouse and I had to leave,” she said without meaning to, and Alya pounced on the hint of gossip.

“Is that why you were washing out tea stains when I called?” she demanded.

By the time Marinette gave in and told her the details, culminating in getting the cup of tea knocked all over her, Alya was chuckling.

“Oh, girl, only you!” Her laugh became a knowing smirk. “Still klutzing out around Adrien, huh? Nice to know some things never change.”

Marinette sighed. “It really wasn’t my fault this time.”

Alya waved away the protest. “Yeah, yeah, it was the waitress.”

Marinette scooped up her bag, which she’d left by the stairs when she’d come home, and stole a quick look to check that Tikki had managed to sneak away to the bedroom. An odd smell of cheese wafted up from her bag, and she wrinkled her nose. What on earth had Tikki been eating in there? She’d have to clean it later… and all thoughts of weird smells got left aside as she realised what definitely wasn’t in her bag. Marinette scuffled through the mess with increasing agitation while Alya kept talking.

“- and Nino’s planning to throw that reunion party for Adrien, so -” Alya broke off when Marinette upended everything onto the couch. “Jeez, Marinette, what’s up? Lost your phone or something?”

“Worse,” Marinette muttered, focused on the assorted junk on the couch. Her lipstick, her spare pens, her wallet, the sheaf of course notes from three days ago were all there, but there was no sign of the one thing she really needed. “My sketchbook. I must have left it at the café –“

That was the last time she knew she’d seen it. She’d been sketching out ideas while she’d waited, and then Adrien had turned up and she’d –

Alya laughed, and said, “Well, isn’t that just the perfect excuse to see Adrien again. Maybe he picked it up for you.”

Marinette glared at her. “Alya, this is serious! That book has all my notes, my sketches for the finals, everything.”

Alya scooped Marinette’s phone up from the litter on the couch, and held it out to her.

“So just call him,” she insisted with a roll of her eyes. “It’s not a big deal, and at least you’ll know if he’s got your sketchbook or not. If he hasn’t got it, then you can panic.”

And, sure enough, there was a message from Adrien that she’d missed while she was washing her blouse, in the middle of Alya’s texts. Marinette ignored Alya’s questioning eyebrow, and tapped out a quick response that had an answer within seconds of hitting send.

“He has it,” she said as she put aside her phone. “I can pick it up tomorrow.”

“And you have another date with Adrien,” Alya said on a note of satisfaction.

“It’s –“

“Not a date,” Alya chimed in, rolling her eyes again.

She didn’t stay long after that, and Marinette was left pacing the apartment, feeling twitchy and unsettled. Between Alya getting into her head about Luka, and a growing feeling of anxiety when her thoughts swung round to her sketchbook and having to go the Gabriel offices the next day to get it back from Adrien, it took her longer than it should have to realise that the noise when she pushed open her bedroom door wasn’t just a manifestation of the agitation in her head.

Tikki was flitting around with unusual energy, and there seemed to be an escalating argument going on. None of the kwamis noticed Marinette.

“There’s sssomething he’ss keeping to himssself. I don’t like thisss at all,” Sass hissed, swaying over the coil of his tail, as Tikki zipped past his head.

“I’m staying out of it,” Roarr yawned, “but I agree with Sass. Something doesn’t smell right.”

“That would be the cheese,” one of the kwamis snickered.

A tiny rubber banana ricocheted off Roarr’s head, and she bared her fangs, snarling at Xuppu as he drew back his arm to launch another one. The second banana caught Roarr between the eyes, and the monkey kwami bounced out of reach as Roarr’s snarl became a low, warning growl.

“I’m sure he’ll be looking for an opportunity to see me again, and fill me in,” Tikki said defensively, just as Fluff tumbled out of the air to land on Marinette’s bed, startling the kwamis clustered there.

“Trussst you to make excussses for him.”

“A tale as old as time,” Fluff announced out of nowhere, “and I should know.”

The little rabbit somersaulted over the edge of the bed, and vanished again. Sass’s forked tongue flickered.

“Sssome people don’t deserve the sssecond chancesss they’ve been given,” he hissed. “And I should know.”

“That was not his fault, and you know that, too. He didn’t have any choice about leaving us-“

“Much asss that cheesemonger itchesss my fangss, I wasssn’t talking about -”

“What on earth is going on?” Marinette finally managed to make herself heard over the rising noise, and everything went quiet. Tikki whipped around guiltily. Marinette eyed the hovering kwami for a long moment, and glanced at Sass on the window sill. His tail was still flicking against the painted wood with an agitation that she’d never seen in him before.

“Does anyone want to explain what’s going on here?”

Before anyone else could answer, Tikki swooped through the air to hover in front of her face.

“It was nothing,” Tikki insisted, her big eyes going wide with an unconvincing innocence. “Just a small disagreement.”

“Who were you talking about?” Marinette asked, directing the question past Tikki at the snake kwami, but Tikki whirled around to intercept Marinette’s attention before Sass could answer.

“We should go out. How long has it been since you transformed? It would be good for you – you’ve been so wound up since we got home,” Tikki suggested, as if she hadn’t just been doing manic little spirals in the air. “You could use a bit of fresh air. You really shouldn’t let yourself get out of practice.”

“Becaussse that’sss what we ssshould be focusssed on right now,” Sass said caustically, and Tikki whirled around to face him, glaring.

Their voices rose, and the other kwamis threw in opinions and unhelpful, inflammatory comments that escalated until the room was full of shouting and Marinette had to clap her hands over her ears. She felt a sudden spike of panic at the thought of what would happen if Luka got back before she could get the kwamis calmed down. There was no way Marinette would be able to explain away the noise that they were all making.

“Enough!” she finally shouted over the top of them, glaring around the room as she flipped her hair back to touch her miraculous earrings. “Do you want Luka or Juleka to walk in on all this? You and me, Tikki, we’re going out, and when we get back we’re all going to have a nice, calm discussion about this that doesn’t involve the neighbours calling the police on me, or having to lie to my roommates, or bananas,” she added sternly as she caught sight of Xuppu out of the corner of her eye, just as he drew his arm back to throw something.

The little monkey hid whatever it was behind his back, and gave Marinette a sheepish grin as she transformed.

At least the streets of Paris felt quieter than her room had, once she swung out over the rooftops. It was good to feel the wind in her face, and focus on the adrenaline rush of every leap, on the way her heart rate sped up in a steady rhythm and her mind moved sharp and fast across the rooftops ahead. Tikki was right about one thing, even if she’d only suggested it to avoid answering Marinette – it had been far too long since she’d gone for a run as Ladybug.

It was an uneventful night down below her in Paris, and things had calmed down in her bedroom by the time Marinette finally landed back through the window. Most of the kwamis had vanished into their various corners and nests, but Sass reared up his head as she came in. The tip of his tail was twitching.

“Did you sssee anyone interesssting?” he asked Tikki, a trace of acid in his tone. She huffed, and flitted away to sulk without answering the question or staying to continue the argument that had started it all.

Marinette eyed Sass.

“Are you going to tell me what that was all about?” she asked.

The little snake turned a thoughtful look in the direction of Tikki’s nest, and said, “Jussst an old argument among usss kwamisss.”

Marinette stared at him, and Sass stared back at her, unblinking. He added slyly, “I hear Luka’ss back.”

As distractions went, it was a pretty effective one, and Marinette also took his subtle reminder that they weren’t alone in the apartment. Even so, she thought for a moment about pushing harder, but when Sass flicked a meaningful glance in the direction of the shelves, she gave up on getting a straight answer from him with all the kwamis listening in from their various hidey-holes and perches, not when it might start off another noisy disruption.

Instead, she listened for the soft sounds that meant that Luka was home again, and working in the living room. She reached for her bedroom door without conscious thought, her suspicions and concerns about the kwamis’ moods temporarily put aside.

Luka had his guitar on his lap, and pages of music scattered like snow-drifts all over the floor. There was an unfamiliar stringed instrument lying on the couch beside him. He was scribbling something on the stack of manuscript, and then let it flutter to the floor to join the other marked pages piling up around him.

The lamp shone on his blue-dyed hair, filtering through the rumpled strands like sunlight falling through deep water, and Marinette was tempted to reach out and tangle her fingers in the soft strands. She wished she could work out how to recreate that effect in fabric. Maybe a watered silk, hand-dyed, if she could get the right blend of shades…

She only realised she’d been lost in staring at him when Luka sighed and straightened, and caught sight of her. Bedroom eyes, Alya’s voice whispered slyly in the back of her mind, and Marinette could feel a blush burning her cheeks. He gave her a soft smile, which didn’t help at all.

“Sorry, was I disturbing you?” he asked quietly, and she shook her head. “What time is it, anyway?”

“Just after midnight,” she said just as quietly.

“That explains why my hand’s so sore, then.” He sighed, and massaged his wrist. When Marinette came further into the room, he shifted a few loose pages out of the way so she could curl up in her usual place beside him on the couch, but she hesitated, suddenly very aware of just how close it would put them. She silently cursed her best friend for getting into her head, leaving her searching for signs of something more in the slow, sweet smile he always gave her.

When she hesitated a little too long, his smile became a question, and she made herself relax into the space beside him.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask before - how did things go catching up with your friend this afternoon?” he asked, and Marinette filled him in on the whole afternoon. She couldn’t help a soft huff of a laugh when she got to the spilled tea.

“The waitress was so busy trying to impress Adrien that by the end of it she’d forgotten I was even there, she was so busy apologising to him –“

“Wait, she was apologising to him, not you?” Luka interjected.

“Well, I get it. I did far stupider things when I was trying to get his attention back in collège.”

Luka’s brow creased, but all he said was, “Did you manage to get the stain out?”

“Mostly. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wear it again, though…” she trailed off in thought. “Unless, maybe, I can embroider it, or add something…”

She pulled herself back before she could get too side-tracked by creative solutions, but Luka’s frown had melted into a fond smile as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and didn’t mind at all that her attention had wandered.

She found herself feeling self-conscious again as their eyes met, but there was nothing in the way he was looking at her that she hadn’t seen in the smiles he gave his sister, his mother, or any of the small handful of people he really cared about, and she ignored the tiny pang of disappointment at the thought.

She tilted her head towards the drifts of paper around him. “So what’s keeping you up tonight?” she asked. “Have you got an assignment giving you a hard time?”

He gave the abandoned instrument on his other side a rueful look. “I’m supposed to be practising for my world music performance assessment in November, but I keep getting distracted. I’ve missed writing music for so long, it’s hard to ignore the inspiration when it happens.”

“That’s some pretty powerful inspiration,” she teased him.

“Yeah,” he said, setting his hands on the strings of his guitar again, and picking out a soft, slow run of notes. “It’s pretty irresistible.”

He dipped his head over his guitar. The fall of his hair hid his eyes for a moment, but the light of the lamp cast a warm heat across his cheekbones that almost looked like a blush.

“This is a side of you that I haven’t seen before,” Marinette said without thinking, and he raised his head to give her a look of mild curiosity. She ploughed on, “I mean, I knew you were talented, I love listening to you when you play or sing, but I’ve never seen you so…”

“So?” he prompted gently when she trailed off.

“In your element. It’s really –“ hot, a suggestive little voice in her mind provided, and she tried to ignore it “- good to see.”

His mouth quirked up. “Now you know how I feel, watching you in action.” His fingers plucked out a fragment of a tune that Marinette had never heard before.

“All of the warp and the weft the world sends her, she gathers them into her hands,” he sang softly, “and sees something beautiful, sews something beautiful, out of whatever the world sends her way…”

Luka glanced up from his guitar, and there was something intense in those deep blue eyes, dark as the ocean, focused on her.

This was…

…oh.

Surely there was no mistaking that look in his eyes.

A profound thrill shivered through her. Marinette could feel the heat rising through her, leaving every inch of her burning and tingling, and there was an electric moment when it felt like he might finally lean in, close that distance, and kiss her.

Marinette’s breath caught at the thought.

The moment broke with the soft sound. Luka shifted, putting aside his guitar. He got to his feet, and stretched.

“Is it too late for a coffee?” he asked, and Marinette blinked. “I think I need some more caffeine.”

~~~~~

The soft, startled intake of her breath brought Luka back to the moment, and Marinette staring up at him through the dark fringe of her lashes, her beautiful blue eyes wide and overwhelmed.

Luka set aside his guitar and stood up, saying something as casually as he could manage about getting coffee, to give her some space.

There was a moment’s hesitation, then Marinette got up and followed him into the kitchen, and he knew a strong flash of relief that at least he hadn’t freaked her out too badly with the intensity of what he was feeling, and what had poured into that brief snatch of the song she’d inspired. Jules had always said he could be a little much when the muse took hold of him.

She watched while he started the kettle and got a couple of mugs out. “You’re going to be up all night,” she told him.

“Yeah, I don’t think sleep is on the cards tonight,” he said ruefully, and he glanced down at Marinette, hoping his face didn’t give away the heat and want flooding through him. “Did you want anything? Assuming you’re not over hot drinks by now,” he joked gently.

“I’d better stick to a decaf, if you’re offering. And it was tea, not coffee,” she pointed out. “Coffee stains would have been easier to get out.”

“Really? Interesting – I would have thought that tea stained less.”

She was shaking her head authoritatively, the intense moment between them dissipating under the kitchen light. “More mess to start with, but the tannin marks are worse. I’ve had a lot of experience with spilling stuff on myself.” The air of exasperation that went with that statement was adorable, and Luka hid a smile.

He dropped a scoop of ground beans into the filter pot and poured the boiling water over it, and then turned to get the rarely used jar of decaf instant coffee out of the cupboard. Marinette giggled at the face he pulled as he put a spoonful of granules in her mug and topped it up from the kettle before handing it to her. The smell of brewing coffee filled the kitchen, and he leaned his forearms on the counter across from Marinette while he waited for his to be ready.

“Sounds like you should stick to drinking water, next time you’re on a date.”

“It wasn’t a date,” she repeated, her expression becoming a little disgruntled. “It was just coffee with an old school friend.”

“Where you didn’t drink any coffee,” he couldn’t help teasing her, happy to see the disgruntlement vanish as she pulled a face at him. Her eyes dropped to focus on the mug in her hands, and an odd little quirk caught the corner of her mouth.

“You’ve spoiled me for anyone else’s coffee,” she said without looking up.

He didn’t dare hope that she meant it as anything more than a joke, but he couldn’t help the stupid grin that he hid behind his own mug. He raised it to take another swallow, and stopped, caught by a stray wisp of music.

There was something in that… He found his fingers tapping the cadence against the side of his mug, the riff that would go with them playing as clear as a bell in his mind, and he groped blindly for something to write them down.

Marinette must have understood the sudden mood that gripped him, because she silently pushed the shopping list towards him and handed him a pen. Luka scribbled down the random line of music in his head, the potential lyrics scrawled under the reminder to get eggs and milk that was already there, and Marinette giggled.

~~~~~

Marinette rinsed out her mug, and left Luka to his music. She knew, from her own experience, that he would be consumed by the creative fit that had overtaken him for the rest of the night, and she took her pyjamas into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth. He was still bent over the lyrics that he’d begun on their shopping list when she passed him on her way to bed, and she smiled to herself as she closed her bedroom door behind her.

In the darkness, she could hear the kwamis, the soft little snorts and noises that meant they were asleep, and she climbed into bed without turning the light on so she wouldn’t disturb them. Only Sass’ golden, slitted eyes gleamed in the shadows, watchful and awake.

“Sass?” she whispered, and those eyes turned her way.

“Yesss, Marinette?”

“Are you going to tell me who you were talking about this afternoon? I need to know if there’s a problem.” She couldn’t help feeling a little hurt, couldn’t help the small mutter that slipped out, “I thought you could trust me.”

There was a long silence, as if Sass was weighing his words, then he said quietly, “You are our Guardian, our Ladybug, and our friend… but you know, better than mossst, that sssome sssecrets are not oursss to tell.”

There was an even longer silence, and Marinette stared up into the dark shadows of her ceiling.

“What I will sssay,” came the soft hiss in the gloom, “isss that you are a truly inssspiring Ladybug, but never forget that Ladybug iss jusst a pale reflection of who Marinette isss.”

Sass’ observation seemed completely off the subject, but Marinette knew the snake kwami well enough to know that in his own way, he was answering the question she’d asked. She frowned as she tried to puzzle out his meaning through a growing fog of exhaustion.

“Trussst your insstinctsss… and trussst in thossse friendsss who make you more Marinette, not lessss.”

Marinette found herself turning her head to glance at the dark form of the mannequin with Luka’s half-finished coat pinned to it. The beading on it caught a stray hint of street light through a gap in the curtains, and gleamed like a smile in deep blue eyes.

“Funny,” she murmured drowsily. “Luka said something like that the other day - asked me if I’d really want to love someone who would want me to be less.”

There was a quiet, sibilant chuckle in the darkness. “I alwaysss sssaid your musssician wass a wissse sssoul.”

Her musician. Oh, she wanted him to be.

And maybe, just maybe… if she hadn’t read too much into that moment on the couch… maybe he wanted that too.

“Sssleep, missstressss,” the soft voice whispered. “We will not let you ssstand alone again, I ssswear it. Sssleep now, and dream sssweet dreamsss.”

~~~~~

“So, it turns out Marinette’s still a complete space case around Adrien,” Alya said in fond exasperation, and she finally had Lila’s full attention. She’d been starting to think that Lila wasn’t listening to a word she was saying, and the way Lila was tapping her fingernails on the tabletop was getting a bit annoying.

“What happened?” Lila asked, pausing her persistent tapping for a moment, and Alya filled her in on Marinette’s coffee date with Adrien.

“Although she swears it wasn’t a date,” Alya added, with an amused roll of her eyes. “And then, of course, she ended up with tea all over her, and had to leave early, but at least that worked in her favour for once – she was so distracted, she ended up leaving her sketchbook behind, and Adrien picked it up for her. So she’s meeting up with him again today to get it back.”

“Clever,” Lila murmured, in an odd, flat tone.

Alya snorted at that. “Oh, come on, romantic scheming has never been one of Marinette’s strong points, you know that.”

“She always did have a thing for celebrities,” Lila said a little sourly, almost as if she’d forgotten that Alya was there, and started to drum her nails on the table again.

“She always had a thing for Adrien,” Alya snapped back, her hands going to her hips. It was one thing when she teased Marinette about falling for famous hot guys, but Lila didn’t quite sound like she was joking. “What’s with you, Lila? You’re not upset about Marinette and Adrien, are you? I mean, you were the one who broke it off when you were dating Adrien, and that was years ago.”

There was a long pause, broken only by the irritating sound of Lila’s nails.

“No, Marinette and Adrien deserve each other,” Lila said, still with that sour note in her voice, but then she met Alya’s frown and gave her a wide smile. Alya beamed back in relief.

She should have known that Lila wouldn’t be so petty as to begrudge Marinette a chance at happiness with Adrien. And, after all, it had to be a little weird for her, after the way she’d said Gabriel Agreste had fired her as his model and blacklisted her when she’d broken up with Adrien.

Lila stopped drumming her nails. Her smile grew wider. “Of course, they’re perfect for each other, much more than someone like Luke Stone.”

And of course, they were. An up and coming talented young fashion designer, and a supermodel whose father was the founder of one of Paris’ most prestigious fashion houses? They were made for each other.

“We should go get her for a girls’ night out tonight,” Lila was saying. “Find out how things went with Adrien. She lives near here, doesn’t she?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Alya vetoed firmly. “She’s not exactly your biggest fan, and things didn’t go well at the bar the other night – you know how stubborn Mari can be sometimes.” She made a sympathetic face, but Lila was frowning into space and didn’t seem to notice. “And anyway, I promised her I wouldn’t interfere in her love life.”

“So you’re just going to let her throw away her second chance with Adrien and get sucked in by someone like Luke Stone?”

Alya could understand Lila’s frustration, but she knew Marinette best.

“I think we just need to let Marinette see it for herself at this point. And maybe Luka’s not as bad as all that.”

Luka’s air of mild amusement might irritate Alya, and all the more so because she had the deep-seated feeling that he was amused by her, but she was big enough to admit that he’d been a perfect gentleman to Marinette since they’d moved in together.

“Those tabloid reports can’t all be true,” Alya told Lila, “and maybe he’s settled down since you knew him.” Maybe Marinette had settled him down. He certainly looked at her as if he was completely besotted.

Judging by the way Lila pursed her lips, she didn’t agree, but Alya knew this was for the best.

“Besides,” Alya went on, thinking of how keen Adrien had sounded when he’d asked her for Marinette’s phone number, and a touch of smugness crept into her voice, “I don’t think we’re going to have to do anything.”

#lukanette #pro lukamari #living arrangements #ml au #miraculous ladybug #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #and they were roommates #they're idiots your honor #bring on the drama!

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boldlyanxious · 9 months

Text

You look like a dream

ttt 2023

Masterlist

“You are by far the most beautiful woman here.”

Marinette turned at the voice behind her. She didn’t recognize the man who had joined her on the balcony. Her ice cubes clinked in the glass as she turned, glancing around, just in case he decided to be an ass.

“Excuse me,” she asked, thinking she must have misunderstood his clear come on.

He watched her over his drink. It felt like he was drinking her in more than the amber colored liquid in his glass.

“If you are going to look like that, you should be more accustomed to compliments. Even the gorgeous sunset can’t compete with you in that dress.”

She wondered if he had intentionally moved his path from directly in front of the door as he approached. She could easily move directly to it without being blocked. He was very large and even with his easy smile and charming words, he could be an imposing figure accidentally. Still, rather than reacting to his compliments about her, she latched on to the ones about the dress.

“Thanks. I worked really hard to design the dress. I wanted to look really great tonight.”

He stood before her and looked at the sides and then down into her eyes before responding.

“Mission accomplished. You look fantastic but you are out here all alone. Who is your friend; was he not impressed?”

“Who? I’m not sure what you mean.”

She could feel the heat in her cheeks giving her away from the omitted part of her plan. Perhaps it was obvious why she had taken such care and everyone out there knew.

“Maybe it was her, but I like my odds better if it was a guy.”

His confident flirtation kept her blushing and she tipped back her drink to give herself more time to consider. Perhaps it gave her fewer inhibitions because she suddenly found herself telling the truth to a man when she didn’t even know his name.

“He didn’t notice. That is the one thing that never changes.”

She looked away from him and played with the straw in her drink, unable to meet his gaze after her admission.

“I don’t even care anymore. I got over him a long time ago, so why does it even matter.”

He reached out and took her hand. She looked back up at him in shock.

“Do you think he would notice if you left with the most handsome man here?”

“I don’t even know your name.”

He smirked at her and she realized what she had agreed to before he even commented on it.

“So you do think I’m handsome,” he waited as she sputtered and tried to back track but he didn’t push for further confirmation. “I’m Jason Todd.”

“Marinette Dupain Cheng,” she said as She reached for his hand.

“The pleasure is all mine, but I’m willing to share.”

He lifted her hand and met it halfway by leaning down to kiss it. She could see his smirk before his lips pressed against her skin. It was not the back of her hand. He had twisted it just enough to brush his lips near her wrist, not quite on the sensitive underside of it but just where it connected to her hand. If she had ever managed to get the burning from her face she would have started again but it definitely picked up after that. She managed to cover by not responding.

Jason seemed unconcerned. He kept hold of her hand and drew her closer to him before turning back and guiding her back inside.

“Dance with me, Marinette.”

She turned to glance around but he reached out and caught her chin.

“Don’t look for him. Dance with me because you want to. I guarantee that all eyes will be on you.”

She kept her eyes on his as he led her around the dance floor. He was a very good dancer and led her through several twirls as they talked about anything but the man who might be watching. She didn’t even think of him as she relaxed against Jason and moved with the music. The first song was a faster tempo but the music slowed down and he held her closer. She could think of nothing but the way they swayed together and how he felt pressed against her. His hand at her back didn’t stray, but her thoughts did.

“The best option is to leave with me now,” he said. She could feel his voice in his chest as she was pressed against it.

“I don’t even know you.”

He didn’t answer. The song ended and he just stayed there with her pressed against him and he leaned down. She had barely a second to decide what to do. She could pull away so easily but she turned her head up to meet his kiss. His hand cupped her cheek and she wouldn’t have been able to see if anyone saw if her eyes had been open. She clutched the front of his suit for their far too brief kiss. Then he whispered to her.

“If you want to leave just like this I can take you anywhere. But I hope that we end up together tonight.”

She nodded and he tucked her against him with his arm wrapping around her back and holding on to her hip.

He led her to his motorcycle. She wasn’t even surprised. He looked exactly like a guy who would ride a motorcycle. She climbed on behind him, pulling her dress dangerously high so the top of the slit, high on her thigh was the new bottom of the dress. Jason eyed her legs appreciatively and slid along her leg as he checked to be sure she was secure. She held onto his hips and pulled herself flush against him as he pushed off.

She turned back as she heard her name. She saw Adrien rushing out the front of the building.

“Marinette!” he yelled.

She turned back to look at him and gave a little wave as Jason’s motorcycle roared away.

#jasonette #ttt 2023 #book design #boldlyanxious #maribat

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imthepunchlord · 2 years

Text

Miracurse: Fowl Play is About

Ao3

Chloe’s wondrous day started when Adrien approached her and said, “I have a gift for you.”

She was over the moon to hear that.

Her dear Adrikins got her a gift!

Suck it, Marinette! Suck it, Adrien's fangirls!

He got HER a gift!

No one else!

This just proves that Chloe was his favorite, as she should be.

And as delighted as she was, when Adrien presented her with a blue peacock pin, Chloe faltered.

Adrien’s smile was expectant, looking happy, until she wasn’t taking it right away. “Do you not like it?” Adrien asked.

“No! No, it’s just… Do you have something in yellow?”

“Nope. Only this one.” After a moment of consideration, Adrien tried to appeal to her, offering, “It’ll go with your eyes.”

“Thanks, Adrien,” she said through her teeth, taking it reluctantly. It was semi worth it to see Adrien’s beam, but that offered smile she had fell when he turned and walked away, leaving her with the blue pin.

It didn’t have ANY yellow on it. Like, ok, yeah, maybe the blue would go with her eyes, but red gems on all nine feathers? Or where are those more… pink?

Chloe stuck her tongue out at it. Between the blue and the pink, this should be more Marinette’s thing? But as Adrien gifted this to Chloe, there was NO WAY Chloe was going to pass it off to another. Especially her! This was hers! Hers and hers alone!

But, she couldn’t be seen in public wearing this. This blue and pink against her yellow jacket? No way. Matching with her eyes wasn’t enough. This, she’ll humor Adrien and put it on at home. Try it there, and then it can sit in her closet and gather dust. Maybe she can give it to one of her and Adrien's future kids.

Satisfied with her plan, she stuffed it deep in her bag and headed for the first period. It was a shame she couldn’t go and shove this gift in Marinette’s face, but it is what it is. At least she got to enjoy the fact that Adrien was thinking of her.

In front of her mirror, Chloe hesitated.

She wasn’t wearing the pin yet, it was just held over her jacket, with Chloe doing a little double take just to see it against her jacket and to be sure. And gosh, it clashed with her so much. And the worse fact? No matter how long she looked at it, it matched with Marinette so much more and Chloe hated it.

The blue of the pin matched with her hair, when that dark hair would shine blue in certain lighting. And the gems on this pin were more pink! And it matched the pink of Marinette’s stupid pink pants! And those stupid pink flowers that she has on her shirt!

It was like a… reverse color coordination or whatever. Marinette did wear a lot more pink than blue, but it was undeniable that she did have those two colors as this pin did. It was almost like this pin had been made for her.

Did Adrien have this made?

Was he thinking of Marinette?

If it was more for her, why didn’t he have this pin be more yellow? Was it really intended for Marinette? Did she upset him so Chloe was getting this out of spite of her?

If so, Chloe didn’t know if she should be smug or irritated.

Irritation won, and just to be spiteful to the Marinette color coded pin, she put it on. Adrien gave it to her. She was the one wearing it now, not Marinette.

Only, as soon as the pin was in place, Chloe’s world seemed to turn on an axis and she felt dizzy and she felt disjointed. Shaking her head, she groaned as she grabbed her forehead. What had happened?

“Give it a few moments, you’ll get used to it,” Chloe heard her own voice say, startling her. She jerked up, looking up to see herself staring down at her with a gentle smile, though her eyes were pink instead of blue.

Chloe drew away in alarm, gaping. “Wha— what?!”

Her body just smiled, watching Chloe freak out before her.

“Wha-what is this?!” Chloe demanded. “Who are you! Some cheap copycat!”

“Chloe” chuckled. “Oh no, this is actually your body. It’s as true as can be.”

“My body?!” Chloe shrieked. Chloe paused then. If this was her body and something was in her body, then what was she? Chloe whipped towards her mirror and gasped. She wasn’t herself. She was some freaky looking toy that looked a little familiar but Chloe couldn’t entirely place what.

But she was light blue, had dark blue eyes against a black sclera, had white marks around her eyes, a yellow diamond on her forehead, and five long peacock-like tail feathers that had yellow and white eyespots on them. She had no idea what she was and she didn’t like it. She was so small. So alien. And just so…. Blue.

Chloe rounded on the body stealer, demanding, “I don’t know what you are! But you’ll give my body back this instant!”

“Ah, I can’t do that,” “Chloe” said, shaking her head. “You see, you are under the miraculous curse.”

Chloe frowned at that. Miraculous? Like, Ladybug and Chat Noir? “Did they curse me?!” she demanded.

“No. I did.”

“How?! Why?!”

“I am Duusu, and is my miraculous,” the body stealer revealed, lightly tapping the pin, which was now a platinum peacock with a gold tail and white diamond eyespots. “When you put it on, I got to see how terrible a person you were, and the miraculous cursed you instantly. You are now stuck as a kwami while I reside in your body.”

“That’s unfair!” Chloe snarled. “This is an attack! How dare you!”

“This is punishment,” Duusu said. “You are a terrible person. You’ve hurt people for your own amusement and gain. This is why you were transformed immediately.”

“Ridiculous!” Chloe spat. “Change me back!”

“Only you can change yourself back,” Duusu said.

“How?!”

“Redeem yourself,” Duusu answered. “Make it up to those you’ve hurt the most.” Duusu then paused and frowned thoughtfully. “But that’s a lot of people. Not even I know where you’d start.”

Chloe stared at her, trying to sort out Duusu’s words. “What do you mean make it up to?”

“Help out who you’ve hurt. Make an effort to be better. You don’t even need forgiveness, you just need an effort to be better.”

Chloe scoffed, “I don’t need forgiveness! Everyone loves me!”

“Marinette doesn’t,” Duusu revealed.

“Marinette’s stupid! And poor!”

Duusu hummed. “She’s decently wealthy. You don’t live across Notre Dame or own a whole building on a poor budget.”

“How would you know that?” Chloe asked, narrowing her eyes at her body.

“I have your memories,” Duusu revealed, “it allows me to live your life and be a better you, until you improve anyway.”

Chloe gasped. “You wouldn’t! You can’t do that!”

“I am and I will,” Duusu said, immediately going for Chloe’s phone. “And I’m going to start with the mess that is you and Sabrina. You two have a very messed up relationship.”

“Don’t you dare mess up my slave!” Chloe cried out.

“See, that can’t fly anymore,” Duusu said, calling Sabrina. As Chloe moved to demand that she stop, a finger was pressed to her lips, silencing her. In a perfect Chloe fashion, Duusu said into the phone, “Hey, Sabrina. You got my homework sheet, right? Did you do it yet?”

“No,” Chloe breathed.

“Don’t work on it. Give it to me tomorrow. I want to do my own homework.”

“No!”

Duusu scoffed loudly. “No! This isn’t punishment, geez, get over yourself Sabrina. I just want to prove my own brilliance, I can do that much, can’t I?” Duusu paused, listening to Sabrina’s stammer, quick to flatter and promise. “I’m glad you see it my way. See you tomorrow.”

Duusu barely ended the call when Chloe shrieked, “You can’t make my body do homework! That’s peasant work!”

“It’s part of your current education system; does that mean you think yourself beneath an education? You do know that you need a good education if you want to get into politics and be the next mayor. You can’t always buy your way through school. And Sabrina won’t always be by your side.”

Duusu moved away from Chloe before the girl turned kwami could respond. Growling, she followed, snapping, “You can’t pretend to be me! You even have pink eyes! People will see straight through you!”

“Good thing you always wear sunglasses,” Duusu said, flashing her a grin as she brought them down.

“Bustier won’t allow it!”

“Bustier is your biggest enabler. She’ll allow it.”

Growling, she darted in front of Duusu’s face, tail feathers spread out angrily. “Fine! Who do I go to first to start helping them so I can get my body and life back?!”

Humming, Duusu answered, “I guess that’s who you hurt the most.”

“Fine. I’ll go to Sabrina.” She’ll help Chloe too. Maybe the key is getting that pin back.

“Hm. Not sure Sabrina is the right choice,” Duusu murmured, more to herself. “You have twisted things up a lot, but she doesn’t regard herself as being hurt by you too often.”

“Who would you recommend,” Chloe snapped, crossing her arms unhappily.

“Probably Marinette.”

“No!”

‘You were very close to breaking her. And that hurt has lingered despite her newfound courage. Mindful, yuo do have a whole class to choose from, but Marinette was your main target. She’d be the one you’d have to make it up to most.”

“No way am I ever going to help her!”

“Then pick one of your classmates, or help the city. You purposely upsetting people led to akumas, which did hurt the city.”

“How can I help the city like this?!” Chloe gestured to this tiny weirdo body.

Duusu just gave her a secretive smile. “I’m not under obligation to explain how a kwami body works and what comes with it. You’ll have to figure that out on your own. I’m just here to tell you why you’re punished and what you can do to get out of it.”

“How helpful,” Chloe grumbled.

“I always try to be!” Duusu chirped, her smile irritating Chloe all the more.

This was so unfair!

Utterly ridiculous!

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #kwami curse au #miracurse #chloe bourgeois #duusu #kwami swap #peacock!Chloe #peafowl!Chloe

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rosie-b · 3 months

Text

Centuries Overdue

Chapter 3

Excerpt from the ninth journal of Adrien Agreste, written in Ravlunda, Sweden on the twelfth of April, 1810.

It is done. At last, the Battle against the Darkness is over, and the Victory is ours! The Struggle was long, the Losses were great, but we are, at long last, Safe.

My Parents’ mission is now completed. May they rest in Peace and Light, and may no others live to see a Time as dark as this one has been.

Perhaps I should go over the Battle, describe the threefold days we spent wrapped in the shroud of the Blue Maiden and the Elation we felt when the Darkness finally lost. I could spend pages lingering over each brave Sacrifice from the Talents, only one of whom survived, and talk for hours about the Strength each Mage showed.

There were many Fighters who joined me; every Mage able to fight seemed to be there, and most of the Talents, too. I am grateful for every one of them.

But I cannot dwell in the Past any longer, not now that I am finally Free to wander out of its tight Grasp.

I am going to Paris, to live in the country I should call my Home. There is a doubly strong group of Mages there, who meet in a tavern each Wednesday, or so I am told. They are the Mages of Trixx and Fluff, who call their group Home the Clockwise Fox and mark it theirs with a strange symbol, which I will attempt to draw below. I am not much of an artist, despite my Father’s many Attempts to teach me his Skills.

There, I hope it is clear enough. Had I any colored Ink, the top chevron would be a deep Orange, and the bottom one a light Blue.

The Mages of Fluff and Trixx have always been strange. I prefer the Mages of Mullo and Tikki, and my fellow Mages of Plagg, though I do not see them as often as I wish.

I am somewhat ashamed to say that this is because I often avoid the Cave and go on Paths around it instead, but I have a good Reason for this!

The Cave always reeks of Cheese, the stinkiest Plagg can find. He always keeps it in stock despite my many complaints and attempts to turn his interest to a new Cheese. Plagg only scolds me and says I should appreciate Camembert more, since like Me, it comes from France.

Well, now that I am going back to my estranged, native Country, I rather hope Plagg steals all the Camembert out of Paris before I arrive. That will give me at least one Thing I can thank Him for!

Oh, all right, I suppose I must thank Plagg for his help, however indirect, in defeating the Darkness. His Training proved very useful in the Battle; in fact, I must confess that it is what kept me Alive.

And now, I am going to Paris, the city where my Parents lived, the Land I was never allowed to know — I am going Home for the very first time. I hope my Travels will be swift and devoid of Trouble.

I hope I will find Peace in Paris. I hope I am right to call it my Home.

I hope I am not making a Mistake.

__*__*__*__*__

Paris was a little spookier at night. It was colder, too.

Marinette found herself wishing for the mocha she’d been so indifferent to yesterday afternoon. She would find its warmth soothing instead of annoying this time!

Maybe the ‘mages’ will have drinks at their meeting, she thought hopefully as she wrapped her light jacket a little tighter around herself. The street lights illuminating the path from the parking lot to the little café she’d visited yesterday flickered dimly, and even with the ever-present throngs of tourists lining the road, Paris felt colder, emptier than Marinette was used to.

It was probably just nerves. After all, this marked the first occasion on which Marinette busted into a secret society’s meeting, and who knew how they’d react to her presence?

When she reached the café’s door, Marinette stopped and peered through the windows. It looked empty inside, and the open sign wasn’t lit up like it had been yesterday.

Is this it? A dead end, after everything?

Marinette grimaced, trying to decide what to do before her loitering drew unwanted attention. Should she knock? Look for a hidden key? Turn around and head home, since obviously she had been wrong to ever believe Adrien’s fictional adventures could be real?

A little white bunny floated through the door and hovered in front of Marinette’s face.

“Ahhh!”

Marinette fell backwards, arms pinwheeling as she braced herself for a rough landing. Hitting the hard sidewalk with an oomph, she scrambled back, away from the creature that was zipping around. It circled her head once before phasing through the door again.

In seconds, the bunny came back out, accompanied by a little fox which was similarly ignoring the rules of gravity, flight, and everything.

“You’re Marinette, right?” the fox asked.

Marinette sat up before a tourist’s heel could trip over her and puncture her skull. “How do you know that?” she hissed at the creatures, darting her eyes back and forth between the two.

The creatures exchanged a glance.

“Yeah, I’ll go tell Alya,” the fox said to the bunny.

“So it didn’t happen already? Then it’s about time!” the bunny cheered, and went soaring after the fox as they phased through the door and left Marinette alone to stand up and regain her bearings as best she could.

Bunnies aren’t supposed to fly. Foxes aren’t supposed to talk. Are they kwamis? I thought kwamis were super tall and monstrous! Where are the six arms? The glowing eyes? Adrien lied to me, Marinette fumed. But at least now she had proof, however confusing, that magic was real.

Unless this was a hallucination. After all, hadn’t the fox said it was going to tell Alya? Marinette knew Alya; she wasn’t part of a magic community! Not that she’d told Marinette! And it would be really rude to not tell your best friend about secret magic societies hiding in Paris!

The café door opened, and Alya stepped out. When she saw Marinette, a grin slowly spread across her face, and she squealed as she rushed over to her and threw her arms around her in a suffocating hug.

“Marinette!! Girl, this is the best day of my life! You’re a Mage, too? Why haven’t you come to any meetings before? Oh, man, wait until I tell Nino about this!”

While she was talking, Alya released Marinette from the hug and pulled her back into the building, closing the door behind them. Inside, the café was full of eighteen to twenty people, all lounging in the chairs and on the cushioned window seat and watching Marinette’s entrance.

Marinette stared right back at them, confused as to how the place could look so empty from outside and be so full on the inside.

“Alya, what… What is this? This is magic, right?” she asked, unable to pretend that she was paying attention any longer to the words that were still spilling from Alya’s lips.

They suddenly stopped as Alya took a step back and looked at Marinette, adjusting her glasses as she considered the question.

“Well, of course, Marinette, do you… not know that?” She squinted at Marinette’s embarrassed, guilty face and then smacked her forehead with a long, drawn-out groan. “Oh kwamis, did I just let an outsider into the group? Girl, you have to answer me, now: Are you a Mage? Do you at least know what that is?”

Looking around the café at all the guarded and threatening faces staring at her, Marinette gulped and slowly raised her eyes to meet Alya’s.

“I kind of know what a Mage is,” she said, pulling the journal she’d accidentally snuck from the library out of her purse and showing Alya the fading, cracked cover. “Um, I’ve been reading about them. Until just now, I wasn’t sure if they were real or not, but Alya, you’re a Mage?”

“Have been my whole life,” Alya nodded, crossing her arms and drumming her fingers against them.

“Hey!” One of the other Mages stood up, which didn’t add much to her short height. She popped her gum, which was as pink as her hair, and looked Marinette up and down. “You’re that girl who ordered a hot mocha in the afternoon yesterday, aren’t you?”

Marinette, freshly endowed with the knowledge of magic, wondered what spell would let her sink under the café floor to die of shame in peace.

“Alix! Wait, did she really?” Alya asked, quickly switching between sounding vexed and confused.

“Oh, yeah, it’s all coming back now,” Alix replied gleefully. “Was that your little scouting mission? I’ve seen better. Although, maybe I should go back and see it again. It’s always funnier the second time around.”

Marinette died a little as she thought of someone seeing her embarrassing mistake again just for fun. But wait, how would that even happen? What kind of magic did Alix even have?

“Don’t do that,” Alya snapped. “We have a real problem here. Now, I know Marinette, and I swear on Trixx, she’s not a threat we need to worry about. But,” she said, frowning sharply at Marinette, “We Mages are not supposed to let anyone in the café or let them know about the community itself unless they’re family. And despite a decade of friendship, I don’t think we can legally count as that.”

Well, Marinette thought, it’s always good to know that your best friend can’t protect you from the large group of angry Mages and their two tiny-but-powerful mascots which can fly through doors and chase you all over Paris and maybe even kill you!

Alix wandered over to the kitchen, brushing past Alya and Marinette without a word. Oh, shit, was she mad at them? Was she going to use her magic to go back and record Marinette’s misbegotten mocha order and stream it to all of Paris, solidifying her shame forever??

Marinette wished she’d kept her glance through the deceptive café windows much shorter and left before the scary bunny had had the chance to jumpscare her.

Alix came back out of the kitchen, holding a steaming mug of something that smelled vaguely like an energy drink crossed with mulled cider. The steam wafted under Marinette’s nose, snapping her back to reality with its strong odor.

She was in the middle of a secret Mage meeting. Alya was still frowning at her. That wasn’t good. She had to say something!

“How do the windows work?” Marinette asked, because her brain had apparently disconnected from the rest of her body.

Alya blinked. “Huh?”

“The windows. They make the café look empty from outside, but it’s not.”

“It’s a simple illusion spell,” Alix called as she flopped back down on the window seat. “Alya’s really great at those.”

“I see,” Marinette said. “I will remember that for next time.”

What ‘next time?’ Why couldn’t she shut up?

Alya sighed. “We’re just going with this, then?”

“It makes sense! I thought it happened already,” the scary little bunny piped up.

“You always think that,” the fox responded, flying closer to Marinette. The bunny followed suit.

Marinette stepped behind Alya to get away from the kwamis, which made Alya laugh and pull her out again. Marinette half-raised Adrien’s journal as a shield, but slowly lowered it when Alix raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine. Marinette, meet Fluff and Trixx,” Alya said, pointing to each of them in turn. “They’re the kwamis of Evolution and Illusion, respectively.”

“Nice to meet you! You’re not one of my Mages, right?” Trixx asked.

Marinette swallowed. “I don’t think so?” she responded in an unsure voice.

“She won’t be, or she hasn’t been, so she isn’t,” Fluff said as she zipped around the room, turning somersaults in midair.

“Fluff just likes to talk like that,” Alya whispered to Marinette, who nodded as if this was a perfectly normal quirk to have.

For tiny, scary kwamis, maybe it was.

“Are you… Fluff’s Mage?” Marinette pointed hesitantly at Alya, squinting one of her eyes as she tried to figure out how this kind of thing worked.

Alya shook her head as she grabbed Marinette by the hand and led her over to two free chairs side by side. “I’m a Mage of Trixx. That’s how I was able to cast the illusion spell, because Mages can only cast spells that belong to the kwami who gave them their Gift.”

Marinette dimly remembered Adrien writing something about that.

“And… What about universal spells?” she asked, patting herself on the back for remembering about them from Adrien’s journals.

Alya made a pooh-poohing motion with her hand. “Oh, we don’t use them anymore. They were mostly just to fight off the Darkness, but we did that whole thing centuries ago. Nobody needs them anymore so no one learns them anymore, and I don’t know if there’s anyone left who still remembers what the spells said, anyway.”

Marinette blinked. “So, there are no more leather journal preservation spells?”

Alya crossed her legs. Another Mage, one with brown hair and dark, inky eyes, asked, “Why would we need those?”

Dusting off the flaky cover, Marinette pointed to Adrien’s journal, sitting it upright on her lap. “Well, this book could definitely use them! Without some way to restore it, like a spell, it’s almost impossible to read sometimes. I’ve had to skip entire sections because the pages were just too brittle for me to touch them without them crumbling into nothing!”

Alya pushed up her glasses as she took a second look at the book, giving it more consideration this time. At the other end of the room, Mages turned their attention back to each other, resuming quiet conversations and enjoying the hot beverages Marinette had longed for on her walk inside. Her face burned as she realized that now it sounded like she’d broken into their meeting just to ask them to fix an old book for her.

But Alya was still looking at its cover, bending closer to it with wide eyes like it was drawing her to it.

“Where did you get this?” Alya asked in a hushed voice, reaching out for the journal but suddenly bringing her fingers back close to her chest in a fist.

Weird.

“From the library I work at. Remember that book series I told you I was reading?”

Alya nodded. “The one you turned down three friend dates for, yes, I remember. You’re telling me this is it?” she asked, jabbing her pointer finger at it once before retreating to safety again.

Marinette gave a hesitant nod. “Yes. Hey, what’s that face for?”

Alya leaned over, grabbing Marinette’s shoulders and looking at her with a look that made her understand the term ‘deadly serious’ (and fear just a bit for her life).

“That book, plus about twenty other ones like it, has been missing for two centuries because the Bourgeois family, may magic never bless their graves, told the head Mage they’d preserve them for us. Instead, they took the books from us and promptly fell off the face of the magic earth; it was the last time we heard from them. Huge family of Talents gone, just like that, and the books were as good as lost because they never told us where they were taking them.”

“What?!”

“Yeah. And we’ve tried to contact them since, but the high and mighty Bourgeoises would never willingly speak to us commoners. I mean, the head of their family at the time died right when they got the books, but that shouldn’t have changed anything. It was like they all suddenly forgot about magic, or at least decided they didn’t want anything to do with it. But now that we know where it is, I’m going to need to take the book back from you. We take magic ambassadors’ journals very seriously, Marinette. The Agrestes’ journals belong with us, not up in some stuffy library!”

“Hey! It’s not stuffy!” Marinette cried, hugging the book tightly to herself. “I mean, it’s old, but it’s cool, you know?”

Around the café, several Mages discreetly turned their attention back to the two girls, trying to listen in on their whispering. Alya stopped them in their tracks with a glare.

“Girl, that is the last thing you should be worrying about right now. How much money do we have to pay to get them back? Could we rent the books permanently?”

“You can’t, they’re not in the library system,” Marinette responded, her heart racing. “You can’t check them out. Even I’m not supposed to have this one; I only took it with me by accident. And since the Bourgeois family donated them, I think you’d need to ask them if you wanted to get them back.”

Alya’s face darkened, and Marinette found herself shrinking back into her seat. What had she gotten herself into? Was there some old feud magic she’d accidentally triggered by taking the book? Did she have to be afraid of Alya now?

She decided to keep explaining in hopes that Alya would understand, stop being scary and start being normal Alya again.

“The books are delicate, and they aren’t supposed to leave the library. I’m not even supposed to have this journal with me right now! Alya, I want to help you, but I honestly don’t know how,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “I can’t think of any easy way to give the books back to you.”

Alya sank back in her seat, leaning her head back and letting the café lights reflect off her glasses. “Ugh! Fine, I’ll get a message to Mayor Bourgeois somehow. Maybe I’ll disguise myself as Chloe and sneak into the hotel,” she said, raising her head to flash Marinette an evil grin.

“Ooh, can I come?” Alix asked. A few other Mages looked up hopefully, still obviously interested in the unusual happening.

Alya gave them all an unimpressed look. “If you have to,” she said. “But that would mean we’d need a pretty complicated cloaking spell, since you can’t all use your own.”

Wait. Was Marinette accidentally helping to plan a break-in?

“Or we could just email Mayor Bourgeois!” she offered with a desperate smile. “That sounds way more legal to me!”

“Psh, if we stuck to being ‘legal’ we’d never have any fun,” Alix said.

“You do have a point,” Alya mused. “Marinette, of course, not you, Alix. I’ll try things the boring way first and if that doesn’t work out, we can try the shady way.”

“Or we could skip the middlemen and go straight to grand theft literature!”

“No,” Alya said firmly. Then she turned back to Marinette. “So, did you have any goals other than figuring out if magic was real when you busted into our meeting tonight?”

“You dragged me into it,” Marinette pointed out, although her cheeks flamed red in embarrassment. “I would have stayed out; seeing the kwamis was more than enough for me. I’m glad they’re not as big as Adrien described Plagg as being or I think I would’ve had a heart attack!”

“We can still fix that for you,” Trixx offered, popping up over Marinette’s shoulder. “My true form is at least as big as Plagg’s true form!”

“No, thank you,” Marinette said weakly. “And… no, that was about it, Alya. Adrien’s really good at writing, and I just wanted to know if I was crazy for wanting to believe the things he wrote. I guess I’m not,” she said with a limp smile. It had been a crazy, unbelievable evening, and she kind of wanted to cut it short and go home.

Alya hummed thoughtfully, sitting forward in her chair as she looked at Marinette. The café lights were still reflected in her glasses, but as she moved closer, they slid away, letting Marinette see her friend’s eyes clearly. They were full of concern and a bit of pity as she stared at Marinette like she was seeing deep into her soul. Then she blinked once and leaned back in her chair.

“All right,” she said with a shrug. “If you want to go home now, you can. You’ve already broken the only rule you can tonight, but Trixx and Fluff trust you, so we’re making an exception for you. You get to join the group from now on, as long as you promise not to tell anyone about us. Keep this more secret than you kept the books from me, okay? We meet every Wednesday, 6 to 11. Anyone have anything else to say?” she asked, looking around the group.

Alix lazily raised her hand. “Don’t order any more hot mochas if you visit during my shift,” she said. “Seriously, that was painful.”

Marinette grimaced. “I won’t.”

A tall man with a grey, well-kept beard who’d been sitting in the corner near the door stood up and walked over to Marinette, who tried not to cower as he silently stepped closer.

“You are an abnormal girl,” he said in a thick Russian accent. “Most would not have believed the books. I think she should be tested,” he declared, looking at Alya. “She may not know it, but she may have magic inside her. She may be a Mage.”

“I’ve been thinking that, too,” Alya said softly. “Thank you, Pyotr. We can test her next time, if she’s comfortable with it.”

A test for magic abilities? That didn’t sound too bad to Marinette.

Then Trixx’s grinning face popped over the arm of her chair, scaring her up and out of it.

“Can we do the tests without the kwamis there?” she asked Alya as her heart beat quickly.

Alya stifled a laugh. Across the room, Alix did not.

“Sure, Marinette. All we’ll do is have you read some spells aloud. If they work, we’ll know you’re a Mage; if not, you’re just an outlier and the first Ungifted person to ever join a Mage group. There’s nothing wrong with that; the Mages of Trixx and Fluff like a little chaos now and then.”

“Well, then I’m lucky I crashed your meeting and not someone else’s,” Marinette said. “Thank you so much for the offer! I’ll think about it,” she said as Fluff phased up and down through the floor like a dolphin leaping out of the ocean. Or a bunny with weird powers who could also talk. “And let me know if you can’t get through to the mayor. I can try to talk to my boss; maybe she’d know some way to help.”

Alya’s face softened with a smile. “Thanks, girl,” she said as she stood up to give Marinette a hug. “Be careful going home — oh! You didn’t walk here, right?”

“No, I drove. I’m not that crazy,” Marinette laughed.

“Good. Try not to be seen on your way out. Text me when you get home!”

Marinette nodded and waved as she backed towards the door. She nearly bumped into the wall, but Pyotr grabbed her shoulder and turned her around at the last second.

She whispered her thanks and hurried out of the door during a break in the tourists.

What a night.

Written for @mlbigbang 2023

The Clockwise Fox symbol is by me, the marvelous art of Marinette and the kwamis is by @acise!

#ao3 links are at the top #ml fanfic #rosie-b writing #centuries overdue #ml au #miraculous ladybug

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paracosmicat · 8 months

Note

PLEASE talk about your Sentibug

AN OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT HER? 🐞❤️ (I LOVE YOU)

In my AU, the way she is able to be brought back is through the Peacock Miraculous. I personally think Adrien’s interest, now that he is free, should be Miraculous lore because it’s a natural side step given how much freedom and happiness his Miraculous has brought him and it would give Chat Noir a much bigger role to play in their hero business. (Also it makes more sense for him than for Marinette, because the Miraculous has been a chain, the opposite of what it has been for Adrien) And where does his research take him? Exploring the Kwagatama and uncovering that Sentibeings lives and memories are stored within the Miraculous, able to be brought back so long as they are willing.

That was my very long winded way of saying, Adrien had never really gotten over her death so he works with Félix to bring her back.

AND SO

Given that Adrien was the one to fight for her, he takes it upon himself to make sure she has a place in the world. He introduces himself to her as Chat Noir, but offering her a place to stay at his house does require that he reveals his identity. (Which, gives Adrien someone in his corner, which I love)

NOW

Figuring out her identity is something they work together on. Adrien nicknames her Coccinelle, French for Ladybug, as a temporary nickname and a way to differentiate their hero forms. I think she continues to use this for her hero form name as she helps them when needed, same with the other heroes.

Speaking of hero forms, I think it would be really funny if she could still do Lucky Charms but they were always insanely oversized weapons.

BUT FOR HER CIVILIAN FORM

The insanely talented @belowthesurface drew my vision of her civilian form!! And I will be using this art to make my next points and because oh my god did I mention how talented Moonie is???

I think Adrien finds it important to find her a name that she likes, so he researches it with her. They eventually come across Mireille, which means miracle/miraculous. As @ninadove pointed out, it’s also a bit older of a name which is suiting for her vibe given that a lot of it is a reflection of Nathalie’s touch!

As you can see their facial structures are similar but different. I would describe her features as Nathalie “filling in the blanks” much the same as when you see someone wearing a face mask.

As for style, I’ve made this joke so many times but I feel like her style is Nathalie’s “what are the teens wearing these days?” Very formal and business casual while still looking really really good.

And you know who would love her??? Félix!!! A Sentibeing who went against orders and paid the price but ended up making it in the end? A representation of his cousin making decisions for himself and refusing to repeat the awful patterns of the people before him? He would be ecstatic.

Her personality would be very sweet, shy, and lovey. It would be easy to say she had Ladybug’s leadership and determination, but she immediately agreed to doing “whatever you say, Ladybug” and she did not quip back at Chat Noir when Ladybug did. She was designed to be a sweeter softer version of her, one that Chat Noir would fall for, I think her personality follows suit!

Btw, anyone is welcomed to create content with her, if you so please. I love her I want more of her.

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lily-drake · 10 months

Text

The Bird’s Baby Bug

Chapter 2

Ch. 1

Tim: 19 Mari: 10

Three in the morning, it was three in the f*ing morning and Jason was not having it. But unfortunately for him, whoever was calling wouldn’t stop! Fine, Jason would answer the phone, but he wouldn’t sound happy doing it!

“What the f* do you want?” He growled, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. Tonight was supposed to be his night of d*it.

“Jason, Jason thank G*.” Tim gasped in relief, it honestly shocked him. He and the replacement were definitely not on the best of terms, so why would he sound so relieved that he answered his phone. “Before you hang up,” he rambled quickly, “I could really use your help. This isn’t about me, it's about a kid that The League of Assassins kidnapped.”

Jason froze at that, what the f* was the replacement doing in The League of F*ing Assassins. “I’m sorry, but what now?”

Tim sighed through the phone, like he had any right to be exasperated like he hasn’t been radio silent for over six g*d*ng months and called him –the guy that has tried to murder him on multiple occasions–for help . “Look, it's a long story, but I need to get her out before Ra’s comes back, I’ll explain everything then. Sending my coordinates now.” Jason was about to respond, before he could the quick beep, beep, beep that singled the end of the call echoed in his ears. Son of a b*!

Jason glared at the phone, like he could will Tim to magically appear out of it so he could strangle him, but nothing happened. With one last sigh, Jason got out of bed and began to get ready to return to one of the many places that haunted his nightmares. Making a few calls to his lieutenants, telling them to make sure everyone stayed in line and demanding updates every night, he grabbed his emergency duffle bag and headed out.

_______ Tim didn’t want to admit how attached he became to the small girl over the span of a few hours. She was so small, and despite the horrors she had been forced to endure she was one of the sweetest people he’s ever met. Having learned that she had (unsurprisingly) not been allowed any form of education in her captivity, he had taken it upon himself to become her tutor while they waited for Jason. They drew, he helped her with numbers, helped her with her English and French, and when she was asleep in his bed, he would continue his investigation into Bruce’s whereabouts.

He had been tracking Jason’s progress through a code that he had activated on Jason’s phone when the man had picked up. It had taken him nearly three days to get here, and if everything went according to plan, he should be here within the next three hours. On the third day Tim began to explain in heavy detail to Marinette how he was going to free her from this Hell Hole and how she would go with his brother until he finished his mission here.

“So you’re leaving me?” Marinette whispered in broken English, her voice breaking slightly, though no tears welled in her eyes. Tim felt awful, but if he wanted to find Bruce, destroy the Pits, and avoid Ra’s; then this was his best course of action.

“It won’t be for very long,” he whispered, gently tucking a strand of her long dark hair behind one of her small ears. “I’ll be back before you know it, and Jason will take great care of you. He’s very protective of kids. Don’t tell him I said this,” he whispered into her ear, a mischievous smirk on his lips, “Jason may seem like a baddy, but he’s really just an oversized teddy bear.” (A teddy bear that would actually tear anyone and anything apart if he so felt like it.)

His heart melted when Marinette giggled, and goodness he didn’t want to let this small bean go. He quickly pulled the small child against his chest, giving her a tight embrace, relieved when she quickly returned it rather than shrinking away like she had a few times before. “You’re so brave Marinette. Never forget that.” He whispered.

The two stayed like that for only a few moments longer before he slowly pulled away with an affectionate hair ruffle. The moment was curtly interrupted when his door was forced open, and Tim knew who it was before he even turned around. There were only two people that existed on this base that would dare come into his room unannounced.

“Detective.” Ra’s greeted stoically. Tim cursed under his breath, Ra’s should have been gone for at least another day. Tim turned around, keeping Marinette tucked behind him. “I see you’ve met my little pet project.” He stated, never taking his cold gaze off Tim. Tim glared back at the man; his resolve to save the small child growing stronger the longer Marinette held onto the back of his shirt, tightening her trembling grip like it was her only lifeline. “I would ask you please return it to me, it is a very important asset that I would like to keep close.”

The sound of Marinette’s whimper made Tim feel almost animalistic with the need to protect. It was as exhilarating as it was horrifying. “No,” he snarled, “I don’t think I will. I’m sure that you have enough of her blood to fill each and every one of your Lazarus Pits to the brim.” He growled out, reaching for the bo staff at his side.

“Don’t be ridiculous Detective”, Ra’s sighed sounding almost exasperated, though he didn’t come any closer…yet. “Surely you know the reason we must keep her close, despite her blood’s usefulness.” Unfortunately Tim did understand what Ra’s was getting at. He had been reading through any and all files that pertained to “Subject E131”. Ra’s intended to use Marinette as a weapon; training and enhancing her powers so that she could use her control of plant life–and maybe even animal life–to use against his enemies—in other words, a better “model” of Poison Ivy. He wouldn’t let that be her fate, she would not be another pawn in Ra’s sick games.

“Yes, but I’m afraid that I can’t let that happen.” Snap . His staff snapped open, ready for whatever Ra’s had planned. Ra’s simply smirked, a twinkle in his eyes that sent a shiver down Tim’s spine.

“Very well Detective, have it your way.” Ra’s was fast, faster than Tim was expecting, but not fast enough. Tim shot his staff into the air, blocking the blow before using the momentum to push Ra’s sword away from him.

“Is this child really worth the risk of not being able to see your father again, Detective? Without my help, he’ll be lost forever.”

Tim ground his teeth, he wouldn’t let this manipulative ba* invade his mind. If he was as great of a detective as Ra’s claimed him to be, then he didn’t need Ra’s. He would find Bruce on his own, and show everyone that he wasn’t crazy. He would protect this child, because she deserved to feel safe.

He looked around for an opening while gently bushing the small child away from, but still behind, him. He couldn’t risk her safety more than he already is. Jason was out there, he would be here soon. He just needed to stall Ra’s and make it to the drop off point.

Ra’s attacked once more, this time trying to move around him, switching their positions so that Marinette would be right behind Ra’s. Tim wouldn’t let that happen though. He kept his feet solidly on the ground pushing against Ra’s momentum. The sound of Ra’s blade against his staff was a sharp clash as each fighter swung and danced around the other. “It is such a shame, Detective. I truly thought that you would join me as my right hand.”

Tim felt a vicious smirk fall onto his lips—the same smirk he used to strike fear into Gotham’s criminal underbelly—, “Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t murder those who stand against me.”

“Maybe now, but you could learn. You could come to see how efficient it is when you are trying to truly bring order to the world.”

“Yes, because torturing kids is definitely the “best way” of creating “order”.” He growled, ducking under Ra’s sword before throwing a right slam towards Ra’s abdomen.

Beep Beep

Jason was 30 minutes out. He must have been pushing his bike for all it’s worth if he got here that fast, Tim thought while using a downward thrust. Ra’s jumped back, surveying the room. He watched with glee as the cruel, condescending smile on Ra’s face fell away into a frustrated sneer.

“Where is she?” He demanded coldly.

Tim’s smile grew. “What, you thought I didn’t have a plan for if you came back early?” Tim had discovered a trap door under the bed that led to a small cave right at the edge of the base. Exactly where he told Jason to meet them. Ra’s must have forgotten about it with how big the base was, or simply did not believe that Tim would have found the small passage.

“I see I’ve underestimated you, Detective.” Ra’s sneered.

Tim simply chirped, “Your mistake.” Before he launched into a series of strikes, no longer afraid that he’d accidentally hurt Marinette. Ra’s blocked his strikes, only allowing him to get two or three before Ra’s countered him blow for blow. Tim allowed himself to be spun by Ra’s attack, following the movement so his back was to the door, just as he planned. Before Ra’s could strike down his next blow Tim was moving, running out of the room and through the seemingly deserted corridors.

He needed to distract the others, keep them far away from Mari and the drop off point, so he was strangely relieved when swarms of ninjas began to attack him. Though when he noticed Ra’s was not in the midst, he could feel a panic course through his muscles. What if he had found the passage? What if he had gotten there before Jason and had taken Mari? He would never be able to forgive himself.

Tim ducked past the blades and throwing stars; cursing when one of them grazed his unarmored forearm. The long gash stretched down his arm allowing warm blood to trickle down onto the stone floor. It didn’t matter though, because he had to keep fighting. Had to protect Marinette so that she could live her own life.

So he kept running, kept defending, kept ducking, and he kept fighting back.

“Red Hood to Red Robin. Red Hood to Red Robin, the package has been picked up.”

Tim nearly collapsed in relief, but considering he was still in the midst of battle, he decided that doing so would be a terrible idea.

Suddenly, the sound of gunshots hung heavy through the halls. Ra’s didn’t allow the use of guns, especially on base, and Tim only knew one person that could sneak in here without a problem while using that kind of weapon. The brief moment of his distraction cost him as the back of a hilt was smashed against his head. Tim collapsed, his body feeling heavy and sluggish.

“Tim!” Someone shouted, and suddenly, the pounding in his head cleared. A warmth surrounded him, just like when he had first met Marinette, except there wasn’t any excruciating pain like something was growing in him. Wait, oh sh*.

“Jason!” Tim screamed, jumping back onto his feet with renewed strength and pushing back the other ninja, as he moved toward the echoing sounds of gunshots rather than away. Before he could even round the corner he saw Marinette staring at him with haunted, watery eyes.

“They were going to take you next! You promised they wouldn’t take you away like that!” She sobbed, hugging herself. Tim felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. He extended his arms out, fully expecting her to shrink away. But she didn’t, she ran into his arms and let him pick her up, wrapping her legs around his chest when he moved her so she was situated against his left hip.

“I’m sorry, Sweetie. It won’t happen again now that I’ve got my little lucky charm back.” Marinette giggled lightly through her tears. But in all seriousness, Tim was absolutely terrified. She shouldn’t be here, she should be on her way back to Gotham right now with Jason! He was going to kill Jason. Tim touched the small device in his ear, turning his mic on. “Hood, I thought I told you to get her out of here. You said you picked her up!”

He could hear the reverberations of round after round leaving the chamber while Jason replied, “the Little Pixie said she wouldn’t leave without you. Screamed when I tried to touch her. Figured as long as she stayed with me she’d be fine while we rescued your sorry a*.”

“Well she didn’t stay by your side, you arrogant jerk.”

“Oh don’t even Mr. I’m-going-to-work-with-The-League-of-Assassins-with-no-bad-consequences-directed-towards-me. Seriously, what were you thinking ?”

Tim felt his jaw clench, shoulders tensing, as the memories of everyone telling him how he was crazy, how grief made him insane, how he simply wasn’t in his “right mind”. No one would listen, no one trusted him, but he was right ! He knows that he’s right! He didn’t respond.

“No excuse? What, did you want a taste of what it’s like on the other side? See what it’s like to-“

“ Shut up , Jason. The only reason I called you is because you know this place better than the others and I trusted you to have this child’s best interest in mind.”

It was silent over the line, well except for the resounding bullets, but it didn’t last long. “Let’s just get the h* out of here.” And that was that.

A few minutes later, he found Jason surrounded by bodies of ninjas, surprisingly not bleeding out. “Rubber bullets.” Jason informed, “Kid doesn’t need to see that.” Tim bites his lip before he can say: she’s already seen far worse . Tim gave Jason a sharp nod, and they were moving out. Tim followed closely behind Jason to wherever he had parked their getaway vehicle, hugging Marinette tighter to him as they ran. He was honestly surprised to see one of the Batplanes carefully concealed behind the large jungle canopy. He was honestly expecting to see one of Hood’s bikes. He was even more so when he saw Babs waiving towards them in her wheelchair.

“You have a lot of explaining to do, Boy Wonder .” She shouted, her voice filled with so much unadulterated rage that Tim actually feared for his life for the first time that day. He didn’t have time to hesitate though, who knew what or who was hiding in the jungle or coming after them. Adjusting his grip slightly on Mari he ran the rest of the way to the plane only letting himself relax his grip when they were in the air and flying far away. When he looked out the window, all he could see was Ra’s standing right where the plane had just taken off, sword raised in a challenge. If they had been even a few moments later, they might not have escaped.

“T-Tim?” Marinette whispered into his ear, startling him slightly. “Can I be put down now?”

“Yes, of course.” Tim said, quickly setting her down before he kneeled in front of her so that he could check her over for any injury. “Coming back for me was risky and irresponsible. You could’ve gotten taken again. I don’t think I’d ever be able to live with myself if that happened.” He stated as he patted her down, if one of those ninja hurt even a hair on her head he was going to-

“Ahem.” Tim’s face shot up at the sound, forcing him to meet Barbara’s cold and curious eyes. “Would you like to introduce us, and maaaybe explain why you’ve been radio silent for the past six months . Tim glared at Babs, but she held his gaze.

Sighing he turned away from her and looked at the small child, silent tears falling down her face. Tim felt his shoulders fall. He opened his arms and prayed that she wouldn’t flinch away from him like she had many other times before. When Marinette flung herself into his arms, filling the cold void with her warmth while her tears soaked his robes, he couldn’t have felt more relieved.

“I’m sorry for getting mad, Honey. You scared me, and I just want you to be safe. I-I never want you to go through what you went through there ever again.” He whispered to her in French.

“You know what they did?” She gasped back in her native tongue, her voice still so broken and raspy. “You took me away.”

Tears of his own fell down his cheeks as he lifted her off the ground. “It’s okay baby, you’re safe now.” He turned to look at Babs and Jason, who were looking away silently, giving them as much privacy as they could while still keeping an eye on the two. “Hey, there’s some snacks in the back, do you want to grab some?”

She sniffled, wiping at her eyes before giving him a small nod. Once her feet hit the floor, she moved to the back of the small plane where the small snack drawer sat.

“She was one of Ra’s experiments.” Tim stated before either of the two could say anything, trying to discreetly wipe at his eyes while still watching the small girl. “She’s a meta who has the ability of creation, very powerful. Ra’s put her under hundreds of different experiments and documented the results, taking and using her blood to reverse the Lazarus Pit side effects before turning her into a human weapon..”

Tim took in a shaky breath, his heart melting when he saw Marinette’s wide eyes when she pulled a bag of pretzels. She looked like she had just found lost treasure from an old chest. “She was 7 when they took her, she was trapped there for 3 years. Killed her parents and showed her the recording of their death to get the reaction they needed. I downloaded her entire file. It should finish downloading onto your computer in the clock tower in the next half hour.”

Marinette raced over to him holding a small pack of chocolate covered pretzels while hugging a second one close to her chest. Tim gently took it from her with a small, ruffling her hair in the process. “Thanks Mari. Why don’t you go sit down. You never know when there will be turbulence.”

Marinette hesitated, looking at him expectantly. “I’ll join you soon. I don’t plan to let you stay by yourself for very long.” With one more silent nod she moved to the front of the plane where there were four seats available.

“Tim, you do realize you’re 19, right?” Jason said, helmet and mask fully removed.

“Yes?”

“Okay, so then what’s your plan here? B’s not here to take her in,” Tim flinched at that. Bruce would be back, he would bring Bruce back! “I don’t think Dickie will take her either what with the Demon Brat, I-“

“I’m not entrusting you with her.” Jason shot him a sharp glare.

“Alright you dick, well what’s your plan then?”

“Well, I’m about as rich as Bruce, I am currently CEO of his company, and The Nest would only need to be restocked and a room redecorated…” Tim started mumbling, mind starting to wonder as he thought of everything he would need to do to make The Nest more… child friendly.

Snap snap. Startling back into the moment Tim glared at Babs for destroying his train of thought. “Focus Tim. So what I’m hearing is, you want to adopt her?” She asked incredulously.

“Yes, as soon as I bring Bruce back.” Tim agreed matter of factly causing both Jason and Barbara to flinch.

“Tim…” Babs began, her tone tired sounding.

“Don’t”, Tim growled startling all occupants on the plane, except Mari, she fell asleep. Tim had changed a lot in the last six months, and he knew exactly what was needed of him.

He was so close to finding Bruce. He just needed to find one last piece of evidence and he’d be able to bring Bruce back. Tim had found out that the man was stuck in a timestream and that he had been leaving clues that only Tim could find. He was going to bring the closest thing he had to a father home, and nobody was going to stop him.

“I know he’s still alive, and I can prove it. I have the files and physical proof to do so. I’m not crazy!” His breath was coming out in short puffs, his eyes were narrowed, and he could feel his clenched fist shaking at his side.

“Okay, Tim. We believe you. Just calm down.” Barbara began. She was talking in her victim’s voice and while Tim hated that it was directed towards him, he couldn’t help but take a little comfort in the smoothness of her words. Slowly he let himself relax, taking longer breaths as he calmed down.

“I’m fine. Just drop me off in Uganda and make sure Marinette’s safe. I’d prefer that you look after her,” he stated as he made eye contact with Babs, “keep her away from the Demon Brat and all. But I understand if you truly, 100% without a doubt , believe that Dick would be able to care for her better until I return.”

“What about me? I could watch the little pixie.” Jason grumbled as he stared at the limp form of the small girl.

“I trust you about as much as I can throw you Jason.”

“At least I know how to actually cook.”

“Boys.”

“I can learn!” Tim replied indignantly.

“BoYs.”

“Not without burning down your entire kitchen you couldn-“

“BOYS!”

Both snapped their necks to look at Babs. Letting out a long agitated sigh, “First of all, I’m not going to just drop you off in Uganda just for you to go off the radar again.” Tim was about to protest but she held her hand up, silencing him. “Before anything else is decided on I’m going to look through all of your evidence, then once we see that we can come to a decision on what happens next. Does that sound fair?”

Tim wanted to argue more, force them to relent until they just did what he asked because he was so close . But he held his tongue and gave a curt nod. “Fine, but I’m going to go whether or not you believe me.” Without another word he stalked over until he was sitting next to Marinette.

He watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest, her face soothed over in sleep, and her head was tilted so that it was leaning against her shoulder at an uncomfortable angle. Gently, Tim guided her head until it rested against his chest. He felt her stir slightly, but instantly relaxed when he began to run his fingers up and down her back. Her hair was far too tangled and would definitely need a professional stylist to fix it before he felt comfortable enough running his fingers through it without causing any pain or discomfort.

When he looked up Babs and Jason were gone, the door to the cockpit left slightly ajar. Tim squeezed his eyes shut as he let out a long sigh that rattled his bones. With his free hand he rummaged through his leftmost bandolier and pulled out a small red button. Opening his eyes he stared at the small device, a devious smirk forming on his lips as he pushed the button.

Long live The League of Assassins, and long may it burn.

All he needed to do now was free Bruce. With that finished Tim closed his eyes, letting the gentle weight of Marinette comfort him as he let sleep finally take him over.

END Taglist:

@aespades @adrestar @astrynyx @doll246 @queenz-z @toodaloo-kangaroo @crazylittlemunchkin @seraphichana @miraculous-ninja @dorkus-minimus @mysticsoulgirl @ritacrow-blog @snow-leopard-777 @fidget-eep @sometandomstuff333 @lady-phoenix-of-tardis @shreeing @achaoticmess1 @liquid-luck-00 @buginetye @stainedglassm @prettylittlebutterflie @laurcad123 @iloontjeboontje @heartsong18 @raeuberprinzessin @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks @jennifer-rose123 @moon5608 @corporeal-terrestrial @skitarii-alpha-c6-555 @saltysugarysembei @phantom120 @kking13 @depressed-bitchy-demon @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @iamablinkmarvelarmy @fleursroses @buginetye @ev-cupcake @blackroserelina @rainbowbunny0159 @the-ace-reader @humanoid606 @taewinterbear95 @blueberrygeniejam @alex-rebecca-pearce @neulosfantacyworld

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erseac · 4 days

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Dance Floors and Dragons

Rated E, Kagami/Rose, Juleka/Ivan, Kagami/Mireille, Kagami/Marinette, and background Kagami/almost everyone.

Kagami had never wished she had a stomach bug and was at home throwing up before, but this time it did seem like a compelling alternative. Anything to avoid being here. It was the most frightening spot she had ever been in: A cool party.

Of course she had always known her high-society events, boring but easy to handle as long you memorised all the etiquette. She had also become familiar with the parties Marinette liked to throw, free-flowing things where instead of structure, she could rely on friends. The official Kitty Section album wrap party was neither of these. The special exclusive band-and-friends afterparty even less so.

Kagami knew that it was a big honour to be invited; it was legendary, according to the other people in her university. There were only ever a couple dozen invitees, mostly celebrities and people from the music business. People were only invited if band members allowed it, and they didn’t do so very often. But that didn’t have to mean she’d enjoy it.

It had taken Marinette and her other friends (but mostly Marinette) literally years to convince Kagami to come as Marinette’s plus one. And for a while, Kagami had been looking forward to it. Kagami could do anything with her best friend by her side.

Picking out the outfit earlier today had been particularly fun. Kagami was wearing combat boots, fishnets, a mini-skirt that was just starting to show a hint of butt cheek, a tiny tied crop-top, and just to be cheeky, a crooked red neck tie. Seeing Kagami like that had turned Marinette into a stuttering mess.

Of course Marinette had been even hotter, at least in Kagami’s view, wearing a custom minidress that seemed to be more cut-out than fabric. Marinette had joked that you didn’t need to underwear at this party if you didn’t want to, but looking at her dress, Kagami wasn’t actually sure it was a joke. They were definitely going to turn everyone’s head on the dance floor. And even if not, dancing so close to Marinette… Kagami felt her heart flutter just from the thought.

It had all seemed perfect, right until they had been ready to head out… and Marinette had to run to the bathroom to throw up. Some annoying stomach bug, apparently. Of course Kagami had wanted to stay and care for Marinette, but Marinette had refused to listen to any of it. She had insisted Kagami go out and have fun, and Kagami had been too bewitched by Marinette’s force of personality (and perhaps also her cleavage) to say no.

So now she was at one of the most legendary parties of the year, the one that all her peers dreamed about getting a glimpse of, and she was standing in the corner, very slowly sipping her glass of champagne, wondering when it would be acceptable to go back home.

“Oh, hey, having fun!?”

Kagami turned around to see Rose, chipper as ever, going against the general trend by wearing a frilly pink dress. Rose took one look at her overall demeanour, and drew the appropriate conclusions.

“Standing in the corner like that, you don’t seem very eager to be here, do you?”

Kagami nodded.

“I am not used to this kind of party. I expected Marinette would be here, but, well… On my own, I don’t think I fit here. This may not be my kind of night.”

“Oh yeah, poor Marinette”, said Rose. “But that stuff about not fitting, that’s nonsense. You look great and everybody here likes you. We just need to make it your kind of night! Hey, I know, let’s dance!”

Rose had enough enthusiasm for the two of them, which was just as well, as Kagami was fresh out.

“I don’t know how to dance to this music. I think it’s better if I just-“

“Kagami Tsurugi!”, growled Rose, suddenly right up in Kagami’s face and amazingly angry. “This is my party, and I will not allow you to be miserable! You will have a good time here at this party, and you do not get a say in the matter! Are we clear!?”

Read the rest on Ao3

The main inspiration for this was this shipping overview by @adeadmansbliss. Lots of pairings there that nobody has written yet, and it was a lot of fun filling in these slots!

#miraculous ladybug #marigami #ml fanfic #fanfic

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artzychic27 · 10 months

Text

Just a bunch of out of context SB&IB quotes

Marinette: Quick question. Has Luka shown you their pirate booty yet?

Adrien: *Giggles; blushes* … No!

—

Luka: Now to find us a taxi like a man!… *Pokes out his leg* Yoohoo~! *Several taxis stop by them*

—

Austin A: Trust me, I don't need a weapon to get respect. *lays his bat down on the table*

Austin T: What’s up, you short ass motherfu- *Austin A picks up his bat* Handsome, strong- *Austin A puts his bat down* Stupid, dumbass- *Austin A picks up his bat* All around nice guy.

Austin A: … Okay, maybe you have a point.

—

Mr. Monlataing: *Hits Mr. Damocles over the head with a lunch tray, knocking him out* I'm sorry, Mr. Damocles, but you were acting like such a jerk that even a granola-crunching pacifist like me had to do something about it.

Mr. Damocles: Fair enough.

—

Mr. Damocles: Well! What brings you ladies to this perfectly legitimate school?!

Alyssa: Why… Our precious son, Marcquelle, of course.

Marc: I said, ‘Call me Marc!’

Mr. Damocles: Oh. So you two are-

Marc: My cool lesbian moms. *High fives them as they fist bump each other, then poses* Aw, yeah!

Mr. Damocles: Oh, thank God! You’re just gay!

—

Adrien: Oh no! My leftover Chinese food! It's gone!

Nino: *Eating Chinese food* Dude, if I'd have known, I never would have-

Adrien: And look at that. Someone drew a mustache on my favorite headshot! Don't you people understand!? There's only one explanation! It's the ghost!

Nino: Yeah, uh, a ghost ate your Chinese food. *hides the Chinese food*

Nathaniel: *hides a marker* And drew a mustache on your headshot.

Ivan: And uh, got high on allergy pills and made out with your toothbrush ... Uh, I mean uh, what ghost?

—

Cosette: Austin Armbruster is Monarch! I'll prove it!

Marc: How?

Cosette: Through science! *pulls out a crossbow* If I shoot him in the face and he lives, he’s Monarch.

—

Austin Q: *After Austin T gives him mouth to mouth* What are you doing?!

Austin T: I was saving your life.

Austin Q: Next time let me die!

—

Lacey: Lila! What’s going on with you and Nathaniel?

Lila: Me and Nath? I-

Jean: Lila, honey, it’s obvious Nathan hates your guts. We just wanna know why, you sweet, beautiful gorgeous queen.

Lacey: *Pulls Jean aside* What the hell are you doing?

Jean: I thought we’d play a little “bad cop, fab cop!” *Puts on a boa*

Lacey: I love it!

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb ocs #incorrect quotes #mlb incorrect quotes #random post #the austins #akuma class #science kids

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generalluxun · 6 months

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Fanfic Author 20 Questions

Thanks to @erisluna35 for sending this along! 1. How many works do you have on AO3?

On AO3? Right now 63, soon to be 64(tomorrow probably) and a couple on FF.net

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,020,860 on AO3 plus another ~86K fic I never ported over to AO3, as my 'recent' stuff, starting back in 2021

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Miraculous Ladybug, I did others a long time ago before joining AO3, but that was a long time ago. I've considered a couple others recently too, but nothing yet.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

At The Gala- A Chlonette fic inspired by fanart, and actually the sequel to my #2 by Kudos. This is just a cute series of strange interactions with Chloe from Marinette's PoV, culminating in understanding and discovery on a fated evening.

Slippery slope- Little Chlonette ficlet inspired by a fanart. Very short, it's about how a single unexpected moment can change someone's entire world.

Ever After- A long chapter fic set more than a decade post-canon that looks into the idea that 'Ever After' can be a long time, and that expecting life to be solved at 14 is a recipe for eventual disaster. Yet at the same time life continues to offer new experiences, new possibilities, and new ways to grow. Ships include Adrienette, Chloadrien, and Felinette.

Showing Love- An alternate ending to Queen Wasp, where instead of reuniting Chloé with her horrible mother by highlighting everything horrible about her (seriously, what?) Marinette comes face to face with the reality that a mother really *can* not love a child. Being Marinette she can't let such a thing stand, even if it is Chloé. Marinette&Dupain-Cheng family goodness.

What Do you See?- Adrigami fic that kicks off right in the middle of Kuro Neko. While Adrien is struggling with the pain of giving up Cat Noir, one thing crosses his mind. He can finally give one important person the truth she deserves. After all, he *Was* Cat Noir, not *is*. The two both struggle to navigate the ramifications of this revelation, especially when Plagg shows up once more with the ring. (there's a little bit of eventual Lukanette)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to most, especially any questions or curiosities. I love engagement.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh heck this is so not fair. I am in love with bittersweet ending, and have a couple of doozies.

I can't decide between three.

What Happened- The 'real reason' Chloé Bourgeois's redemption arc failed. What do you di when you do everything right, only to find out your happiness causes the end of the world, in every timeline?

A Modest Proposal- Marinette is happily impatient for Adrien to finally propose to her. Little does she know, a secret long kept is going to come back to haunt her. It's worse than you think.

The Risk Outweighs- A look into someone else's life during the episode 'Risk'. The courage to do anything finally gives Chloé the strength to break from the cycle. But the Ladybugs must set things right, and a few moments of clarity weigh nothing against a lifetime.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, lots with happy endings, though I prefer 'open' endings, so...hmmm

Cafe Noir- has an unambiguously happy ending, but I specifically set out to write a romcom so that feels like cheating.

Dog Daze- probably has the most comprehensively happy ending, Adrien's dad even managed to try to parent. They do go through a lot on the way to the happy ending though.

In Direct Opposition- My latest work, seems to end on a solidly happy note for all involved.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Ever After drew some upset people that expected their OTP to be the main ship. I never tried to deceive anyone, but a few people were just really upset.

I also had this weird thing where someone thought I was someone else, and stalked my comments for a while. That's why I use moderation now.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I've done M rated fics. I'm not sure 'smut' works for them, even if there's lots of sex narratively, it's usually mentioned rather than being detailed. I did one single 'this will be a smut fic' fic. And even that ended up with like, 5K words mostly plot, and about 2 paragraphs of (I think emotional and important) sex.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Nah, I've never had the crossover itch. I generally find each world intriguing enough on their own.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yep! I had someone ask if they could translate one of my fics to Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Talked about it before, but never went through with it. Not against the idea. I do a lot of rubber ducking for my friends though, so some of my ideas can end up in their finished fics.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I'm going ot have to go with adribrina, my goobers. I like exploring all kinds of ships, and these two I threw together on a whim but Oh, they're so comfy! I wrote Puppy Love to see how they would work, and then that evolved into Dog Daze, my Largest work to date. I had *intended* for them to amicably break up and Sabrina to be a wing-woman to Adrien in the canon ship of Adrienette.... but they just did not want to break up. Even if they wouldn't admit they were dating, they were just too *comfy* together. These two make me happy. (Marinette ended up okay though, she's happy!)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

A third fic in my Senti-Sentai AU. 'Worlds Collide'. It was set in 'vague eastern Europe country in the middle of violent conflict' and then that suddenly got too real, too quickly.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Character voice. I write third person limited, and I've been told many times that I do a very good job of writing characters as their canonical selves, just in different situations that bring about different outcomes or changes in them. I consider that a high compliment, because the characters are what I am here for.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Brevity. Even simplistic plots 'enemies to friends road trip' become detailed 'Marinette manipulates Chloé into chasing Adien and Lila across the globe to prevent Lila from wheedling an arranged Marriage out of Gabriel' and then that blossoms into a 98K fic.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I feel like my last of understanding grammar and colloquialisms for another language would have me sounding like bad google translate. Singular words used? Viable.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

SWATKats. My first ever fanfic was a 30K fic about that show.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

They are all my babies! This is so not fair. I've spoken about some of my favorites earlier though, so I'll use this spot to mention some other ones :)

He's Perfect- Gothic Horror Adrienette! It even has a sequel and an entire AU in my head if I can circle back.

The Orphan and the Marionette- Written to feel like one of Grimm's fairy tales. Chlonette(kind of) with a heavy dose of magic and a surprise appearance from Marianne.

There are so many more but I'll plug Dog Daze again, because I to like how it flows and the alternate S5 we get from it. It also inspired a raft of 'post story' one shots, and I have another chapter fic waiting in the wings to continue the AU. There's plenty of stories to tell here.

@taketwoinink Tag, if you would like to play.

#ask #fan fiction #fanfiction #writing #miraculous ladybug #adrienette #adribrina #chlonette #so many ships

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simplyanotherartist · 11 months

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How much salt do you think a salt fic should have before it becomes too unpleasent to read?

Hmm, I think it all comes down to the delivery really. I don't care for salt fics much with they just dump a whole truckload of backstory salt on us- Like a few fics have told how terribly Marinette's been treated, but they explain it all in one or two sittings? Like- okay, yeah, it's terrible that they abused her trust and used her to get free stuff, but could you wait a bit before telling us about the very-detailed 13 times they've physically abused her? It kinda takes away from whatever else you were trying to tell us before.

I get the need and want to just get the backstory over with to show readers just what the characters have been put through, but most of the time, doing that just feels wordy and takes away from good writing.

For instance; in my Mar'inette story, I didn't just tell people right off the bat how horrible Adrien was. I hinted to some of the things he'd done, and presented his actions in flashback chapters(I find it important to limit flashbacks to full sized chapters so that people don't confuse if it's happening at the present when it hops back and forth in the timeline). I took the Adrien salt, and I drew it out over the course story.

Sometimes, it works well with the fic if you put it all into a singular description but most of the times I've seen this, it's kinda turned me off from the fic. "Great! Now I know how horrible these salt characters are; I don't expect anything from them then." If you draw it out longer, then it makes readers more interested to see just how far these characters will go, and let us wonder about redemptions(if you tell me right at the start that they broke Marinette's hand by slamming her locker on it, I'm not going to buy it when it says they looked at her with worry or guilt or possibly wanting to be friends again).

So yeah, I think salt fics are nice, but only when they're written out well. If they squish the salt into a little ball(think of playdough or bread dough) and set it in only a few chapters in giant lumps, it won't look so good. The salt ball needs to be flattened out and spread over the course of the story, you know? I'm not saying the fic has to be centered on the salt, but it should still let it be its own side plot at least, rather than just a character description on peoples personalities and lack of braincells.

#okay not sure if I made much sense there but I tried describing it to the best of my ability #fanfic #archive of our own #salt #salt fic #mlb salt #writing mlb salt #Amiya Lanway

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gibmb · 1 month

Text

In a new skin ch9

Chloe sighed as she let her head fall back against the door to her room. She had returned home later than she had planned, it had been surprisingly fun with Marinette and her friends. She was pretty sure they still didn't trust her, which she couldn't complain about. A few days of being nice with a touch of unhinged bravery does not undo years of being, well, Chloe, but it was nice. Especially the compliments about her art and when she looked at the canvas her smile widened.

She had drawn some more while hanging with them and as she did her rustiness faded. She drew Marinette geeking out about Adrian, Nino and Ayla laughing, Alix smirking that damn smirk of hers. One piece in particular had emerged while concentrating deeply again, though it baffled most of the people around her. She had started imagining how the dog-headed messenger might have looked fighting the sand wraith. She had even added color to it.

She finally pushed off the door and walked to her bed, setting the canvas on the table as she did. Naje and Haje exited her ring, slithering up her arm as she reclined on her bed.

“Well that was an eventful day," Haje said with a hint of annoyance about having to be near a kwami.

"That it was. I was worried you and Tiki were going to start a fight," Chloe responded, teasing them only for them to hiss at her.

"Unlike a kwami, we are divine and ancient. Childish behavior is beneath us," Naje said, which made Chloe snort, recalling how they had barely been able to keep from lunging at Tiki. "But now that you've enjoyed your day of relaxing and dealing with that miraculous wearer, I think we should get you back to training so that the next task isn't such a mess."

"How do you expect me to train this late at night? If I go on patrol I could run into Cat Noir and Ladybug," Chloe said as she placed Naje and Haje on her bed so she could change.

"You needn’t go on patrol to train. You can just train with the previous users."

At that, Chloe paused and looked at them

"How do I do that? Can you contact them or do they have a phone number or something?" she asked.

“Every wearer of the ring has the culmination of their knowledge during their time as the wearer stored within. We can access that knowledge while you sleep and create a dreamscape for you to interact with. Thus you may train with them and benefit from their experience,” Haje explained.

“It won’t leave you as refreshed as normal sleep and any injuries suffered in the dreamscape, while not real, will leave you with the memory of the pain,” Naje cautioned.

“After two days of sleeping, I’m sure I won’t mind being a little tired,” Chloe said as she went back to changing. In short order, she was ready for bed and settled in with Haje and Naje curled up beside her.

Sleep didn’t come as easily as Chloe would have liked. Perhaps the thought of this strange training gave her a bad case of the nerves, but she found herself fidgeting and tossing and turning for some time before she finally closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was standing in the desert. The sudden change left her in a state of shock before she was overwhelmed with awe at how vast the desert was. As she tried to truly take in her surroundings, the desert changed from rolling mounds of sand to a lush forest with what looked like a ruined castle in the distance. Before she could grow accustomed to the forest, it switched to a snowy mountain top with a temple before her. She spun and found that she could look between the different environments, each seamlessly bleeding into the other in a way that didn’t seem jarring.

"Glad to see you here, Chloe." At the sound of Naje’s voice, Chloe turned to look at him only to jump back startled. No longer the size of a normal snake, Naje and Haje were instead a massive beast with scales darker than the blackest night with streaks of golden scales so brilliant it hurt to look at. Their eyes gleamed like brilliant rubies that left Chloe fighting an instinctive urge to run. “I can't tell you how good it feels to be relatively back to normal," he said, slightering past her and coiling while Haje looked on quietly in amusement. "So Chloe, are you ready?"

"Ready to never question people's fear of snakes? Yes, yes I am," Chloe joked. From behind her, there was a laugh and she quickly turned to find a woman dressed in what looked like rags. Her skin was tanned from long years of sun exposure and Chloe would have bet good money she was from Egypt. The woman sat on a mound of sand as she cast a weighing look at Chloe.

"Who-?" Before Chloe could continue, the woman spoke.

"What a shame. From the lowest in the slums who understood the dark truth of life, now the snake resides with a golden spoon that knows little of truth and even less of sacrifice," the woman said sternly, causing Chloe to swallow nervously. "So tell me pale skin, what is your name?"

"It’s Chloe Bourgeois and yo-"

"I'll tell you my name when you've earned it, pale skin. Until then, you're here because you're worthless in a fight and need to learn what it truly means to be a Numinous wielder," the woman continued as she stood up and dusted off the sand from her raggedy clothes.

Chloe’s face flushed with heat that had nothing to do with the desert sun.

"Hey, I know how to fight! I used to use a Miraculous and fight villains all the time before I had Naje and Haje!"

At that, the woman snorted, "That's a shame for Naje and Haje, but I guess if they chose you then there's something worth seeing. Very well pale skin, I'm the first user and I'll only say this once, attack me."

Chloe was at a loss for words, the woman was just saying to attack her? Letting herself become distracted by her thoughts proved to be a grave mistake. The woman leapt at her, causing Chloe's eyes to bulge before a hard roundhouse kick connected with her face. She was sent sliding across the sand and as she picked herself up she saw what looked like blood in the sand as well some teeth, but when Chloe reached up and checked her face it was completely fine.

When she got up and looked at the woman, she was waiting with her arms crossed and frowning.

“I can’t kill you here, only make you wish you were dead,” the woman said as she took up another fighting stance. “Try again.”

Chloe didn’t hesitate this time as she rushed at the woman. She threw a punch only to hit air before the world spun as she was flipped. Chloe blinked as a shadow fell over her before her eyes went wide and she rolled away from a foot slamming down where her head had been.

“What the hell?!” Chloe demanded as she struggled to her feet only to have the woman’s knee slam into her gut. Chloe retched as the air was driven from her and she collapsed to her hands and knees.

“Truly pathetic, but what should I expect from someone who was handed all their skill by a Miraculous?” she said as she paced around Chloe.

“Wh-what?” Chloe struggled to get out as she slowly made it to her feet.

“The Miraculous are a crutch, child. A Numinous grants you strength and powers, but without honing your body, those will only take you so far,” the woman said as she lashed out with a quick punch that Chloe just barely managed to avoid. “Your powers rely on your body’s stamina and as you are, I’m surprised you can last more than ten minutes wearing the holy armor.”

“I did just fine against a Sand Wraith, thank you very much!” Chloe snapped before she felt a wave of nausea sweep over her and her knees wobbled.

“Lie.” The woman spat the word as she watched Chloe falter. “Do not try to deceive me while you wear the ring, girl, especially not here.”

Chloe straightened up and raised her hands hesitantly. In truth, she really didn’t know how to fight but she didn’t want to give the woman the satisfaction of admitting it.

“If you try to use your powers too much, push yourself too far, you’ll burn yourself out,” the woman continued to lecture as she threw a series of punches and kicks at Chloe. Chloe managed to avoid some but most landed with brutal power and the woman continued to talk without a sign of being winded, “It won’t kill you, but you’ll slip into a sleep so deep that you won’t awaken for months, and that’s if no one slits your throat in the meantime.”

"So what? You kick my ass until I can fight?" Chloe shouted back as she blocked a punch that sent her to the ground. She hugged her wrists to her chest, they felt like they had been broken from the impact. She saw more blood in the sand and realized that this woman had indeed been beating the lesson into her.

“We will spare until I deem your skills sufficient, and only then will we move on to weapons and powers,” the woman said as she took a more relaxed stance.

Chloe managed to work up the nerve to look at her wrists, but they were fine, though the memory of pain persisted.

“But what if I get another mission and have to use my powers?” Chloe asked, trying to take her mind off the odd sensation.

“Experience is the greatest teacher, pale skin,” the woman said. “Besides you will have Haje and Naje to continue to instruct you while you are awake. For now though we shall take advantage of another benefit of this place. Here you do not experience time as you do when awake. So," the woman cracked her knuckles loudly, "I can take my time breaking you in."

Chloe groaned as the woman closed the distance between them once again.

***

When Chloe awoke, it was accompanied by the slightest moment of relief until she tried to sit up. Every part of her hurt and she felt like she hadn’t slept in days.

“Haje, Naje,” Chloe called out with a groan.

“Yes?” the snake called out in unison.

“What the fuck?!” Chloe asked weakly as she closed her eyes and tried to push the memory of the ‘training’ from her mind. “That lady was trying to murder me!”

“The First was merely setting her expectations of you,” Haje said.

“She is harsh but fair,” Naje followed up.

“Fucking monster is what she is,” Chloe groaned as she managed to roll onto her stomach and burried her face in her pillow.

Unfortunately, Chloe didn’t have the luxury of staying in bed and licking her figurative wounds. It was time to get ready for school.

Chloe did manage to pull herself together but it was a near thing, and there was something about being achy all over that felt weirdly familiar but she couldn’t place it. She pushed the thought from her mind as she trudged up the steps to school, barely mustering the strength to acknowledge the calls from other students.

“Gee, Chloe, are you sure you’re feeling better?” Sabrina asked as she appeared beside Chloe.

“I’m fine, Sabrina. Just maybe pushed myself too hard yesterday after being in bed for two days,” Chloe half-mumbled.

“Sorry I was busy,” Sabrina said with a quick duck of her head. “I could have made sure you got your rest.”

“It’s fine,” Chloe said, hoping to head off Sabrina’s self-flagellation. “I ran into Marinette and some of the others.”

“That’s…surprising,” Sabrina said after a moment.

“You and Adrien weren’t the only ones I owed an apology to,” Chloe said as she put an arm around Sabrina in a partial hug. Chloe had to bite back a groan as the motion reminded her of all the aches across her body, but the look on Sabrina’s face made it all worth it. They made their way to class and as Chloe was about to take her seat, an arm wrapped around her waist, making her twinge in surprise.

“How heavy were those art supplies? You look like you ran a mile with weights on,” Alix teased as she went from one side of Chloe to the other.

“More like I got my teeth kicked in by someone who takes way too much joy in physical fitness,” Chloe groaned, which garnered an odd look from Sabrina.

“Sounds fun. Why don’t you invite me to your next work out session?” Alix said with a smile.

Chloe felt her cheeks grow warm, especially as Alix’s hand lingered on her waist. A cough from Sabrina broke her from her mental freeze.

“Miss Bustier is coming,” Sabrina said, and Alix’s hand slipped from Chloe’s waist as she hurried to her seat.

Chloe took her seat stiffly, her posture nothing to do with how sore she was all over.

Edited and Co-written by GrayNeko

#chloe bourgeois #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fandom #miraculous fanworks #writing #fanfic #story

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