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thr-333 · 4 years

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Mismatch- Part 5

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

Fine if meeting them didn’t give them a clue maybe this will.

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“So Tim said you have a lot of siblings?” Marion asks Dick as they walk down the hall, he chuckles.

“You could say that, we aren’t all blood, but we’re still family,” He guides them down the stairs, the elevator not being large enough for the whole class.

“Doesn’t matter to us,” Marinette chimes in, “We’re adopted too, we never met our birth parents,”

“Really?”

“Mhm,” Marion hums, “I don’t think Aunt Selina is actually related to Papa either,”

“People always say that we look like her though,” Marinette smiles, “Although they do say the same about Maman,”

“I’m sure you’ll fit right in with us, you’ve got the whole black hair, blue eyes going for you,” Dick jokes, as they reach the end of the stairwell, “On this floor we have some of our publicity team who manage the image for Wayne enterprises and the Wayne family,”

“It’s still kinda rude for him to ignore you,” Alya was clearly unaware of her own hypocrisy. Dick ignores them in turn and carries on.

“Bruce was just surprised, I didn’t want to interrupt,” Lila explains, clearly not having heard any of the conversation between the newly acquainted cousins.

“Hopefully you get some time with them, if the twins don’t hog it all,” Sabrina glare can be felt.

“I’m sure once the shock runs out they’ll have plenty of spare time to catch up,” Lila gloats, “I have known the Waynes a lot longer, the twins are just strangers,”

“You two do seem pretty strange to me,” Dick whispers teasingly, before speaking out to the rest of the group.

“You have no idea,” Marion glances at his satchel carrying two small gods.

“-I’ll talk to them,” Kim speaks up, speeding up to reach the twins. Lila having said something in the five seconds they weren’t paying attention that caused him to take action.

He walks over to them, to his credit only hesitating slightly under Kagami’s glare.

“Hey, you should know Lila’s pretty upset you didn’t let Bruce say hello,” Kim whispers to him, even though everyone could hear. Marion stops and turns to him.

“Kim, if Bruce wanted to say hello he would have,” Not that Bruce would have, “In case you didn’t notice we were talking with Dick most the time,”

“I just think you should back off, Lila doesn’t get to see the Waynes often,” Kim frowns, glancing back at Lila who was playing her part, looking distraught.

Marion tries not to smirk, thinking; ‘Clearly not as she can’t recognise one right in front of her’

“Kim you know we don’t get to see our Aunt often,” Marion scolds, Kim flinches probably at reminder they were childhood friends, “Mr Wayne can invite whoever he wants, he could be literally anyone, I don’t care, I just want to spend time with my Aunt,”

Marion leaves the shocked Kim behind, he rejoins his sister and friends.

“The idiot doesn't talk to you for weeks but comes running the second Lila beckons, ridiculous,” Chloe is glaring back at the boy who is talking to Lila now, as her frown grows.

“Maybe he’s telling her to back off?” Marinette rubs comforting circles on Marion’s shoulder.

“I doubt it, he’s pissed at me for some reason,” Marion shrugs, Marinette takes the hint and drops her hand with one last pat.

“Probably Lila related,” Adrien says sadly, as Kim rubs his head sheepishly with a quiet laugh.

“Can’t completely blame her,” Marion speaks the most unlikely words, “You guys know how we are with plans,”

“A true friend would not betray you for a few cancellations,” Kagami fumes, as they walk through an office area with a view looking down at the street below, “Adrien and I also have similar situations,”

“That’s right, I’m the only one in this group with any sense of punctuality,” Chloe boasts teasingly, Dick doesn’t interrupt them.

“You were once an hour late for a picnic cause you were doing your hair,” Marion snickers.

“Did you see my hair that day?” Chloe gestures to her hair, “Worth it,”

“It was-”

Kagami was cut off by the loud shattering of glass. Everyone ducked as glass spilled everywhere, shouting or screaming. Marion drops into a defensive stance, Marinette, Kagami, Chloe and even Dick doing the same. Marion watches as a figure lands on a desk with a grunt, an employee hiding underneath it. Marion's eyes go wide as he watches Red Hood- the Red Hood trying to push himself up. His totally-not-fanboying is cut off when a villain he doesn't recognise jumps through the broken window. Marion watches as the villain takes slow purposeful strides towards Red Hood, glass crunching underneath his boots. Marion ignores Dick as he tries to herd the class out of the room, most employees already making their way to the emergency exits. Minus the one who was trapped underneath Red Hood.

“Well Hood, seems I’ve got you,” The villain looms over him, taking aim.

Marion sprints into action, using his momentum to tackle the villain. Sending him off balance, bullet hitting the opposite wall. First order of business; the gun.

“What the-get off,” The villain aims the gun at Marion, the angle making it hard as Marion is standing on the opposite side.

As he turns Marion holds on tighter lifting his feet off the ground. Putting the villain off balance again and keeping Marion out of reach. Marion uses the hesitation to slip behind him, vaulting onto the villains shoulders. He wraps his legs around the villains neck

“You little-” Both arms come up out of instinct to get him off.

Marion grabs the arm with the gun, holding it with both of his. Pointing the gun up to the ceiling. A punch connects with his side, the impact muted by the bullet proof armour he wears underneath. Marion looks behind them, judging if the space is big enough to pull him down without hitting the desks. He also looks further back, making sure no one would be in the path of gunfire. Deeming that both are clear he leans back, making the villain shout as he loses balance, sending them both down. Marion falls as safely as possible in his position.

They hit the ground with a grunt. The villain loses all the air in his lungs because of the impact. Marion doesn’t risk losing his grip on the villain to disarm him. He keeps his hold as steady as possible as the villain starts to struggle. The punches to his side start to give a dull ache, the angel making the blows less powerful at least. Great, this was usually the part where Ladybug would swoop in. In light of any magical Ladybugs marion squeezes his legs tighter, trying to make the villain pass out. The villain starts firing his gun blindly, Marion flinches at the sound, far too close to his ear. Making him realise just how close the gun was to his head, he closes his eyes and turns away instinctually. He braces for another blow but it doesn't come, then the shooting stops.

“Fuck,” The villian shouts, Marion opens his eyes turning his head towards the gun. He sees the heel of a boot pressing down into the villain's wrist. The grip on the gun goes lax and the boot kicks it away.

Marion follows the leg up to see Red Hood standing over them. The angle making him seem much larger, casting a shadow over Marion. The expressionless mask staring right down at him. Marion gulped, yeah that might be slightly intimidating

“Sorry,” Red Hood grunts, pulling the villains arm at an unnatural angel making him yelp.“Getting thrown through a window ain't fun,”

“Tell me about it,” Marion knows exactly how that feels, as Chat Noir, and this guy is just a human. How quickly did he get back up? It couldn't have been over a minute in the scheme of things. And oh wow he was still standing over him and Marion was having a hard time keeping his eyes on his face or rather helmet.

“I think he’s out,” Red Hood says with a slightly amused tone.

Marion jolts, not having even noticed how the villain stopped struggling. He relaxes his grip cautiously, ready to hold back on if he starts moving.

“Pass me that arm,” Red Hood says, taking out a pair handcuffs snapping them around the wrist he was already holding.

Marion just keeps staring until Red Hood starts to just reach down. He startles, thrusting the limp arm into his hand and scrambling up, trying not to blush. Red hood secures the villains wrists before dropping them. He steps to the side and pushes the villain out of the way.

“Are you ok?” Red Hood crouches down to ask, Marion stares dumbly, “What's your name? Where are you?”

“.... Marion…. Wayne Tower….” Marion falters a little(a lot) star struck, before realising why he’s asking, “I don’t have a concussion! I’m fine really!”

Red Hood nods, standing back up. He reaches out an arm to help Marion up. Marion wants to take his hand, he really does, but his arms don’t seem to be moving. He’d probably just trip over anyway. Red Hood lets his arm drop once its clear Marion won’t be responding anytime soon. Instead he reaches down and throws the unconscious villain over his shoulder.

“I’m sure you’re going to get plenty of lectures on how stupid that was,” Marion cringes at the harsh tone “So… thanks…. that was really brave,”

Marion is left to internally combust as Red Hood swings out the window with a grappling hook.

“Marion! Mari! Are you ok,” Marinette rushes to him, followed by the rest of the class.

“What just happened?” Marion is still staring at the spot Red Hood disappeared from.

“Dude, you took that guy down in seconds!” Nino exclaims, Marion fixes his glasses only the magic of the miraculous keeping them on.

“Huh, it felt longer,” Marion turns to his class to see everyone, minus Lila, looking down at him with concern.

“We need to get you checked out,” Dick helps him stand,“There's a medical bay in Wayne tower, lets go,”

Marion just nods, slowly coming to himself to realise he was very much not alright. He clutched his side that ached, armour shielding the majority of the damage didn’t mean it wasn’t hurting. His back also hurt from landing on the ground, luckily Marinette had reinforced his jacket so he knew it wasn't cut up. Apparently he had gotten away with no cuts, as he had kept his head off the ground and was wearing reinforced gloves. His ears were ringing from the gunshots, in hindsight, that hold wasn’t the best idea, but they rarely had to deal with actual guns so he was left unprepared.

They reach the medical bay, Dick trying to get his classmates and teacher to calm down the whole way. Marion didn’t answer any of their questions, knowing he had to consider his answers carefully. He made sure to pass Marinette his baton, for her to hide in her backpack. In the medical bay there were a few employees who were part of the attack getting their cuts disinfected. Marion gets a thank you from an employee who he recognises as the one trapped under the desk. Marion nods in response, being guided to a seperate room only Marinette was allowed into.

The nurse checks him over, revealing a growing bruise on his side. He seems surprised it's not worse after Marinette explains what happened, luckily he doesn’t notice anything amiss about his clothes. He also checks his back, telling him it should be fine in a day or two and if it’s not, to see a professional. Marion knows that even if something is wrong his increased healing ability from his time as the black cat would set it right.

“The ringing should wear off in a few days,” Marion knows it will stop by the end of the day, “It’s a natural symptom after loud noises,”

Marion nods and the nurse leaves him to rest, letting Marinette watch over him.

“That was reckless,” Marinette states simply, as soon as the door closes.

“Can we save the lecture for later?” He rolls over on the bed the nurse insisted he rest on.

“Marinette is right,” Tikki flies out of her purse, followed by Kaalki and Plagg. Plagg doesn't say anything just comes to sit on Marion’s chest. “Your whole class was watching,”

“I know! I just wasn't thinking!” Marion pats Plagg's head, silently telling him he’s alright.

“I don’t know,” Marinette leans back and smirks, “I think you were thinking of one thing in particular,”

“No, go back to the lecture,” Marion buries his face in the pillow.

“So how was meeting him? You seemed a little flustered,” Marinette leans her elbows on her knees and holds her face.

“Ugh, I was totally embarrassing, wasn’t I?” Marion fixes her with pleading eyes.

“Oh, definitely, you also completely ignored him trying to help you," Marion screams into the pillow,

“This seems to be an effective punishment,” Kaalki muses, zipping away with the rest of the Kwamis when someone knocks on the door.

“Come in,” Marinette calls, as Marion sits up.

“Marion Cheng-Dupain, explain yourself!” Aunt Selina bursts through the door.

“Auntie! Who I love so much, so good to see you, did I tell you that you look lovely today,” Marion shifts back as she approaches.

“Nice try, why did I get a call from Dick telling me you were in the medical wing?” She stops to stand in front of him, hands on hips.

“I assume it’s because of the villain attack,” Marion glances at the door to see Dick peek in before closing it, “But I’m not sure,”

“A villain attacked you!” Selina bellows, Marion realises its probably a good thing he can't give her their name.

“Well no. The villain attacked Red Hood, I attacked the villain before he could attack Red Hood,” Marion rambles making gestures to explain the process. Marinette gives him a flat look.

“So you thought attacking a villain unarmed was a better idea then running away?” Their Aunt looks horrified through her anger.

“Yes that would be the gist of it,” Marion agrees, Marinette face palms.

“Don’t worry I’ve already given him a lecture,” Marinette covers and Marion knows he owes her one.

“What am I going to do with you?” Their Aunt sighs rubbing her face.

“Give me a hug and ask if I'm alright?” She rolls her eyes knowing exactly what he’s trying to do, but sits down next to him anyway.

“Come here you two,” Marinette comes and sits next to her and she pulls them both in for a hug, “You’re not allowed to scare me like that ever again,”

“Ever?-ouch,” Marion yelps as Selina pinches his cheek playfully.

“You’re meant to say ‘sorry I won’t do it again’ and then be sneakier about it next time,” She scolds, as Marion rubs his cheek.

“I promise next time I decide to impulsively fight a villain you won’t find out about it,” Marion swears, making their aunt roll her eyes.

“You’re a brat,” She ruffles his hair, not that it wasn't already messy.

“I get it from you,” Marion grins, Selina sighs.

”... yes you do,” She gives him a sad little smile and they fall into a familiar silence.

This was something their Aunt did often, randomly becoming solemn and closing off for a little bit.

“Marion, Marinette are you ok?” Madame Bustier pokes her head through the door.

“Yeah, nurse said I’m fine, just a few bruises,” Marion sees her relief, "Did you call our parents?"

"Yes I called yours first, I told them you were being looked at," Madame Bustier explains, "You should call them soon,"

"We will," Marinette promises, neither looking forward to that conversation.

“Alright then, are you free to go?” Madame Bustier asks, “The rest of the tours been cancelled and the class is ready to leave,”

“I’ll take them,” Selina steps in, hugging them tighter “I’ll drop them off at the hotel later,”

“Alright then, don’t stay out too late” Madame Bustier gives them a smile, disappearing behind the door.

“She isn’t even going to ask where we’re going,” Their Aunt huffs, glaring at the door.

“Aren’t we going to dinner?” Marion asks, Marinette nodding.

“I was planning on just letting you rest without your classmates bothering you,” Their Aunt admits

“I’m fine, I want to go to dinner," Marion receives an unconvinced look from their Aunt.

"Please,” They chorus using their twin powers, that breaks her.

“Fine, fine," She relents, ruffling his hair again, Marinette's hat sparing her, "But Bruce probably needs some time to sort everything out,”

“Already handled,” Bruce walks through the door right on cue, “I must apologise for this happening to you both in my building,”

“Don’t worry about it, we’re fine,” Marinette answers for him, Marion getting tired of repeating himself.

“I watched the security footage," Bruce tells them, standing at the bed.

'right that exists' Marion thinks, 'I can practically fell Marinette scheming how to steal it', if only to immortalise his pain.

"Where did you learn to fight?” Bruce inquires, neither missing the subtle glance to Selina.

“Um, we taught ourselves, did some self defence classes,” Marinette answers, both feeling their Aunt relax against them

“Plus Aunt Selina has trained us a bit since we were kids,” Marion adds, with a teasing smile.

“Has she,” Bruce states, looking at his fiance.

“You little snitch,” Selina mocks anger, ruffling his hair with both hands now in retaliation, Marion laughs.

“If you aren’t up for dinner we can postpone to a later date,” Bruce tells him, Marion swears he can see a slight smile.

“No, no, I’m perfectly fine, I’d love to come,” Marion tries to push his Aunt away.

“If that's the case, we can go to the manor right now,” Bruce offers, the twins nod, “Just a minute, Selina?”

Selina leaves Marion's hair alone and follows Bruce out the room. Marion starts to go over the events of the last hour in his mind. Coming to a horrible realisation.

“Wait a minute… did Red Hood see me wearing his outfit!” Marion turns to Marinette.

“Oh come on, like he recognises it,” She says through her laughter.

‘He was wearing my MDC outfit’ Jason thinks excitedly to himself, having dropped the criminal off to the police.

‘He seemed scared so he probably isn’t a fan, maybe he just likes MDC’ Jason's thoughts sour, back at his shared safe house with Roy.

His phone rings. Jason is about to ignore it when he sees Alfred's name on the caller Id.

“Hello?”

“Master Jason I would like to invite you to dinner tonight,” Alfred speaks from the phone, as Jason paces around the apartment.

“What's the occasion?” Jason asks, Roy glances up from whatever he's making on the couch.

“Miss Selina’s niece and nephew are in town and it would be nice for them to meet the family,” Jason snorts.

'Family huh?' he doesn't dare say to Alfred.

“I believe you already met Marion today at Wayne Tower,” Jason pauses, recognising the name as the boy gave him when he was checking for a concussion.

“He’s Cat Woman’s nephew?” Jason whispers into the phone.

‘Makes sense his movements did seem similar to hers,’ Jason wonders if she properly trained them.

“Yes, although I doubt neither he nor Marinette are aware,” If Alfred was saying that it was probably true.

“Alright fine,” Jason agrees, drawing Roy's attention again.

“Very good Master Jason, I will see you this evening,"

"Bye," Jason hangs up shortly.

“You’re actually going to dinner?" Roy knows his relationship with the rest of the Bat's is testy at best, plus he broke Bruce's window today.

“Remember the civilian I told you about?” Jason plops down onto the couch next to him.

“The one who saved your butt? The one you haven't stopped talking about? The one who's kinda cute? nope,” Roy pops the 'p' turning back to his newest gadget.

“He’s going to be there,” Jason ignores Roy's taunting.

“Why?” Roy keeps fiddling with a gear.

“Apparently he’s Cat Woman's nephew,”

“What!" Roy drops the gadget, cursing as pieces scatter everywhere.

“I want to check on him, he seemed really out of it,” Jason ignores Roy's outburst.

“Wait so does that make you two like... adopted cousins in law or something?” Jason chuckles without any humour.

“In case you haven't noticed I haven't been Bruce's son for a long time,”

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xhanisai · 5 years

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AU where Adrien is darker and has less morals

- Similar to how things are in canon but the show would be rated r15 cos of heavy violence >:D - Basically Adrien looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you. Marinette looks like a cinnamon roll and is a cinnamon roll. - During the umbrella scene in Origins, Adrien works out that Marinette is Ladybug. He keeps quiet about it though to respect her privacy and will wait till she's ready to share on her own terms. - Marinette is unaware that Adrien and Chat Noir are the same person whilst Adrien is oblivious to her humongous crush on him. He tries to subtly win her over both as Adrien and as Chat, resulting in Blushinette or Sassinette. - Whenever an Akuma manages to get a hit on Ladybug or any of Chat's friends, he doesn't hesitate to pummel them down vigorously. - Ladybug always has to scold him for being too harsh on the Akumas, constantly reminding him that there's an innocent victim underneath being used as a puppet. - Imagine a scenario: "Goodness Chaton! Just because they gave me a black eye doesn't mean you can go ahead and break their arm or toss them off the Eiffel Tower! Only God would know what would happen if I were to bleed from an itty bitty scratch," "Then that would be the day we find out what Cataclysm does to a person, M'Lady," "...N-Nice joke Chat." "I wasn't joking Ladybug." - Since he already knows, Chat isn't insistent on knowing her identity or asking if they could reveal themselves to each other. - This mad lad is very protective over Marinette in school in his own way. He's infamously known for having eyes that would "burn your soul" if you get on his wrong side - He is sarcastic and sharp with Chloe, especially when he finds out that she made Marinette's school life a nightmare before he and Alya joined. In fact his mumbled threats have Chloe shit scared to come near him or Mari. - Chloe does try to improve as a person but our lovely trio: Alya, Adrien and Nino repels Chloe from coming near Marinette. Our Asian girl is blissfully unaware of this set up, too busy thinking about tonight's patrol with Chat. - Though, Adrien can be really sweet and selfless. When Nino admits that he's crushing on Marinette too despite knowing Adrien is aiming for her, Adrien encourages him to go for her. It killed him inside but Adrien thought that if he can't make Marinette happy, at least she'd be in great hands with Nino (Animan episode). Thankfully, Alya and Nino gets locked in a cage, bonds, and BOOM we have Djwifi~ - Chat Noir's solo patrols is when the beast wakes up. The good people of Paris may see him and Ladybug as a comforting presence but the bad, evil people know how brutal Chat can be. - Chat has broken limbs belonging to thieves, shattered ribs belonging to abusive people, left killers in a near death state. - Adrien feels bad enough that Ladybug is unaware of his actions during the night and the last thing he wants to do is shed unnecessary blood, scaring the heroine. - Plagg fully supports Adrien's actions as he's chaotic neutral "Listen kid, this is why the power of Destruction, us, serve as a counterpart to the power of Creation. We exist to show that mercy is a luxury and the consequences that befalls on the people that take advantage of kindness. Ladybug may turn the other cheek and forgive; we fight fire with with fire. We will take away life if necessary. So don't feel guilty at all." "Thanks Plagg...I just want to keep Paris...and my Marinette safe no matter what. I'd do anything. Everything." - (See the parallels between Adrien and Gabriel here~? ;D) - Hawkmoth/Gabriel is very intimidated by Chat Noir and Adrien also managed to scare him a few times. - When Ladybug contacted Chat Noir to protect Marinette whilst she plays as bait and goes on the date with Evillustrator, he cataclysmed Chloe's balcony to dust in rage for her recklessness. - During Horrificator, Chloe didn't interrupt the kiss between Marinette and Adrien; she stood there gawking. Adrien was a smitten kitten, full on kissed Marinette that Nino and Alya had to shout their names so that they pulled apart. - "Girl, you're one of the most smartest people out there yet you can't grasp the fact that Mini Agreste is head over heels for you???" "Alya-aaa! You're just saying that to make me feel hopeful..." "He. Made. Out. With. You. For. Ages. On. That. Film. We. Did." "Cos it was in the script!" "There was tongue!" "He was making it realistic?" "MON DIEU MARINETTE DUPAIN CHENG! HE WAS LIKE A SATISFIED CAT THAT GOT THE CREAM AFTER THAT DAMMIT!" - Oblivious Marinette is best Marinette. - During the Dark Cupid/Dislocoeur event, after getting hit by an arrow, Chat successfully cataclysmed Ladybug's mask. She pulls him in for a kiss to not only break the spell but also to hide her face. - When Chat regains consciousness, Ladybug found a plastic bag conveniently blowing past, puts it over her head to hide her identity. - The rest of the event goes as canon except Marinette had a plastic bag on her head this whole time. - Tikki finds out that Adrien is both Chat Noir and that he has known Ladybug's identity from the start. She finds that it makes sense with how extra protective he is over her civilian identity and thanks Adrien for keeping Marinette safe at all times as well as being a worthy partner. - A secret group of criminals that are against the heroes, plot the downfall of Ladybug and Chat Noir together. - Chat Noir, having underground links and connections from his feats, catches wind of this. - He's too late and Ladybug gets shot by a special bullet straight after an akuma attack, right in the chest. - Chat Noir cataclysms every single criminal that was part of the organisation into rotting corpses in pure rage. Hawkmoth tries to akumatise him but Chat cataclysms the butterfly too into dust. - Marinette luckily survives thanks to the hospital receiving her so quickly. She was born with Dextrocardia with Situs Inversus (which means that her heart is on the right side rather than the left). If her heart was in the normal position, she would have died. - Adrien doesn't leave her side during the day and Chat Noir during the night. Marinette has no recollection of the incident she got shot. - When Lila comes along, Adrien knew she was trouble and a liar from the start. He had the urge to cataclysm the whole school as they bought into Lila's lies without any questioning. Plagg almost encouraged him. - Adrien took the opportunity to mess with Lila. "I am Volpina. A hero much, much better and stronger than Ladybug. This is my miraculous," "Hehe...Lila, Lila, oh Lila... showing me your precious miraculous is a huge mistake. If you don't want a first hand view of a fox getting skinned alive, you will listen to I, Hawkmoth, and hand over your miraculous to me." - Lila literally runs off, scared shitless, shouting that she was joking and that Volpina doesn't exist. - Marinette overhears everything and has a crisis. "OH NO TIKKI WHAT DO I DO!? THE LOVE OF MY LIFE IS THE ENEMY OF PARIS AND ICANTFIGHTHIMWHAAAAT!?" - It takes Tikki 15 minutes to calm Marinette down and promise that Adrien isn't Hawkmoth. Said kwami swears internally to teach both Plagg and Adrien a lesson for riling Mari up to this level. - Adrien overhears Marinette's freakout cos he's literally 6 feet away and both he and Plagg are wearing shit eating grins. "Ah, so the stammering and shyness makes sense now. Love of her life hmmm? I love the sound of that~" "Keep your whiskers on kitten and run before Tikki throttles me for letting you go too far with that joke!" "Aww... but I wanna ask Marinette for a little kiss," "YOU WILL CAUSE THE LITTLE BUG TO COMBUST AND DIE AND BOOM PARIS IS A GONER!"

My artworks for this AU:

(x) - Doodles

(x) - Horrificator kiss

(x) - Mini Comic

#my aus #dark adrien au #i stg this is the fourth time i'm trying to upload it i think tumblr just hates mobile #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #ladybug #chat noir #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #marichat #ladynoir #ladrien #please tumblr just post this i fcukcing can't even anymore #ml #mlb #saved this on drafts on mobile and i can't view them like jfc #this also gives me dark sonic x amy vibes huehueuhe

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quickspinner · 4 years

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Second Chance - Ch 2 Second Chance at a First Date

“Luka, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go,” Marinette pouted when the chauffeur helped her into the car next to him. “I asked you out, I should have planned the date.”

“I know,” he grinned. “But this way we have a chance of keeping at least this one date out of the tabloids.”

“I hardly ever see you in the tabloids,” Marinette remarked. “Why is that?”

Luka chuckled. “One of my friends from lycée works for a legitimate entertainment magazine, so I make sure all the news goes to him first and that heads off some of it, but honestly, for a rock star, I’m boring. Juleka and I wanted to retain as much control as possible over our brand, so I work a lot. I don’t drink or party, I don’t date all that much. I’m not really hard to find because I eat at the same places and work out at the same gym every day, so mostly they show up and take a few invasive pictures and then get bored and leave. I don’t get mobbed at the door everywhere I go unless there’s an album release or something big like that. The last time the tabloids really cared about me was when I was dating Clara.”

Marinette gasped. “That’s right, I forgot you dated Clara Nightingale!”

Luka ran a self-conscious hand through his hair. “Yeah, I can’t actually believe I had to guts to hit on her in the first place, but we were on the same tour and she’s so sweet, I’d developed this massive crush on her, and when you’ve been up for thirty-seven hours straight a lot of stupid things get said.” He blushed a bit at the memory, putting a hand to his forehead. “Man, I was so awkward, but she was really nice about it. She was even sweet when she dumped me, although I think we had both realized by then that neither of us were invested enough in the relationship to overcome the challenges once the tour was over. It’s bad enough trying to date with my schedule but you add hers into the mix and it was—” He shook his head. “We parted on good terms and we still keep in touch when we’re both in town, despite what the gossip rags tried to make it. When I didn’t spiral into drunken despair, they moved on pretty quick. Way more profitable to follow someone like Jagged who makes a scene everywhere he goes, or someone like XY that people love to hate.”

“How inconsiderate of you not to go on a bender and be found in a ditch on the side of the road,” Marinette giggled.

“Very. I’m terrible for magazine sales.” Luka took her hand. “Anyway, I figured if we used the car service and went to a restaurant with a covered entrance we’d squeak by without ending up in the papers. I can’t guarantee that, though.”

“I figured,” Marinette shrugged. “I kinda got used to it while I was with Adrien. I’ll get used to it again if I have to.”

There were thrilling implications there he didn’t want to think about too hard just yet. “You look beautiful. Is that one of yours?”

“Thank you. It’s actually not,” Marinette admitted, looking down at her dress. “One of my friends made it for me a few months ago as part of a trade. It’s lovely, though, isn’t it? He did a great job. He’s going to be huge once his line debuts next summer, I’m sure of it.”

Luka smiled. “And when does your line debut?”

“Oh,” Marinette sighed, and made a face. “That’s kind of the hard thing about coming off of this internship. I’ve had two years where everything was sort of laid out and planned for me, and now I have to figure out what the next step is on my own. Although before even that, I have to put together a mini show and presentation for the awards committee to demonstrate what I’ve taken away from the experience. There will be a lot of really important people in the industry, I’m hoping to make an impression and see what opportunities develop from there.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is,” Marinette shrugged, “But it’s worth it, and I’m certainly not lacking for inspiration material. I’ll get it done.”

“And you still made time to go out with me.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “I’m flattered.”

Marinette smiled at him. “Prioritizing is definitely something I’ve gotten better at while I was away.” She laced her fingers through his and darted a glance up through her lashes that hit him like a punch to the gut. “I missed you a lot while I was gone, Luka. I’m not about to miss you while we’re both right here.”

“Well,” he said, hoping his sudden inability to breathe wasn’t too obvious, “We’re in total agreement on that one.”

Luka was relieved that he managed to make it to their table without tripping over himself (Marinette wasn’t so lucky, but that was normal for her, and he was there to catch her). He rubbed his hand on his knee as he sat down, reassuring himself that he was in fact wearing pants, since he was getting increasingly worried he might be dreaming.

Except if he were, wouldn’t he be dreaming about the sweet, stuttering, blushing, beautiful mess he remembered? Not this confident, flirty, undeniably hot woman.

He was in so much trouble.

“Thanks for taking me out, Luka,” Marinette said once they were settled. “Honestly I didn’t even know if you would want to see me after all this time, and...everything.” Marinette’s cheeks reddened, and Luka found himself relaxing at the familiar flush. “I probably owe you an apology for everything that happened back then.”

Luka shook his head. “You didn’t hurt me on purpose. We were all young, you were in love. I knew it; I think everyone did but Adrien.”

Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands. “I’m still sorry. I could have handled it better. I could have handled you better. Sometimes I want to die when I think about how I was back then.”

“Well, we all have some memories like that,” Luka chuckled. “I don’t hold any of it against you. How is Adrien?”

“He’s doing well. Things were hard for him for a while, especially right after we broke up, but he’s in a better place now. He...I don’t want to say too much or speak out of turn, but he’s had some long-standing issues and he’s finally seeing someone about them, and he’s made a lot of progress.”

“That’s good to hear, I’m glad he’s getting some help.” Luka glanced away. “The way he grew up would have messed up anybody. But I’m sorry it took losing you to make him realize he needed it.”

Marinette shrugged, and her smile was crooked. “I’d really rather not get into it.”

Luka winced. “Of course, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

Marinette shook her head. “It was messy for a while, but we’re both in good places now, both individually and in our friendship, so let’s just leave it at that.”

“Right,” Luka agreed. “So tell me more about this presentation you have to do, it sounds interesting.”

“In a little bit,” Marinette smiled, leaning on the table towards him. “We talked so much about me last time, I want to hear more about you. Is being a rock star everything you dreamed it would be?”

“Yes and no,” Luka admitted. “It’s awesome, don’t get me wrong, and it blows me away how many people want to hear my music, but—hang on, let me think about how to say this right.” He frowned as he considered his words. “It’s great bringing my music to more people,” he said slowly. “I don’t regret anything and I’m so grateful. But…”

“Take your time,” Marinette encouraged, putting her hand over his on the table, and he flashed her a grateful smile.

“I miss the deeper connections, I guess. I miss looking in someone’s eyes and playing something that’s meaningful for just that person, or for just the two of us.”

“Like the day we met,” Marinette agreed softly, and he nodded, smiling fondly at her.

“I don’t get to do that often any more, and I miss that.”

“Can I ask you something?” Marinette said, cheeks tinting pink again. “That song you wrote the first year you hit it big…”

Luka didn’t even need her to finish. The whole album had been about moving on, letting go, and several of the singles had hit big, but he knew exactly which song she meant. “It was about you, yeah. I hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable.”

“I cried when I heard it,” she admitted. “To this day, it’s the only one of your songs I can’t listen to.”

“I’m sorry. I kind of hoped you wouldn’t figure it out, but I should have known you would.”

Marinette shook her head. “Don’t be. Clearly it was something you needed to write, and I think it was something I needed to hear.”

Luka smiled. “So you listen to my music, huh?”

“Of course I do,” she exclaimed. “I have every album you’ve released, physical and digital copies.”

“You’d do that even if you didn’t like it,” he teased, though he was touched.

“That’s true. But I do like it,” she leaned in, and the fingers covering his hand brushed over his knuckles in slow strokes. “I like the music, and I like the man who makes it.”

“Careful, angel,” he told her, voice deepening slightly as thrills danced through him from her touch. “You’ll make me blush.”

“Luka, that voice is dangerous,” she laughed breathlessly, cheeks a bright pink.

“Mmm, so I’ve been told,” he grinned slyly, pleased to find he affected her. She’d had him off balance since he’d laid eyes on her at the concert. “I think there was even a magazine vote about it once. But I think your eyes are what’s dangerous. I could get lost in them forever.”

Once upon a time Marinette would have combusted on the spot, sputtering and stammering until she literally fell over. Tonight Marinette just blinked those beautiful eyes and asked softly, “Would that be so bad?”

Luka moved his hand to thread his fingers through hers. She remained solid in his grip. Still not a dream. “It sounds like heaven to me.”

***

Luka was feeling a little thunderstruck as he walked Marinette back up to Alya’s apartment, where she was staying for the time being. On the one hand, he’d been burned badly by Marinette once before, whether she’d intended to or not, and if she’d been fire then, she was something infinitely more dangerous now. On the other hand, she’d made her interest in him clear, and he wanted very much to explore what they could be together. The chemistry between them was as strong as it had always been, and just the way she’d been looking at him tonight was enough to make him feel weak. Add in the flirty banter and soft touches and he was perilously close to melting at her feet.

The old saying about things that seem too good to be true was in his mind as she turned to face him outside the apartment door. Luka flattened one hand against the door and leaned in, keeping his hand in his coat pocket. Marinette raised her face to meet him and he pressed his mouth to hers softly. He felt her fingers tangle in the front of his shirt to pull him closer. He took her hands and detached them gently.

“Next time,” he said softly into the space between them, and then he had to clear his throat. “Can there be a next time, Marinette?”

“I’d like that,” she said, and then, more hesitantly, “You don’t have to hold back so much, you know. I’m not delicate.”

He took her hand in his and flattened her palm over his heart so she could feel how it pounded in his chest. “I know that, but right now, I am. My life already goes so fast I feel like I can hardly keep up. I’d really like to take things slow between us, if that’s okay.”

The smile she gave him was slow and soft. “Definitely.”

“And part of it is that…” he paused, thinking over his words. “Sorry, it’s just I don’t want to say this wrong.”

“Take your time.”

“I still have a lot of past Marinette in my head,” he said, running his thumb along her cheekbone. “The girl I was in love with all through lycée.” Her breath caught and he gave her a moment to absorb that as he considered his next words. “I want us to get to know each other again, if that makes sense. I don’t want to be blinded to who you are now by a bunch of memories and unresolved feelings. I want be sure I’m really seeing you, and I want to make sure you’re really seeing me too. So...can we start like strangers?” He huffed in frustration. “No, that’s not what I mean, exactly…”

“It’s okay, I think I understand, and you’re right.” Marinette curled her hand lightly around his wrist. “I know I probably put you through a lot back then and I’m not trying to rush you into anything.”

“Marinette,” Luka said gently, “If we’re going to have anything in the here and now, you need to let that go.” He smiled. “I was never angry with you, and you don’t owe me anything. Clean slate, okay?” He bit his lip and looked away. “I’m not asking you for anything, but for my own peace of mind, I want you to know that I won’t be seeing anyone else, casually or otherwise, until we figure out what we want us to be.” He gave a lopsided grin. “I know that there are all these preconceptions that people have about rock stars, but I have to be honest, I’m not very good at casual anyway. Just not my thing, you know?”

“I wondered,” Marinette admitted. “It didn’t seem like you, but it’s like you said, about rock stars and you always look really hot on stage and—“ she buried her face in her hands. “And why haven’t you stopped me yet, oh my God…”

Luka lost his battle against laughter and he pulled her to him, hugging her even as she punched his arm. “Ow, you’re strong,” he laughed, squeezing her tight.

“So are you, that was like punching a wall,” she said, her tone grumpy, but she slid her fingers down his arm with appreciation, leaving goosebumps in her wake even through his dress shirt.

“My personal trainer thanks you for the compliment,” Luka grinned, and then he sighed, loosening his arms and taking half a step back. “I’m supposed to be saying good night here before I get carried away.”

Marinette slid her arms up around his neck, and the smirk she gave him nearly killed him on the spot. “It wouldn’t hurt to get a little carried away, would it?”

Resistance crumbling, Luka let her pull him down into another kiss, fuller and deeper than before, taking a moment to really savor the feel and the taste of her and the way she moved against him, and then he pulled back and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, Marinette. I can’t wait to see you again. I’ll call?”

“You better.”

***

Juleka was sitting on his couch when he got home with his guitar in her lap, playing Seven Year Ache at half tempo with a morose expression. Subtle as a funeral dirge, he thought, rolling his eyes as he hung his keys on the rack by the door and took off his suit coat. “I’m gonna take my key back if you start waiting up for me every time I’m on a date,” he called.

Juleka took one look at his face when he walked into the living room and groaned, letting her head fall back. “I thought you were over this, you absolute idiot.”

“It was a lie,” he sighed, flopping on his back on the loveseat and propping his long legs on the arm. “I was never over it.”

“Luka, she wrecked you for years.”

“No, she didn’t,” he protested. “One, it wasn’t her fault, and two, I was fine.”

“You were heartbroken.”

“Heartbroken and fine, Juleka.”

“Fine is not the same thing as happy,” Juleka snorted, folding her arms.

“I’m happy now,” he replied, grinning at the ceiling like a loon.

“You could at least string her along for a bit,” Juleka grumbled. “Make her suffer just a little.”

“She didn’t do anything wrong, Jule, cut her some slack.”

“I don’t need to, you give her plenty for both of us.” Juleka pursed her lips. “She picked someone else over you.”

“That was her right. I don’t hold it against her, why do you?”

“She hurt you.”

“Yeah, well that hurt went platinum, so I think you can forgive her now.” Luka scowled and tossed a throw pillow at her. “Considering we paid for these apartments with the money from that album.”

“There’s no amount of money that can make up for what she put you through,” Juleka groused.

“Come on Jule, she was your friend.”

“She was, until you went and fell in love with her like an idiot and she broke your heart.” Juleka looked at him and rolled her eyes with a sigh that meant she was giving up. “But you’re obviously going to date her whether I think it’s a good idea or not, so I’ll save my breath.” She pushed off the couch and dumped his guitar on his stomach.

“I sure as hell am,” Luka agreed happily, and Juleka groaned as she opened the door to go back across the hall to her own apartment.

“You’re disgusting, you know that right?” she called, and the door slammed before he could answer her.

Luka rolled his eyes and pulled the guitar into place, strumming lightly as he grinned at the ceiling.

#quickspins #backlog #second chance #lukanette #luka couffaine #i am lukanette trash i admit it #marinette dupain-cheng #miraculousladybug #miraculous ladybug #mlfics

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tsuki-chibi · 5 years

Text

Smutember Day 27: Blushing

After saying a polite goodbye to the Gorilla, Adrien climbed out of the car. He shut the door and watched the car drive away. As soon as it turned a corner, a little bit of the usual tension he carried in his shoulders eased.

“Hi Adrien.”

And there went the rest of it. He relaxed fully even as he turned around, a smile already in place. Marinette was standing right behind him, holding two cups of coffee and a little brown paper bag. His eyes zeroed in on the bag instantly.

“Is that breakfast?” he asked eagerly.

Marinette looked somewhere between amused and annoyed. “I said hi.”

“Uh... sorry. Hi,” he said sheepishly, wondering if he should lean in and kiss her cheek. She’d probably forgive him right away, but she also might see through the plan...

She just shook her head. “Yes, it’s breakfast. I got Maman to give me two muffins this morning. I thought we could share.”

“Sure!” Adrien said, delighted. “Thanks, My Lady.”

“You can’t call me that outside the suit,” she scolded. “If Alya hears that, we’re screwed.”

“Oh, right. I forgot,” Adrien said. Alya, Nino and Chloé had all been close enough to Ladybug and Chat Noir to overhear the silly nicknames they had for each other. He’d have to watch himself.

Marinette’s face softened into a smile. “Silly kitty.”

“Hey, you just said -”

“I know what I just said. Now come on. Breakfast awaits,” she said, holding up the cups and bag.

There was no room at the picnic tables outside, so they went to the classroom. It was fifteen minutes before class began, so they were the first to arrive. Marinette sat down at her usual place. Adrien took a seat beside her and leaned his head on his hand as she opened the bag.

“I’m really glad it’s you, Marinette,” he said. “I realized last night that I never told you that.”

Marinette smirked. “You mean you’re glad you didn’t have to choose between me and Ladybug?”

“Well, that too,” Adrien said, accepting one of the coffees and a piece of muffin. He wasn’t surprised to find that the coffee was made up exactly the way he liked it, with plenty of sugar and cream. He looked at her with what he was sure were literal hearts in his eyes.

“I’m really glad too,” Marinette said, sipping her own coffee, seemingly unaware she’d just made his whole morning. “I feel like for once my ladybug luck really came through.”

They continued talking quietly and sharing the rest of their small meal. Marinette occasionally broke off little pieces of the muffin for Tikki, but Plagg adamantly refused to take anything - until Marinette revealed she’d put a chunk of cheese in the bag too, just for him.

Now both Adrien and Plagg were staring at Marinette with utter adoration.

“You’re amazing,” Adrien said, leaning closer to her.

“Flatterer,” Marinette said, cheeks pinking, but she leaned in too. They kissed slowly, and Adrien reveled in the fact that for once their kiss wasn’t hidden behind anonymity or closed doors.

They could do this now. They could kiss anywhere they wanted, just like a normal couple. It was thrilling.

Neither one of them noticed the classroom door opening.

“Oh my god!” Alya screamed.

Adrien jerked away in surprise. Marinette did too. Both of them turned to see that Alya and Nino and a bunch of their other classmates standing there staring at them - though thankfully, neither Chloé nor Lila were part of the group. Adrien instantly turned bright red.

“Al-Alya!” Marinette stuttered.

“We were trying to figure out why the door was closed,” Nino said, grinning broadly. “You guys should’ve like, put a sock on the door.”

Adrien sputtered and blushed even harder, seeing Marinette turn a similar color out of the corner of his eye. He carefully didn’t look at her, sure that both of them would combust on the spot if he did.

“I can’t believe you’re dating!” Rose gushed. “That’s so romantic.”

“When did it start? How many dates have you been on?” Mylène asked.

“Have you done it yet?” Kim asked with a smirk and a leer, and Adrien choked.

“Hey now, that’s none of your business and you’re going to make them both explode,” Alya said, swatting at Kim.

Adrien finally found his voice and said, “We’ve only been on one date and it got interrupted by an akuma attack.”

“But yes, we’re dating,” Marinette finished, cheeks still red.

“Aww,” Rose cooed.

Alya swaggered over, beaming like the cat that ate the canary. “Stay,” she said when Adrien started to stand. “I’m feeling magnanimous, so you can have her today. We might have to work out a sharing schedule.”

“I’m not a piece of furniture,” Marinette said, exasperated.

“You don’t wanna sit beside me?” Adrien asked, giving her the kitty eyes, and Marinette melted.

“Of course I do,” she said, taking his hand and giving him a sweet smile in return. He lost his grip on the kitty eyes and couldn’t help smiling back.

“Oh god, they’re gonna be that couple,” Alix said in dismay.

“It’s disgusting and cute all at the same time,” Alya said with a happy sigh, snapping a picture of them as she slid into Adrien’s spot.

“All of you shut up,” Marinette said without taking her eyes off Adrien. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for three years. I’m savoring it.”

There were muttered agreements of “Fair” from all over the room. None of them had any idea Adrien had been waiting for this moment for just as long. He pulled Marinette’s hand up and gently kissed it, ignoring the squeals from the girls.

“Wanna get ice cream after school? My treat,” he whispered.

Marinette’s smile widened and she pulled her hand free to gently boop his nose with her index finger. “Actually, this time it’s my treat.”

#smutember #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #post reveal #happy in love dorks

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angelofthequeers · 4 years

Text

Hold Me By Both Hands: Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

Chapter 10 | Chapter 12 | AO3 link

“Excuse me, best friend.”

Oops. Well, one can only escape from Alya Césaire’s determination for so long.

“Hi, Alya!” Marinette pastes a wide smile on her face. But she’s not fooling either of them.

“So.” Alya loops her arm through Marinette’s, locking Marinette in place as they head into the school courtyard. Guess there’s no escape from this interrogation. “You’ll talk to Chat Noir but not to your best friend?”

“Huh? How did you –”

“Adrien called me last night. He ran into Chat Noir and asked him to check on you,” Alya says. Marinette bites back a growl. Adrien, that snitch. “But, you know, when your bestie gets there, you’re just too distraught to talk to her.”

“I…don’t know. I guess because you were there, but Chat wasn’t, so it was easier to talk to him about it. And after all the times he’s visited –”

“Wait. Hold the fuck up. Excuse me?” Alya skids to a halt. Marinette just grins sheepishly. Oops. “Since when has one of Paris’ superheroes been visiting you? Multiple times? And you didn’t even tell me, the Ladyblogger?”

“Because it would’ve ended up all across Paris, Miss Ladyblogger,” Marinette says dryly.

“Excuse me! As if!” Alya says. But she deflates when Marinette raises an eyebrow. “…Okay, yeah. I’ll give you that one. Anyway, Marinette, details. Now.”

Marinette sighs, but there’s no wriggling out of an interrogation with Alya the journalist unless either a) there’s an akuma attack, or b) she’s literally dying on the spot. So, she resigns herself to telling Alya all about her realisation after the group work with Adrien and Lila, her attempts to navigate being Adrien’s friend while dealing with her crush on him, Chat Noir’s occasional visits, and then what had happened last night. By the end of her tale, Alya’s eyes are as wide as golf balls.

“This is major!” she says. “Why didn’t you call me for all this Adrien stuff? I mean, sure, I love that you got to use a superhero as a diary, but I’m your best friend!”

“I’m sorry,” Marinette says. “I guess…well, after all the effort you put into getting me and Adrien together, I didn’t want to…let you down.”

“Excuse me?” Alya huffs. “Let me down? I was putting all that effort in to make you happy, girl, not because I got off on it or anything. You think I’d have been upset if you’d said you didn’t want to chase after him anymore? I’m with you no matter what, Marinette.”

Marinette smiles down at the ground before directing that smile at Alya. “Thanks, Al. I just…my head’s been a bit of a mess and I wanted to sort it out first, so I knew what I was exploding about.”

“That, I can accept,” Alya says. “But “not wanting to let me down”. Honestly, Mari, if I’ve sat through every single attempt to ask Adrien out and they didn’t let me down, I’m not sure what you think letting me down would involve.”

“True,” Marinette says just as they draw level with Adrien and Nino, who are sitting cross-legged on the ground next to one of the courtyard walls. She and Alya flop down next to them, and while Alya immediately snuggles into Nino’s side, Adrien waits until Marinette nods before he rests his head in her lap. Her stomach does a flip-flop, but she’s not in danger of melting into a puddle, and if Adrien’s choosing to act like everything’s normal between them and he hadn’t learned of her massive crush last night, well, Marinette’s not going to complain one bit.

“I can’t decide whether that’s the cutest or most sickening thing I’ve ever seen,” Alya says, then leans up to kiss Nino. Marinette raises an eyebrow.

“You were saying?” she drawls as she starts to rake her fingers through Adrien’s hair. Adrien makes an odd laugh-cough sound that has Alya narrowing her eyes at him, but that sound quickly morphs into a long purr when Marinette scratches a certain spot behind his ear.

“Did you just purr, dude?” Nino says.

“No!” Adrien bolts upright with pink cheeks. “Nope!”

“Uh huh,” Alya smirks. “Sure you didn’t. Speaking of purring –”

“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Adrien says.

“– Mari, since you’ve got a new pet superhero,” Alya continues as though Adrien hadn’t spoken, “will we be expecting kittens anytime soon?”

“W-What?” Marinette splutters. For some reason, Adrien also reacts to Alya’s question by flushing a deep red and gaping like a fish. “Alya!”

“What?” Alya grins rather devilishly. “I mean, since you’re not going after Adrien anymore –uh, I mean –”

“It’s okay, I know,” Adrien says. Marinette makes an odd squeaking sound because how does he know that? “Uh – Chat Noir told me that she just wants to be friends. Because I asked if Marinette was okay last night after Glaciator attacked or if she was upset with me. I just wanted to be sure? Sorry if I overstepped…”

“I hate each and every single one of you,” Marinette says, wondering if it’s possible to boil her brain in her skull. “Except Nino. I’m adopting him.”

“If it means I get to live in the bakery, I got no problems with that, dude,” Nino says dreamily.

“I didn’t cross a line, did I?” Alya says, the teasing smile vanishing like smoke. “If I went too far –”

“No. No. It’s fine. I’m fine,” Marinette says. “If Adrien knows and he doesn’t care, tease away. But I’m still adopting Nino.”

“Like hell,” Alya says. “I got him first.”

“You can adopt me if you give me more head scratches?” Adrien says with a pout that might have made Marinette spontaneously combust before today, but now only fills her with pleasant warmth. He knows. He knows about her crush. And he doesn’t hate her! He still wants to be her friend! He’s even lying back down in her lap!

“So long as she gets to put a collar on you,” Alya says with her evil grin back in place. “Maybe she can even custom-make it Chat Noir style.”

“Alya!” Marinette whines, once again carding Adrien’s hair through her fingers as she leans against the cool brick wall behind her.

“What?” Alya says as she pulls out her phone and flicks through her notifications. She grimaces. “Ugh. That annoying Alternative News blogger’s trying to smear me again just because I’m willing to go out and get the footage. You know, instead of pinching off other sites and then whining that the quality’s always shit.”

“Hi, guys!” A beaming Lila bounds over to them. “Mind if I join you?”

Marinette, Adrien, and Nino exchange looks, while Alya’s so invested in her drama that she doesn’t even seem to have noticed Lila’s presence. Lila’s smile fades.

“I’m so, so sorry, Marinette,” she says. “I never meant to hurt you! I’ve never had many friends and I just wanted to tease you like friends do and, well, I guess I forgot that Adrien was right there. Do say you’ll forgive me!”

Marinette wants to say no. She really does. But that’ll only make her look like the bad guy at this point, so she just shrugs. Lila beams and throws herself down next to Marinette and pulls Adrien’s legs into her lap while he closes his eyes. Marinette wonders if she’s imagining the slight stiffness to Adrien when Lila’s got hold of his legs.

“That’s so cute!” Lila says when she realises what Marinette’s doing. She nudges Marinette and sidles even closer so that their arms are touching. Marinette’s about to slide away and cite personal space, but Adrien beats her to it when Lila leans over to try and stroke his hair too.

“No!” He hisses like a cat and curls himself around Marinette, cracking one green eye open to look at Lila. “Only Marinette.”

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry!” Lila says. “I shouldn’t have assumed! I just saw how happy you looked, and like I said, we’re very touchy in Italy –” Before she can finish her self-deprecating apology, she jumps up. “Never mind! See you in class, guys!”

“Is it just me, or does she make it all about her when she’s apologising?” Alya’s finally detached herself from her phone, just in time to catch the tail end of the drama.

“You noticed it too, babe?” Nino says. “Felt like she was trying to make Marinette feel bad.”

“I just don’t get her,” Marinette says. “She’s nice enough but…am I the only one feeling like there’s more to her than she lets on?”

“Definitely not.” Adrien pushes himself up and stretches with a groan. His shirt rides up and exposes a sliver of belly and even though Marinette’s trying to focus on being his friend rather than eating his face, she can’t help but look away with flaming cheeks. “She could just be scared of opening up. Or there could be more, because I don’t think last night was an accident. But I don’t think we can judge her until we know more about her.”

The four of them sit in silence for another minute or so, until Alya and Nino start to once again lean in closer.

“Okay, that’s our cue,” Adrien says. He jumps to his feet and offers Marinette his hand to help her up. “Wanna go for a walk and give them some alone time?”

“Yeah, go with him, Mari,” Alya says. “Both of you can go far away and get bent.”

Marinette sticks her tongue out at Alya, then follows Adrien just in time to avoid seeing the kiss that she knows is happening. The two of them escape to the courtyard’s staircase and huddle together on one of the steps, leaving enough room for people to get around them when heading up or down, and the feeling of Adrien’s arm pressed against her is probably going to make her spontaneously combust on the spot. But at the same time, why is there this tiny, nagging feeling that she’s somehow betraying Chat Noir by drinking in the physical contact with Adrien?

“Hey…sorry about yesterday.” Adrien finally shatters the silence that’s surrounding them like a bubble to keep out the chatter of the other students.

“Why are you sorry?” Marinette says. “Lila’s the one who ruined it, not you. I’m just glad to know you don’t hate me for my c-crush.” She gulps around the lump in her throat because there, she’s finally dropped the c-word to his face, and she ends up wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans.

“Wait, what?” Adrien says. “No way I’d hate you for the way you feel! I’m just glad to know why you were always so weird around me. Look…do you want to hang out this weekend? For real, since last night got interrupted? I’ve got a photoshoot on Saturday but I’m free on Sunday.”

“What if your father doesn’t let you?” Marinette says. “It must’ve been a pain to get out last night.”

“I’ll sneak out if I have to,” Adrien says immediately. “A certain friend told me that I need to stop walking on eggshells just to avoid upsetting my father because I’ve been worried about him since he became the Collector. My friend made me see that my freedom is worth more than letting my father dictate everything just because I’m worried that I’ll upset him. Part of it is keeping my head down so things don’t get worse but…that’s a reason and not an excuse, and just because I ignore what’s there won’t make it go away.”

“Your friend sounds wise,” Marinette says.

“He can be,” Adrien says with another little smirk that leaves Marinette feeling as though there’s an inside joke she’s missing. “When he’s not being a brat about everything.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were still talking about Chat Noir,” Marinette teases, giggling when Adrien rolls his eyes at her and crosses his arms.

“He can be mature and wise,” Adrien says with an honest to god pout. “But the way he gets to be so free when he’s jumping through Paris is…inspiring. He helped me see that Father’s always going to control my life no matter what I do and that I’ve got good friends who are worth sneaking out for. I guess he helped me realise what I do have rather than what I don’t have.”

“Wow,” Marinette says, at a loss for words. There’s still so much she doesn’t know about her partner and while it’s partly her fault for insisting they not talk to each other about their private lives, she’s also certain that this is the best option for now. She already cares so much about him, so if his civilian identity was someone like, say, Nino or Adrien, she’d probably spend all battle worried sick about him and maybe even slip up in the heat of the moment. “I never knew Chat Noir had that side to him.”

“Not too many people do,” Adrien says. “So…do you want to hang out on Sunday? We don’t even have to go out anywhere if you don’t want to. I…really like your house. It was so cosy and warm when we trained for that gaming tournament.”

Marinette’s cheeks heat up at the fact that Adrien had literally just said to her face that her home is awesome. “I – sure! I’d show you fashion design but of course you know all about that, since you’re a model and all.”

“We’ll think of something. I’m just super happy that you actually like me and want to hang out with me.” Adrien looks like he’s made of pure sunshine, so brilliantly bright that he melts Marinette into goo on the spot. “Hold on…you could come to the photoshoot on Saturday! It’s really boring, so only if you want, but you did design that hat that Father liked and you did just say that you’re into fashion design, so it might be something that interests you.”

“Really?” Marinette tries to process the fact that she’s got an actual invitation to be there with his knowledge instead of awkwardly skulking around to look like she’s not watching. She tries not to wince at how…cringey she was. Tikki would totally scold her for thinking that and say that she’s just a teenage girl making mistakes and figuring things out but…still. “You’d actually want me there?”

“Of course,” Adrien says. “It might be nice to have a friend along. I can text you the details. So long as it doesn’t cause schedule conflict, Nathalie won’t care. I can –”

“Ugh, move!” Chloé shoves past Marinette, despite having plenty of room to climb the stairs, even with Sabrina right behind her. Marinette yelps and would’ve plummeted face-first if not for Adrien rushing to grab her and pull her back.

“Thanks,” Marinette says breathlessly.

“No pawblem,” Adrien grins, and she groans. “I guess I just have cat-like reflexes.”

“Well, at least you know your place, Dupain-Cheng. Beneath me.” Chloé scoffs. Her whole face changes when she turns to Adrien, and she bats her eyelashes and coos, “Hi, Adrikins! When you get tired of hanging out with this baker’s daughter, come and find me, okay?”

“God, she makes me so mad,” Marinette growls once Chloé and Sabrina are gone. “I don’t even know why she still gets to me! It’s so – so old!”

“I’m sorry,” Adrien says. “I should’ve said something. I know I said I’d try and stand up to people but…the thought of telling Chloé off scares me.”

“You’ve done it before,” Marinette says. “Remember when my uncle was akumatised?”

“Yeah. I know. But that’s…different.” Adrien sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “If I push her too hard, she could decide I’m more trouble than I’m worth. And I know I’ve got you and Nino and Alya but…I just…”

“The thought of anyone leaving you is terrifying because it feels like you weren’t good enough?” Marinette says softly. Adrien just grimaces and shrugs, so she holds her hand out and lets him make the move to take it and lace their fingers together. “I get it. I don’t like it, but I do get where you’re coming from. Um…how did you and Chloé even end up friends? And how are you both so different? You’re both rich and…well, you know, you both live with your dads, but you’re so nice and she’s so…”

“It’s…not really my place to say.” Adrien scratches the back of his neck.

“Oh! Then you don’t have to tell me!” Marinette babbles. “Really, I’m just poking my nose in –”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Adrien says with a small laugh. “I can tell you how we ended up friends. I just can’t tell you anything about Chloé’s mother unless she says I can. It’s not for me to say. All I can say is…I only lost my mother recently, so she was around for most of my life.”

“I get that,” Marinette says. All anyone knows is that Chloé’s mother is world-famous fashion critic Audrey Bourgeois – a fact that Chloé loves to parade around when she feels that being the mayor’s daughter isn’t enough of an advantage – but no one knows why Audrey doesn’t live in Paris with her husband and daughter.

“Father was actually found by Audrey Bourgeois when he first started designing. She helped him make a name for himself. And…she was my mother’s friend. That’s why Chloé’s my childhood friend: our parents knew each other since before we were born. And I know she’s not the nicest person but…she was all I had for so long. I don’t want to lose all those years where she was the only friend I was allowed to have because my parents didn’t want me out in the real world.”

“True friends call each other out when they’re wrong,” Marinette says. “Alya always tells me if I mess up. If Chloé hates you because you make her take responsibility for her actions, then she’s not really your friend. Sometimes…the right thing is the hard thing, and you just have to do it, even if that means losing those years of friendship. And I’m not saying that because I don’t like Chloé,” she hastens to add. “Part of why I love Alya so much is because she doesn’t sugar-coat things, so I know I can trust her to help me be a better person.”

“Yeah…” Adrien says.

“It’s not just that Chloé’s not a nice person. I’ve met a few people who weren’t nice but were also good people. She’s a bully, Adrien. She made my life so miserable for four years before now. I didn’t have any friends before Alya because Chloé made sure of that. I’m not telling you this because I want you to stop being her friend. I’m telling you this because you’re the only person she’ll listen to.”

“Well…I’ll try. I just haven’t stood up to anyone since my father was akumatised. I don’t want to make him more upset than usual. I’m still not sure he’s forgiven me for borrowing his book and brooch.”

“Feels like you can’t ever make him happy,” Marinette mutters, then she gasps. “Did I say that out loud? Crap, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to badmouth your dad in front of you –”

“Hey, no, don’t apologise!” Adrien squeezes her hand. “I appreciate knowing that you care. Just don’t say it in front of him, okay?”

“I make no promises,” Marinette says, trying to calm down her racing heart because holy shit, she’d just badmouthed her fashion idol in front of his son! “There’s a quote by Majestia that Alya told me on our first day of school that’s stuck with me: “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”. What it actually means is that I can’t seem to keep my big mouth shut when I need to.”

“Well, Ladybug can’t either, but everyone loves her for it,” Adrien says. “Although probably only Ladybug could get away with saying that to Father’s face, so I’d probably not do that unless you were secretly her or something.”

Marinette swallows. Oh, if only Adrien knew.

“Which is partly why I was in love with her, you know?” Adrien says, and that makes Marinette’s breath freeze in her lungs. “She’s just so…strong and independent but she’s also kind and gentle. You can tell she loves Paris and her job and she’s not just doing it because she has to or for the attention. I just love how she cares.”

“O-Oh,” Marinette forces out. “You were in love with her?”

“I still love her,” Adrien says. “I don’t think those feelings will ever fully go away. But I’m trying not to be in love with her anymore, so I can be a good friend without focusing on trying to make out with her – uh, if she ever wants that…you know, if that makes sense?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That, um…pretty much sums up how I feel about you.”

Adrien smiles and nudges her. “I’m flattered. You’re a great girl, Marinette. Whoever you end up with is gonna be so lucky to have you. So long as they can get through me first.”

“Oh, ha, ha.” Marinette rolls her eyes. “I don’t need you to defend my honour. Chat Noir would probably get in first.”

“He would, wouldn’t he?” Adrien says thoughtfully. Before Marinette can reply to that, the school bell rings, and both she and Adrien reflexively jump to their feet and laugh at the same time.

“Oh – right – we should get to class,” Adrien says.

“Yeah!” Marinette says. “For once, I’m not late!” She falls in step with Adrien and they dash down the stairs to their classroom’s corridor, laughing and weaving around the gaggle of students also swarming inside.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #aotq fic #aotq: hold me #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #lila rossi #chloe bourgeois #anti-lila #ugh #adrien your chat is showing

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giuliafc · 4 years

Text

For those wondering...

and maybe worrying about me (a girl can always hope someone worries ^-^; ) I can tell you that I’m good. Extremely busy but good. I’m writing a new story... which will be ready soon, hopefully. Not all of you will want, or be able to read it though, because yes, it’s going to be an explicit story. I’m sorry... I just couldn’t stop my brain the second I started thinking about it. The concept is SOOOOOOO funny. I am literally in stiches, as I write it.

I will give you the title, the summary and a little extract. The extract is safe enough, maybe just rated slightly M because of nudity. And some ‘not too clean’ thoughts, but nothing major. When you’ll read the summary you’ll understand.

THE NAKED TRUTH (will be rated E on Ao3)

When a girl becomes upset because her fiancé lied to her and betrayed her, she gets easily akumatised and becomes ‘The Naked Truth’, an Akuma whose power is to trap lovers in a third dimension where they are completely bare with each other. And for COMPLETELY bare, I really mean it. Naked. Unable to lie. Yes, you read well. And yes, it works even with magical suits. 🙄 The only way to get out of the bubble is to... make out and be truthful to each other. What happens when Ladybug and Chat Noir get hit? Read and find out!

Are you ready for the extract? Remember: they CANNOT LIE.

BEWARE: it’s still not beta-read. Continue at your own risk.

PLEASE NOTE: the story is set on their second year at Lycée, so they’re both over 16. Adrien is nearly 17.

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Extract is from Chapter 2 -- Trapped

Marinette stopped and slapped the fist of one hand on the palm of the other. “Oh yes. That stupid akuma. I knew she wasn’t possibly going to be right. There was no way I was going to be locked up with Chat Noir!”

Adrien opened his eyes wide and gasped loudly for the shock. The akuma had said that to Ladybug, not to Marinette! “Excuse me?” he managed to say.

“The akuma said that she was trapping lovers. Of course I couldn’t end up with Chat and of course I’m in this situation with you.” Then she cupped a hand over her mouth and turned towards Adrien, whose shocked expression has faded into one of pure confusion.

“What do you mean, Marinette? Do you…” he said, trying very hard to focus on her face and not on anything else that the girl wasn’t covering any more, probably due to the shock of what she had just said. But Marinette tried to cut him off, maybe to deny the evidence? And instead ended up saying,

“Do I... love you? Yes, of course I love you.” Then she heard her own words and turned deep red, her hands moving to her temples as her face grimaced in an expression of pure panic. Adrien gasped. “I mean yes, I love you. I mean I do love you very much. I mean not as a friend. I love you as a lover. As a husband. I mean… I want to dieeeeeeeeeeeee!”

He looked at her suspiciously. “You love me? Not as a friend? As a lover?” He blushed, both for what she just said and for the embarrassment because his eyes had again caught glimpse of her breasts. When Marinette had shouted that she wanted to die she had opened her arms wide and shaken them strongly in a frustrated gesture, which had made her boobs bounce.

She turned around and noticed where he was staring, again, and covered up. “And DON’T LOOK AT ME, I TOLD YOU! Oh, I’m so embarrassed! I loved you from the day you gave me your umbrella but I couldn't tell you. UGHHHHHH! I didn’t want to say that! Please shut my mouth and let me die in peace!” Her face had now the cringey expression that he had seen so often on her, most of the times addressed to him.

Adrien couldn’t help but chuckle. Maybe it was better to change the subject, because she looked as if she was ready to faint. He would get back to the matter later though, because this was new information and he wanted to know more. However, something else she had said had raised his attention and wanted to dig deeper into it. “This doesn’t explain what we are doing here together though. And I don’t understand why you say that the akuma wanted to trap you here with Chat Noir. I didn’t see you during the akuma attack…”

“I didn’t see you either,” snapped Marinette talking over him. “I was fighting the akuma with Chat Noir.”

Almost at the same time Adrien continues, “I was fighting the akuma with Ladybug.”

Merde. Where did that come from? He wanted to say that he was hiding and had listened to what the heroes were saying to the akuma, not that he was fighting with Ladybug! That was bad. Really, really bad. Marinette was a clever girl, she could figure out his identity! He tried to cover his mistake and said, “I mean… I was fighting the akuma with Ladybug. I pushed her away as usual to protect her and got trapped here. Hope she’s okay…”

As he said that and slapped a hand on his mouth for what he had just said, he heard Marinette talk at the same time as he and it took him a moment before he connected his ears to his brain and really understood what she was saying, “I mean, I was fighting the akuma with Chat. Alya got caught and I got distracted. This is a disaster! Chat will think I abandoned him!”

Adrien’s eyes became as wide as saucers, his heart racing a thousand mile per hour. He slowly turned around and met Marinette’s gaze. Her eyes were as wide as his and her complexion was positively ashen. She was looking at him in pure utter panic.

“M’lady?” he said tentatively.

“Chaton?” she said, as tentatively as he.

Adrien attempted a shy smile, not knowing how to react to stop her from panicking and almost unable to breathe for the surge of adrenaline that rushed through his body as soon as the realisation hit.

Marinette. Is. My. Lady.

Marinette. Is. Ladybug.

Ladybug is naked in front of me.

I touched Ladybug’s boob!

Ladybug had just said that she loves me.

She. Loves.

ME.

Adrien could have combusted on the spot. But a quick glance at Marinette made him realise that she was maybe panicking even more. He saw her cringey expression getting always more cringey, her chest rising and falling, as she breathed strong and hard.

Her chest.

Her…

FOCUS ADRIEN!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” Marinette’s scream caused him nearly to jump off his skin. Uh oh… he was in trouble. Her face was green. “OH MY GOD ADRIEN IS CHAT NOIR! CHAT NOIR IS ADRIEN!” She was looking at him as she screamed and he gulped awkwardly because tears were falling off her eyes. He didn’t expect that at all. Suddenly she gasped and brought her hands to her mouth. “OH MY GOD ADRIEN DECLARED HIS LOVE TO ME HUNDREDS OF TIMES. OH MY GOD I REJECTED ADRIEN!”

She started breathing hard and panting, hugging herself and rocking back and forth. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to comfort her, but due to the situation they were in, he feared that by trying to hug her while being naked it would have caused even more panic. She seemed to have calmed down a little bit, until she suddenly gasped and looked at him. Looked at herself.

“OH MY GOD CHAT NOIR IS NAKED IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME!” That shouted, she became even more red, cupped her hands on her eyes and started whining.

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So... hope you liked this little teaser. It may be slightly different when it’s posted, but the substance is there. Let me know what you think! And if you want to know when it’s posted... please follow my tumblr because I will inform you all here.

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knightsims · 6 years

Photo

Week 19 in Rosedale is over, so let’s do the weekly recap! :D Week 19 was the time of the great ‘Bandican folder failure’ so I lost quite a lot of pictures, so apologies that some of the recaps are so short!

Births: 13 Deaths: 6 (-1 for a genie revive)

SOMERSET:

Nicholas gave birth to his and Costel Couderc’s baby girl Sadie.

Costel moved in.

Sadie turned into a toddler.

EVANS:

Iola turned into an elder.

Bellamy turned into a teenager.

Vesuvia turned into a child.

They adopted two pets; a puppy named Jynx and an adult cat named Citrine.

Asher turned into an adult. He then entered a relationship with townie Vera Chambers, and they moved out on Monday morning.

RAY:

Tharen and Rigel turned into adults. Tharen entered a relationship with Sofia Bledel, and they all moved out at the end of the week.

Joseph’s alien abduction from the week before resulted in the birth of another son, Vega!

Leia turned into a teenager.

COUDERC:

They adopted a new kitten called Chai!

Socks ate some Kibble of Life.

Jason and Kelly went on a date. Kelly then immediately died, causing Jason to have a conflicting line of memories about her dying, the date being horrible and then inheriting some money.

Hera turned into a teenager.

Jason rolled some wants about finding a new girlfriend, so he went on a handful of dates with downtownie Davina Cofield.

Hera spawned a social bunny that made fun of her while she was sleeping.

Hera tried to fix the computer and started a fire! She then caught the whole room on fire and died as a result! Thankfully, Jason used the genie lamp and brought her back to life (successfully; no zombies this time!)

Jason rolled a want to propose to Davina, so they got engaged and quickly married in the kitchen.

ARBON:

Grimmy and the Hula Zombies came in a ‘two for one’ deal for Mae and Carlos!

Vivienne continued making robots until she reached the gold badge! She then made herself a robot girlfriend named Claire!

SWAFFORD:

Dean entered an informal relationship with Hayley Brewster!

Someone set the kitchen on fire again.

Grimmy came for Ronica one five consecutive nights, but she beat him at the game of chance every single time.

Hayley left Dean an ElectroDance Sphere after their date.

Teagan and Lane turned into teenagers.

Colt woohooed with Apple Brewster.

Lane got a womrat.

Dean and Colt turned into adults. Due to the ROS roll of needing to get someone pregnant, Colt invited over the most attractive townie he knew called Tameko Clarke, fell in love, asked her to move in and successfully got her pregnant.

Dean moved out with his cat Bella, and Colt moved out with Tameko and their unborn child.

COUDERC II:

Ethan got chased by bees.

Nova drank straight from the bottle at their new bar.

Evelyn turned into an adult. She then went on a blind date and fell in love with townie Candice Barnett! And when I wasn’t looking, Evelyn fell pregnant.

Kayla and Zenith turned into teenagers.

Evelyn and Candice moved out.

BREWSTER:

Gwyneth and Leland went to her restaurant to serve dinner to townies. Once again, Gwyneth and her max cooking skill burnt the cake slice.

Hayley turned into an adult. Thanks to ACR, Hayley saw Lirit Wheatley on the side of the street and immediately went to woo her. They made out, woohooed and got Hayley pregnant...

The quadruplets turned into teenagers.

Hayley gave birth to Lirit’s newest daughter, Cheyenne, to an audience of most of her siblings.

Someone set the kitchen on fire!

Apple turned into an adult.

Aeryn and Garrus got into a fight in the bathroom, then both glared at their older brother Saros like he’d done something...

Not wanting her sister to raise a daughter on her own, Apple moved out with Hayley and Cheyenne.

MAZZA:

Due to ROS, Bailey had to have a 2-day affair. Most of the two days was spent trying to get her to romantically interact with Ronica Swafford, local marriage-ruiner.

Emmett turned into an adult. He had a string of bad luck trying to find a girlfriend.

Ali the cat died!

Joel turned into an adult and went into immediate aspiration failure.

Bailey set the kitchen on fire.

The matchmaker left the family a genie lamp! Emmett then wished for beauty.

After his genie wish, Emmett went on a successful date with townie Jessica Ingham.

Grimmy came for Daryl!

HARRISON:

Danica used the treadmill to get fit.

Roman turned into a child and started painting.

VILLIERS II:

They lost §17,500 in a stock-market crash (thanks ROS).

Kaylyn turned into an adult.

She entered a relationship with townie Anya Colville, who ended up getting her pregnant.

Grace sold some paintings.

LAUPER:

Maximilian turned into a teenager.

They got another cat named Skittles.

Valentina got started on a novel.

DIRGE:

Alexis turned into an adult.

She entered a relationship with Joel Mazza and they got married at the end of the week.

Grimmy came a few times for Kit but as he’d wished for the ability to cheat death, he didn’t actually die.

GREEN:

Angelica turned into a toddler and then a child.

Rose turned into an elder.

Lirit was caught cheating with townie Marietta Sanna. She then rolled a want to get engaged to her, so she and Marietta moved out, leaving Rose and Angelica behind.

COUDERC III:

The ROS roll for the week was for good witchcraft, so Regina turned into a witch.

She and Bernie got married at the park.

HASSOURAS:

Lucas and Lucio moved into a tiny home after leaving Regina the week before.

Lucas entered a relationship with townie Leonie Olsen.

They got married, and Leonie fell pregnant and gave birth to a baby daughter named Astra.

AGUILERA:

They moved into a much larger home.

Deigo turned into a toddler and then a child.

Isaiah kept working at his toy shop and gained a few business levels.

TERRANOVA:

Kat and Kent moved out of the apartment and into a proper house.

Kent woohooed with townie Yvonne Ki.

Kat befriended local-high warlock Trey Girdler.

O’BRIEN:

Noah went into multiple aspiration failures.

Altair turned into a toddler then a child.

Jonathan gave birth to his second alien son, Vulcan. He then turned into a toddler later in the week.

Noah fell pregnant but didn’t give birth.

Jonathan sold some paintings.

NOYES:

Victor, Anthea and their young son James moved into their own house.

Grimmy came for Victor!

Anthea made money where she could, but spent most of her time looking after her son and the garden.

James turned into a toddler.

EVANS-SWAFFORD:

Sian Evans and Audrey Swafford moved into a small house together as roommates as neither of them could afford a house on their own.

Sian got into a poking match with a townie.

Sian angered the bees.

Audrey woohooed with townie Edward Wren.

Sian woohooed with townie Holly Goth, and also local evil witch Lyndsay Browne after Audrey wanted to learn the witchy ways from her.

Audrey then turned into an evil witch herself.

Sian and Audrey eventually woohooed with each other.

ALLISON:

Lizbeth, Nathaniel and Marilyn moved into their own home.

Lizbeth gave birth to a son named Asra! He then turned into a toddler later in the week.

Marilyn turned into a toddler then a child.

Lizbeth proposed to Nathaniel!

SHAYE:

Micah and Joy moved into their own tiny home; one built by Micah’s own father Ethan many weeks before!

They went on an outing to Mountain Lake, where they saw Micah’s father and a couple of friends and extended family.

While Micah was at work, Joy woohooed with townie Benito Rossi!

LYE:

Andy and his fiancée Odette moved into their own house (there’s a lot of that this week).

Odette found some buried treasure!

Andy woohooed with local servo Claire Arbon while Odette was off saving people from fires!

Due to the ROS roll, Joseph Villiers came over and turned Andy into a werewolf!

Andy cheated again, but this time with the newly-married Davina Cofield!

Andy and Odette got their Garden Club application rejected.

BROWNE II:

Once again, Davina Cofield was involved in cheating drama as she and Toby woohooed multiple times while Gillian was at work.

Gideon turned into a toddler then a child later in the week.

Gillian gave birth to twins, Valentine and Tallulah! They turned into toddlers later in the week.

Gillian fell pregnant to risky woohoo literally seconds after giving birth. She went into labour a second time in one week and gave birth to another daughter, Demeter.

LAUPER II:

Uncle/nephew warlock/vampire combo Sawyer Couderc and Gabriel Lauper moved in together.

Gabriel nearly combusted in the sun twice.

Sawyer went on a date with townie Payton Dyer, and during the date rolled a want to fall in love with someone completely different - his best friend, townie Chantelle Dynamite! So after his date (and natural woohoo) with Payton, Chantelle was invited over for one.

After a couple of dates, Sawyer proposed to Chantelle and she moved in.

Chantelle opened Pleasant Post so that she could open up the Business career track. Pleasant Post was awarded a good review and the Best of the Best award on its first day.

Sawyer and Chantelle had their wedding party, with many family and friends attending. Toby Mazza was one of them, and naturally cheated on his absent girlfriend and mother of his four children (again) with Payton Dyer, Sawyer’s ‘ex’.

Newly married Sawyer and Chantelle moved out.

ST MARTIN:

Leia and Zephyr moved into a beautiful beach lot and built their house.

Leia gave birth to a baby girl named Brigitte, who turned into a toddler later in the week.

Leia then fell pregnant again and gave birth to a second daughter named Nadia.

NORTON:

Rachael and Bella moved into a house of their own.

Bella gave birth to a daughter named Amber, who turned into a toddler later in the week.

Due to the ROS roll, Rachael was abducted by aliens. She came back with a little green present and gave birth to another daughter, Alya, later in the week.

Bella’s uncle Frankie and her father Kit came over for visits. Kit spent most of the time watching sports on the TV and yelling, like most old men do.

Rachael went to work pregnant and in her underwear...

#sims 2 #ts2 #rosedale bacc #week 19 summary

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claws-n-salt · 6 years

Text

Crackmas || Day 10

Crackmas Day 10 || That Didn't Go As Planned || Alya convinces Marinette to use her clumsiness for good and shoot an infomercial. Let's just say that girl can be a little too clumsy even when she's trying.

Rated G || 546 Words

Cross posted on Ao3 || FF

Prompts can be found here from @mlcrackmas

Buy me a Coffee?

But Wait, There’s More!

“Alright Marinette, take 15 and we’ll pick back up with the actual product. Very good job so far.” The director of the informercial smiled at Marinette, giving her a thumbs up.

“Thank you.” Marinette rushed over to Alya, who was standing near the refreshments table. “Alya, this was such an amazing idea!”

“I told you. Who would be better at messing things up more for an informercial than the clumsiest girl I know?” Marinette gasped in mock offense. “Oh, come on, you know I’m right. You have a future in making tupperware fall out of cupboards if your fashion career doesn’t work out.”

“I’d love to be able to disagree but, you’re right.” Marinette laughed. “Hey, if I get my name out there in the informercial scene, it might pay for the fabric for my online store.”

“See it’s perfect!” A few minutes of chatting later, the director called Marinette back to the set. “Go kill it Marinette, you got this.”

“Thanks, Alya.” After a quick hug with her bestie, Marinette marched back over to the set with a determined look on her face.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Nino called moments after Marinette walked back over to continue shooting and Alya stepped out to take the call. When the call ended and Alya walked back in to watch the rest of Marinette’s take, the bluenette was on fire.

No, she was literally on fire. Marinette was shrieking as she wacked the arm of her jacket with a dish towel. An assistant rushed over with a bucket of water, drenching Marinette. The director walked over to Marinette after she’d been put out and gently pulled her aside.

Marinette walked over to Alya, not nearly as chipper as when she’d started. “I got fired.”

“Because this is a serious situation, I won’t make a joke about you literally being on fire and getting fired. What happened? I was only gone for like, two seconds. Wait a minute, there wasn’t even any fire on set?” The two girls began to walk out of the building as Marinette told her tale.

“Well, they had me start using the product being sold when we restarted. I dropped it in the first take, I broke one in the second take, and well, you saw how the third take went. Who knew spontaneous combustion was actually a thing that could happened.” Alya doubled over in laughter, only able to make it to a bench on the sidewalk before she completely collapsed. Marinette burst into laughter, falling onto the bench next to her best friend.

Finally able to compose themselves a few minutes later, Marinette continued. “It’s not the end of the world though. He said they will still use my ‘destroy everything’ takes because they were the best out of everyone’s and that they’ll probably call me back to do more ‘before’ takes like that.”

Alya shook her head, chuckling. “Only you would look on the bright side of getting fired because you actually caught yourself on fire.”

Marinette bounced up from the bench, pulling Alya up with her. “What can I say, I’m an optimist. Now, let’s go to the fabric store because this charred bit of sleeve has me inspired.”

Alya fell into laughter again as she let Marinette pull her down the sidewalk.

#ml crackmas #mlcrackmas2017 #miraculous ladybug #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #alya cesaire #Myranda writes fics

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oikaawatooru · 7 years

Text

cat leaps

chapter 4: heel turn

1 | 2 | 3

break dance au

thanks to @lay-it-on-me-lahey, the real mvp

read on ao3

whatchu gon do with that dessert - dessert (remix); dawin, silentó

Marinette zig zags in between the tables in the ice cream parlour, trying to keep the massive sundae stationary on the tray. She’s lucky she manages to make it to the table her friends are sitting at without a disaster. She takes a quiet pride in it.

Nino grins at her from his spot in the booth. His arm is thrown not-so-subtly over the back of the bench i.e. behind Alya’s shoulders. Marinette resists a groan.

“Nice of you to join us,” he grins at her.

“Where do you work again, Nino?” she asks airily.

His grin falls. Good.

“Can you put it in the middle please, Marinette?” Alya asks, eyes glued to her laptop screen.

“No thanks.”

Alya looks up. “What? Why?”

Marinette rolls her eyes at the whine in her voice. “You owe me for the last five sundaes. If I keep putting it on my tab 1—” she puts up a finger of her free hand “—Mme Kurtzberg is going to stop allowing me to do it, and 2—” she puts up another finger “—I won’t have any money left. These things aren’t cheap.”

“I know, that’s why I use your employee discount.”

“I don’t have an employee discount.”

Alya pouts. “Just this once? Last time, I promise.”

Marinette nearly caves from her pout but she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“You said that last week,” she says.

Nino looks like he’s about to say something but Marinette shoots him a glare. He tried to sneak her the money last time in her apron pocket, but this isn’t his price to pay.

Alya leans back into her seat, arching her brow knowingly.

“Is this because you’re still intent on making Chat Noir some new clothes?”

Heat rushes up Marinette’s neck. “No! I literally have every other thing in my life to save for! The Academy has upped the tuition this year—”

“Yeah,” Nino mutters, “not cool.”

“—demanding a contribution from scholarship students, I still have to pay for Ladybug’s entry for Miraculous—”

“Okay,” Alya points out, “but that’s not due for another few weeks.”

“—and I would actually like to be able to afford some new clothes!”

Alya doesn’t buy it. “His hoodie just really bothers you, doesn’t it?”

Marinette sighs. They’ve had four practices so far and every time, Chat Noir has turned up in his signature thick black hoodie. Sure, it really hides his body, the hood does a good job of keeping his face in the shadows, but the drawbacks. He’s going to faint in the heat one of these days and Marinette will have to call an ambulance for him and if he doesn’t recover in time for Miraculous and they’ll be down their best dancer.

“So much. So much, Alya, I get hot just looking at him. I spent more money than I would like on some new fabrics. I’ve pinned the pattern down, all I need are his exact measurements. Also his outfit is an eyesore. It physically pains me to see a dancer in clothes like that. We all deserve nice clothes. It’s one of the ten commandments.”

“It’s definitely not.”

Nino tries to cut in. “You guys know I’ll pay for—”

“NO,” the girls say firmly.

“Then allow me,” says a new voice.

Before she can react, Marinette has a crisp twenty euro note pressed into her free hand courtesy of the sublime Adrien Agreste. The moment she meets his eyes her brain short circuits from an information overload. His friendly, polite smile; his proximity; his hand that is on her hand.

“Hrrngh bublng,” Marinette replies.

She immediately wants to dive out the storefront windows.

Adrien frowns in confusion (or maybe it’s concern? When will this boy stop being so good) at her.

She’s not used to him. A week and a half of their tentative friendship and she is still not used to him. She hopes there’s a time limit. She really hopes she doesn’t have to act like a fool 24/7 for the rest of their friendship.

Nino and Marinette have taken to hanging out with him at the academy. He’s good company. Nino warmed up to him immediately and Marinette can definitely see why. Adrien is charming, kind, warm, and can even be occasionally funny. He’s relaxed enough in demeanour to keep up with Nino and passionate enough to keep Marinette interested.

And he’s really, really smart. (It’s kind of a turn on.)

They’d invited him to the parlour this afternoon. Alya, being in university, hasn’t met him before today.

Adrien is about to ask her what’s wrong, she can see it, when Alya comes swooping in to rescue her.

“I am not paying you back twenty euro, Agreste,” she says, plucking a spoon from the tray when Marinette sets it down. “But thanks.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Alya,” he says, holding out his hand. “And there’s nothing to thank me for.”

Alya quirks an eyebrow and smiles. Alya approved.

She shakes his hand. “Yeah, yeah, rich boy. Tell me that when you don’t have so much money and you’ll understand why there is.”

When Adrien blushes Marinette has to take a moment to turn her head, mutter “Oh my god” under her breath, and swallow a couple of times before she can turn back with a smile.

“Well thanks from me too,” Marinette says. She is an adult for heaven’s sake, she can talk to a boy. “I’ll get your change now.”

“Keep it,” he says.

She looks at him flatly. “No.”

“Not even as a tip?”

“I don’t take tips from my friends.”

He gives her a strange sort of smile—half-soft, half-uncertain and it’s a testament to her wavering resilience that she’s able to smile back. She doesn’t know what his meant but it sure pulled the pins out of her knees.

“Don’t fight it, Agreste,” Alya says through a mouth full of chocolate deluxe sundae. She shovels in another bite before she continues. “It’s not worth it.”

Marinette finds relief when he turns his head to Alya.

“You’re, uh,” Nino says, “you’re really chomping down into that sundae, Alya.”

Nino is watching her eat with a hilarious blend of mild fear and reverence. Marinette rolls her eyes from behind the cash register and goes back to hand Adrien his change.

“Mmffhmm.”

They all watch as she continues to load in bite after bite. “Have to—” chomp “—squad practice—” chomp “—tonight—” chomp “—have a lot—” chomp “—to organise.”

Chomp.

“You’re going to get brain freeze,” Marinette says, sliding Adrien’s change across the table to him . She might be keeping some semblance of cool right now but if she touches him she will probably spontaneously combust.

“Practice?” Adrien asks.

“Yeah,” Marinette says. “Alya is the captain of this hip hop group. She takes it very seriously.”

Nino winks at her surreptitiously and she aims an equally as surreptitious kick at him under the table.

“And there’s practice tonight.”

Marinette nods. It will be their fourth practice. Adrien hums, his face politely interested.

“There wasn’t meant to be,” Alya says. “But I had to cancel tomorrow so I sent everyone a text this morning, I think. Except this one guy. But he never gave me his number. So I put it up on the Facebook page. I think he’s in the group, but I’m not sure. Either he’s the one with the profile of a vampire—solid black profile pic I shit you not—or I’ve let some random person by the name of ‘Chat Noir’ into it by accident”

“Ah,” Adrien says.

Alya turns to Marinette. “Will you sweet talk Chat Noir into giving us his number please? He seems to have a soft spot for you.”

Marinette snorts. “Sure. As long as you let me take his measurements after practice.”

“Deal.”

“His measurements?” Adrien asks.

Marinette feels shy suddenly, her cheeks heating up again. Sure Adrien is their friend, but he doesn’t know about her hobby. He doesn’t know how she likes to design clothes and dance costumes. It’s something she usually saves for herself, or the people closest to her. If she’s wearing one of the things she’s made and someone asks about it, she’ll tell them, but she’s never really talked about it with someone who hasn’t been in with her.

(Never mind someone she’s hopelessly crushing on.)

Alya beats her to it. “Marinette has this thing where she likes to design clothes and apparently this Chat Noir kid is wearing something that’s driving her crazy. She thinks he’s suffocating himself. So she wants his measurements to design something to help him not die of heatstroke.”

“Alya!” Marinette hisses. “You’re making me sound like I’m obsessed!”

“Honey, that kid has no idea the value of a Marinette-made outfit. You’re probably gonna make it look cooler than anything he’s ever worn in his life. He doesn’t seem like he’d know fashion if he were dropped into an issue of Vogue.”

Adrien coughs lightly, his grin sun bright. “I think that’s really generous of you, Marinette. You obviously don’t have to do it, but even the thought of it is especially kind.”

Marinette can’t keep eye contact. It’s bad enough her whole heart has melted at the compliment, but with his eyes on her it’s like her skin is going to drip off any second now too.

“Yes, well,” she mumbles. “It’s mostly because I need to get his size for the squad’s uniforms.”

Nino shrugs. “Or you’re actually cool with becoming his friend and you’re doing something nice. That works too, you know.”

“Shut up and eat your ice cream.” She wipes her hands on her apron. “I’ll see you after practice Alya.”

“Sure thing, girl.”

She hesitates but then, “I’ll see you later, Adrien?”

“I’ll see you later, Marinette.”

She smiles back.

“You’re—going to die—just so you know.”

Marinette tries to keep her voice under the volume of the music as she twists around Chat Noir.

“Don’t worry—” he drops low as she opens her legs in a wide plié in front of him “—my Lady—” he slides through and weaves his body upright “—this alley cat—” they slide into formation with the rest of the group “—knows how to—” he spins away for his solo and she when he finishes she slides right back in beside him “—protect himself.”

His last words are punctuated with a big grin.

She rolls her eyes and concentrates on the routine for the last few bars of the song, the warmth of his smile lingering in the air.

Or maybe it’s the heat radiating off him because he’s back in that ridiculous hoodie.

He’s so hot, little black-tinted beads of sweat are rolling down his cheeks and dropping off his sharp jaw. His face is red beneath his grease paint and he’s panting hard.

He’s not going to get relief anytime soon either. Marinette can see Alya’s frown from where she stands by the end of the hall and it’s aimed right at him. She’s working herself up to chew Chat Noir out for arriving 20 minutes late to practice.

If there’s one thing Alya likes it’s punctuality, and one of her dancers late for practice is enough to make her sour for the next couple of hours.

The group finishes the routine and Marinette turns, panting, to where Chat Noir stands.

“Why were you late anyway?”

Before he can answer, Alya’s loud voice calls through the hall.

“Alright kids. Stretch out, that’s enough for today.”

Marinette offers him a sympathetic smile and touches his forearm.

“Good luck,” she whispers, before running off to grab her water bottle and duffel bag. If she didn’t have to change and take off her stage makeup, Marinette would have stuck around a little longer. She and Chat Noir have settled into a routine of easy conversation as they cool down and stretch out at the end of practice.

She almost can’t believe how well they get on. His jokes are cheesy and he’s a little liberal with his charms but there is an endless and intriguing amount of intellect in those eyes of his. They talk about anything, having strayed from the topic of dancing after their first practice and Marinette has found it’s just as easy to talk to him about everything else. Of course, neither of them divulge too many personal details, but there is a natural flow to their friendship that strengthens every time they meet.

So it pains her a little to rush off now and leave him to the dogs. Alya rather.

But she’s doing this for his sake. If she can change and catch her breath quickly enough, maybe Alya won’t have enough time to get really mad at Chat. She can already hear Alya raising her voice a little from her bathroom stall.

Once she’s pulled on a new set of clothes, wiped her face, and her cheeks pull off a rosy glow more than tomato red look, she sprints out of the bathroom and back to the dance hall, tucking her sweaty and gross ponytail into a cap.

“I’m here!” she calls, wincing as she interrupts Alya’s scolding. Her words echo in the room, empty now but for Alya and Chat Noir. They probably high tailed it as soon as Alya started on him.

But now, Alya rounds on Marinette, eyes flashing. It’s definitely something to be able to take on an angry Alya, but she’d rather have it be her than Chat Noir, who looks like someone told him he couldn’t dance again. She probably gave him the whole spiel of “letting the crew down”, and the poor kid seems to have really taken it to heart.

She smiles at him and he gives her a small one back.

“Hey, Princess,” he says.

“Hi, Chat Noir,” she says.

Alya purses her lips. “Marinette. He’s all yours.”

“I’m—what? Hers—what—”

“Stop talking, Chat Noir. Be glad Marinette took pity on you and came in so early. Don’t be late again. This is a strike on your record.” She retrieves her iPod and leaves, shooting Marinette a pointed look.

He looks so surprised that Marinette laughs, as if he’s never had anything but a clean record. It’s strangely contradictory to what she would have thought about him. A guy like him who, so arrogant and cheeky, one would imagine his record anywhere to be full of spots.

“Now—” Marinette says.

“I have a record here?”

“Of course you do. Alya takes this very seriously and so should you.”

He grins and his whole body relaxes. “I take this as seriously as I take our relationship, Princess.”

She blinks at him. “Great. Then as a show of good will for this relationship, you’ll hold your arms out and let me take your measurements. I need them for the squad’s uniform.”

She studiously avoids his eyes for that last sentence, rummaging around in her duffel for her measuring tape and hoping her excuse is enough. It technically isn’t a lie, but the whole truth would just lead to him teasing her for it and she doesn’t want to give him chances he wouldn’t ordinarily have. This isn’t the first time Chat Noir has met Marinette after their initial encounter, but he hasn’t stopped teasing her as much as he did the first day.

He frowns slightly. “Have you gotten Ladybug’s measurements yet?”

The question catches her off guard. “Uh-uhm, yeah. I have. She gave—I got them when she came over. The other night. To my house.” She clears her throat and pretends to flatten out a wrinkle in her tape, praying the lie doesn’t sound as bad to Chat Noir as it does to her.

“Wait,” he says, and she cringes, ready for an accusation she’ll also have to lie her way out of, but he surprises her. “You know Ladybug personally?”

“Yeah,” she says quietly. “We’ve known each other for a long time. She’s… nice.”

“Cool,” he breathes, and the admiration in his voice almost makes her wince. She bites her lip instead.

She’s tired of this already—all this secrecy. It weighs down on her having to lie to her parents about what she’s doing, of not being able to tell them how proud she is about being able to dance like this. It’s exhausting going into school every morning afraid she’ll somehow slip in her movements and her teachers will realise she has been dancing very differently to how they’ve been instructing her.

But lying to Chat Noir is fast becoming the worst part of this all. He and Ladybug are becoming fast friends, but so are he and Marinette. There’s something she has with him, some lightning-strong connection, that she’s never encountered before and even if they have only known each other a few weeks, they’re close. He’s a brilliant person even beyond the dancing and Marinette hates this game, especially when he believes her.

If she didn’t have Alya and Nino to talk to and to support her, she doesn’t know what she would do.

She sighs quietly when she motions for him to raise his arms.

“So do you like fashion then?” he says. His voice is lacking the laughter it usually has, strangely soft, and it makes her look up to meet his eyes.

Marinette measures his arm, deciding if she wants to answer.

“Yeah,” she says, after taking note of it and moving on to the other one. “I’ve been into it ever since I could remember. I like to sew and knit and design. I like to look at all the fashion magazines I can get my hands on and then make up my own. I like fashion.”

He hums. “Do you have any favourite designers?”

She snorts. “Why, are you looking for tips? Because—and I say this as your friend—you could probably use some.”

He pokes her in the stomach, making her squeak and lose track of measuring his torso. His smile is fond.

“Really,” he presses.

She sighs. “Gabriel Agreste.”

She can feel him tense from where she measures his waist, probably tickling him.

“Sorry,” she murmurs.

“Why?”

“Why am I sorry?”

“No. Why Gabriel Agreste?”

Marinette writes the measurement down and straightens to look at him. He’s looking at her like there’s something fundamental about her he doesn’t understand.

“He’s very clean,” she says slowly, feeling a little unsettled under his gaze. “All his lines are careful and beautiful and perfectly elegant. If royalty were a style of fashion, Agreste would be it. It reminds me of how much there is to admire in fashion like that, and how much of a challenge it is.”

“A challenge?”

“Yeah.” She pokes at his legs to get him to spread them. “To go against that kind of fashion. To take all those perfect, brilliant lines and throw them out the window. Take the route no one has, you know?”

His eyes haven’t changed when she glances up at him and it makes her jut her chin out, defensive, even if she doesn’t know why she’s reacting like this.

“That’s…” he pauses. “A really inspired way to look at it.”

“Thanks,” she says slowly, straightening and putting away her instruments. “Now. I want to talk to you about something.”

His eyes brighten, immediately losing that faraway, thoughtful look. “Oh?” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively and she punches his shoulder (not very lightly).

“I need you to wear something lighter to the next squad practice. You can’t keep dancing in hoodies this thick, it’s going to kill you. I’ll know if you don’t.”

He looks at her surprised for a moment before releasing a bark of laughter.

“I’m not joking! Did you even bring a bottle of water to practice?”

His smile is wide as the whole sun. “In my defence, I was rushing to get here on time.”

“You were late.”

“I was rushing to try to get here on time.”

She raises her eyebrows at him. “Whatever. Wear a t-shirt or something on Sunday, okay?”

“I would, Princess,” he frowns, “but the hoodie helps with the whole hidden identity thing.”

“No one is going to recognise your biceps if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She gives him a look before he can reply.

“You’re going to faint from dehydration one of these days,” she says.

He pouts. “But I can’t cover my face if I don’t have a hood.”

“I don’t know if you’ve seen yourself recently—consider the walls are mirrors here—but your whole face is painted black. Who could possibly recognise you?”

He laughs, but it’s a weaker sound than she’s used to hearing from him. “I would feel more comfortable with additional protection.”

She rolls her eyes at his wording but pulls her cap off her head anyway. “Fine.”

She reaches for his hood slowly, giving him time to duck away, and when he doesn’t, pushes it back off his head. His eyes don’t leave her face as she fits her cap snugly on his head, searching again, but she ignores them.

“There,” she says. “It’s black and it casts a shadow. Fits perfectly with your aesthetic, no?”

He looks up to catch his reflection in the mirror and when he sees how it still disguises him he grins.

“Ah!” he exclaims. “It’s perfect Princess, thank you!” He takes her hand and twirls her around, catching her by surprise.

She laughs despite herself and when he stops to kiss her knuckles she’s still giggling.

“Thank you,” he purrs, and his face is so annoyingly charming that she pushes him away by the nose.

“You’re shameless,” she says, but it falls flat with her smile.

His pout doesn’t seem all that sincere either.

“And late,” he says, pulling his phone from his pocket and checking the time. “Well, Princess, this is where I must leave you.”

He goes to leave when she remembers. “Oh! Before you go, can I have your number please? Alya isn’t sure you’re getting all her messages about the squad, and she thinks it might be easier if I can pass along the message.”

He looks like she threatened to kick a kitten, puzzling her thoroughly.

“I, uh,” she tries, “won’t give it to anyone if that’s what you’re worried about.”

His mouth opens, then closes. Then opens again. Then closes.

“Chat?” she asks.

“I—” he says weakly. “Don’t have a phone.” They both look at it, then back at one another. Another few moments pass. “OkaysorryMarinettebye!”

She doesn’t even catch her breath before he’s gone, sprinting out like his tail is on fire.

“I—” she says.

What just happened?

#ml #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #break dance au #my writing #my ff #cl #my ml

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angelofthequeers · 4 years

Text

Hold Me By Both Hands: Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7 | AO3 link

“I can’t believe I forgot it was tonight!” Ladybug bemoans as she races across Paris to the TV studio, where hopefully she won’t be too late for Nadja’s interview. “Of course it would be tonight! Why else would Nadja have asked me to babysit Manon?”

Of course, Tikki doesn’t answer. She can’t, seeing as she’s currently powering the earrings that are letting Ladybug swing through Paris like a black-spotted Spider-Man with boobs. Not that that’s a weird thought or anything. Ladybug groans out loud. Why does her brain do this?

She has two options when she reaches the TV studio. She could walk inside like a normal person…or she could make a grand entrance like the kwami-powered, spandex-wearing superhero she is. Naturally, she picks the latter, and kicks the studio doors open before using her yo-yo to swing herself to her seat with a proper ten out of ten landing…which, of course, ends with her losing her balance and stumbling backwards into the couch that Chat Noir is currently occupying. Thankfully, she manages to salvage it by rushing to sit upright and crossing her legs, grinning as though she hadn’t just pulled a Marinette when she’s supposed to be Ladybug.

“I thought you’d decided to stand me up, milady,” Chat Noir teases, leaning back with one arm on the back of the couch like some kind of cool cat. Ladybug briefly imagines what it would look like if Adrien was in his place but has to stop before she spontaneously combusts from the thought of Adrien leaning on the couch like Chat Noir is doing.

What a way to go, though.

“And let the audience down?” Ladybug chirps, praying that her inner anguish isn’t obvious outwardly. “Never! I’m sorry I’m so late, Nadja.”

I wish Adrien really was Chat Noir, she thinks grumpily. Then we would actually like each other –

She breaks off that line of thought before it goes too far. The more she thinks about it, the harder it is to cool her feelings for Adrien, and the more stress this will cause her. And the more stressed she gets, the more her brain short-circuits and she starts stammering and fumbling everything.

“Good evening!” Nadja says into the camera, and Ladybug’s heart leaps into her throat when she realises that they’re on air and she probably looks like she’s a million miles away. “I’m Nadja Chamack and this is Face to Face! For our first edition, I welcome the beloved guardians of Paris: Ladybug and Chat Noir. Hello!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir wave at the camera when it turns to them. A bead of sweat rolls down Ladybug’s neck. This is way more stressful than she’d thought! She needs to guard every word carefully, make sure that nothing that’s said is potentially revealing, because there’s no way she’ll be able to look Tikki in the eye if she breaks her word to her kwami and reveals secrets that shouldn’t be revealed. At least when she’s fighting an akuma, she doesn’t have to worry about the akuma trying to pry into every tiny detail about her life. Maybe Tikki had been right about this.

They get the “welcome and thank you for being here slash having us” pleasantries out of the way, with Ladybug having to suppress a giggle when Chat Noir is a colossal dork and takes a bow for his fans. They may be less numerous than Ladybug’s, but they do exist, and they can count Marinette among them, not that she can really say that right now.

“It’s obvious you two are very close!” Nadja says after a little Ladybug and Chat Noir banter. Once again, Ladybug’s cursing her crush on Adrien because Chat Noir’s flirting, as dorky as it is, is actually kind of sweet and endearing. Maybe she can imagine Adrien as Chat Noir so hard that her crush transfers and everything can be ten times easier, since she knows for sure that Chat Noir’s into her. Probably too much to ask, though. Not even Ladybug can be that lucky.

“People know you, but they don’t really know you,” Nadja continues, unaware of Ladybug’s internal battle. “We see you saving Paris, but we don’t know anything else about you!”

“We won’t be keeping anything from you, Nadja,” Chat Noir says.

“Well, we have to keep a few secrets, including our identities, of course!” Ladybug corrects. Just their luck, Hawkmoth might be watching this, waiting to latch on to any morsel of information they give.

“Absolutely!” Nadja agrees eagerly after a glance at her wristband. “How about we start off with a few questions from your biggest fans?”

What follows is…interesting. Chloé spends her call puffing herself up and throwing her weight around, Alya treads on Nadja’s toes by asking for an interview for the Ladyblog, and Manon accidentally lands Marinette in hot water on live TV by letting slip that Marinette’s not there. While Ladybug’s still freaking out and trying not to blurt out something embarrassing on air, Nadja quickly ends the fan call segment and things get even more interesting. Embarrassing and infuriating might be better words. Yep, this is why Ladybug only ever does interviews for Alya if she can help it.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir,” the reporter says. “So, a lot of fans think of you as a couple of superheroes. But also, and I quote unquote, “as a couple”, period.”

Ladybug’s heart instantly starts to race again. Oh, no. This would be easier to deal with if she could be certain that Chat Noir wasn’t going to jump in headfirst and revel in those rumours. She loves her partner – she really does – but sometimes, he just has no sense of boundaries whatsoever.

“What?” she bursts out. Nadja doesn’t notice her panic.

“Can you confirm that you’re dating, here, tonight?” Nadja presses on, and annoyance immediately starts to set Ladybug’s jaw. Why do fans want to stick their noses so far into celebrities’ lives? Why is there no such thing as privacy? Haven’t she and Chat Noir earned that much at least? It’s not like they’re movie stars or anything; with them, personal questions could literally be the difference between life or death. Her heart starts to break even more for Adrien. If this is how she feels after a brief intrusion, how must he feel every single day of his life?

“I – I’m very sorry, Nadja, but we’re superheroes,” Ladybug says firmly, waving her hands as if to ward off the intrusive question. “We’re not here to answer such personal questions.”

“Meow! My Ladybug’s grown claws!” Chat Noir teases. Ladybug wishes she could snap that this isn’t the time, but they’re on live TV and she doesn’t want to do anything to threaten their united front.

She tries to defuse the situation by turning the subject to the safety of Paris, but Nadja won’t be deterred. Instead, she ploughs on by showing a picture of Ladybug kissing Chat Noir – to save him when he was under Dark Cupid’s influence, why else would she kiss him? – and Chat Noir’s shock only seems to egg Nadja on.

Ladybug wants to cry when Nadja shows more pictures of them that could be construed as romantically intimate, except for the fact that they were simply having fun as friends or saving Paris at those times. How is this fair? What right do these journalists have to pry into their lives just for views? And Chat Noir doesn’t help when, instead of shutting down the rumour mill, he actively encourages it by expressing a wish that they’ll be together someday. Doesn’t that cat see what’s wrong here?

“That’s enough!” Ladybug finally bursts out, shaky and at her wit’s end and a second away from having a meltdown unbefitting of a superhero after Nadja’s pressure to admit something false as the truth. The studio lights around her are so bright, her heart’s hammering in her chest, she can just imagine the whole of Paris in that studio, gawking at them, treating them like little dancing monkeys, and she needs to get out of there or she’s going to scream and cry. “This interview is so over!”

She drags a protesting Chat Noir out, though thankfully he’s on her side when she shuts down Nadja’s protests about the show not being over. It’s not until they’re on top of a tall building near the studio that Ladybug can finally relax, the panicked adrenaline in her system still ramping everything up to eleven but not as bad as when she was trapped in that situation. Though Chat Noir still doesn’t understand what’s got her so distressed, as evident by his flippant remark about the price of stardom.

“We’re not stars! We’re superheroes!” Ladybug snaps, tugging at her pigtails. “And I couldn’t – I can’t – I thought you back my had!”

“Uh…had your back?” Chat Noir says. Ladybug lets out a scream of frustration and slumps down on the roof, stomping her foot as though this can relieve the pressure building up inside her. “Are – are you alright, milady?”

“No!” Ladybug wails. She takes a deep breath to try and calm down. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Chat!”

“Of course I am!” Chat Noir sits down next to her. “What made you think –”

“When people start asking about our personal life like that, you’re supposed to help me shut them down!” Ladybug says, blinking rapidly to try and hold back the tears threatening to fall. The last thing she needs is to start crying like a baby in front of her partner. “Not only is that none of their business, but it’s not right! We’re not together!”

“I thought you didn’t mind my flirting,” Chat Noir says.

“I don’t! But there’s a time and a place, and that’s not when a reporter’s trying to push us into a fake confession just for views!” Ladybug shivers and hugs her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth so she doesn’t start stomping her foot again because she needs to let out this steam somehow and rocking has less potential for harm than stomping. “That was hugely disrespectful to both of us, Chat. And…and you crossed my boundaries by encouraging her. That’s not cool.”

“I didn’t realise,” Chat says quietly. He shuffles closer to her, wrapping an arm around her only when she nods her permission. “I’m sorry, milady. I didn’t realise how uncomfortable you were. Are you okay?” he adds in alarm, and Ladybug dimly realises that her cheeks are warmly wet.

“I feel like the worst person ever,” she says thickly, wiping her face dry, and her magic suit isn’t even damp from cleaning her face. “There’s a boy at my school – Adrien Agreste, you have to know him, right?”

“Can’t exactly miss him,” Chat Noir mutters.

“You can’t tell anyone but…I’ve got the biggest crush on him, kitty. I had pictures of him up and I knew his schedule and everything, like some stalker! Okay, so I’ve got all my friends’ pictures and schedules up too, but it’s kind of hard to focus on that when I literally stole Adrien’s phone to delete an embarrassing voicemail so he wouldn’t think I was a loser, and it doesn’t help that my autism means I can really fixate on what I’m interested in if I don’t keep my hyperfixations and special interests in check –”

“Hey. Hey. Breathe, Ladybug.” Chat Noir grabs her hand with his free one and squeezes. Dimly, Ladybug comes to the realisation that she’s not breathing – her chest is burning – she squeezes Chat Noir’s hand back and forces herself to suck in massive gulps of air, then crosses her legs like she does when meditating with her mother on weekends. Even if she can’t push herself into that headspace with close to a meltdown she is now, the familiar action is just calming enough to loosen the iron band around her chest.

Just breathe. In…out…in…out…

“You know, I don’t think he’d mind having you as a stalker, milady,” Chat Noir adds. Ladybug glares at him, so he grins sheepishly and holds his hands up. “Sorry. Just trying to cheer you up a bit. Bad timing.”

“I mean, I love the real him, of course,” Ladybug says. Although her voice is shaky and high, at least she can actually word right now. Chat Noir’s presence is doing wonders, despite his annoying lack of timing when it comes to jokes. “I know an Adrien model smile from the real thing, and I’d like to think I know a little bit about the real Adrien. But I didn’t even realise how sick he must be of always being in the spotlight and having fans who claim that they know the real Adrien when they don’t! And I could still be one of them!”

“Milady –”

“Now I know how he must feel,” Ladybug says miserably. “Those prying questions…trying to dig up our personal lives for a scoop…I never realised until now how hard it must be for him. And I just feel even worse because I was one of those people feeding into it!”

“It doesn’t sound like it to me,” Chat Noir says after a moment. “I mean, from what you’ve said, you never rushed after him like some rabid fangirl.”

I can’t even talk to him without messing my words up, Ladybug thinks darkly.

“It sounds to me like you really do like him,” Chat Noir continues, squeezing her with the arm he’s got around her. “And I don’t think he’d blame you for getting that tangled up with perfect Adrien Agreste.” There’s an odd note of bitterness in Chat Noir’s voice when he says those words. “I mean, being that famous, he’d be forced to project that perfect image, right?”

“But that’s why it’s so confusing.” Ladybug wipes her nose, grimacing at how unheroic she must look right now. She takes a deep breath and chooses her next words carefully. “I don’t think he’s the one putting out that image and pretending like model Adrien and real Adrien are two different people. I interact with him enough to know that he’s so…genuine. He doesn’t pretend to be someone he’s not. I think it’s the public that latches on to what they’re given and blow that up into perfect prince Adrien, like how people do with YouTubers and other celebrities like that, you know? And I’d like to think I at least know a bit about him – especially because I didn’t even know him before I met him, so I wasn’t blinded by that image – but…when people around you are so enthusiastic about the image they create, it kind of…”

“Rubs off on you?” Chat Noir says quietly.

“Exactly,” she agrees. “I mean, we put out a united front as Ladybug and Chat Noir – and we are friends and partners – but we don’t actively go around building an image. We just do our thing and the public decides how they see us, like in that interview. I just…never realised exactly how Adrien must feel until now. And now I love him even more, even though I’m trying to just see him as a friend because then I won’t be such a mess! At least if we’re friends, I won’t have to stress about getting worried over who else likes him and whether he thinks I’m being weird and…my kwami told me that friendship is just as important as romance. I think she’s right.”

“I know he’d love to have you as a friend, milady. Who wouldn’t? And I think he’d be happy to know you’re thinking all of this,” Chat Noir says. When Ladybug looks up at him, she can’t for the life of her figure out why he’s got such an odd look on his face. “He’s the sunshine prince of Paris. I’m sure the fact that you and his friends don’t buy into that and don’t chase him all over the place makes him happier than you could ever imagine.”

Ladybug blinks and opens her mouth to reply to that, only to be interrupted by one of the big TVs near them flickering to display an image of a redheaded woman with electronic blue skin and clothing, who introduces herself as Prime Queen. Her face looks more like a projection of a vaguely human face than an actual face itself.

“Nadja?” she and Chat Noir exclaim. This is not good. This is so not good. How could she have known that Nadja would get so upset over that interview? A small part of Ladybug can’t help but think that this is Nadja’s fault, that she shouldn’t have pushed and disrespected them just for some scoop, before guilt floods into her stomach at the thought. How can she even think that? She shouldn’t have been so rude to Nadja. Would it have hurt to play along? It’s not like Paris knows anything about them, and she and Chat Noir do look pretty close – but she hates liars, there’s no way she could just play along with one –

“Milady, it’s not your fault.” Chat Noir, as observant as he is dorky, seems to immediately notice the path that Ladybug’s thoughts are taking, and he grabs her hand again and squeezes it. “You were right. She should’ve respected us. I just got so caught up in fame that’s different to my –”

“Tonight, Ladybug and Chat Noir disappointed all their loyal fans by refusing to admit their love for each other!” Prime Queen continues, cutting off Chat Noir. Although she’s grateful that he’d been stopped from revealing potentially identifying information, Ladybug can’t help but admit that her curiosity is piqued. “I’ve prepared some trials to see just how far they’re willing to go to keep the truth hidden from us!”

When Prime Queen ends up jumping through her screens to kidnap Chloé and hijack a subway, everything just got real is Ladybug’s only thought. At least she’s got Chat Noir by her side, who she now feels even closer to after their conversation from just before. There’s no one else she’d rather jump through a screen with to save a spoiled brat than Chat Noir.

“Can you believe it?” Adrien sighs, falling back onto his bed as he releases his transformation. His body feels so light that he’s practically floating on clouds, despite his leaden limbs from his battle with Prime Queen just before. “Ladybug has a crush on me, Plagg!”

“That’s nice,” Plagg says. “You know what’s even nicer?” He zooms for his mini fridge full of Camembert with a whoop.

“Plagg, you don’t get it!” Adrien insists. “I love Ladybug and Ladybug loves me! She wants to be my friend! She’s crushing on me!”

“Oh, I do get it,” Plagg says. “You had a nice talk with her about how the public turns you into some perfect prince and all you can take away from that talk is that she likes you.”

“I never said that wasn’t important,” Adrien retorts.

“I never said you didn’t think it was important,” Plagg shrugs, downing a wedge of Camembert in one gulp. “But I’d think you’d be happier that someone’s realising that the image the public projects of you as some flawless sunshine child is a load of processed cheese.”

“Processed cheese?” Adrien blinks.

“Yeah! Those disgusting packaged slices don’t even deserve to be honoured with the name of cheese. They’re edible plastic!”

“What the heck are you saying, Plagg?”

Plagg abandons his Camembert and floats up to look Adrien dead in the eye. The fact that Plagg is leaving his cheese for a talk is so drastic that Adrien can’t help but give the little cat kwami his undivided attention.

“I get it, kid,” Plagg says. “You’re in love with Ladybug. And I don’t think you’re just infatuated or building up a perfect image of her or something. I think it’s real and I think you know her as Ladybug better than anyone else. But how good are your chances of wooing her as Chat Noir when she’s interested in Adrien?”

“I just have to nudge her into liking Chat Noir,” Adrien insists.

“No,” Plagg says. “She won’t be open to your advances as Chat Noir. Not unless she knows that Adrien and Chat Noir are the same person, and you can’t reveal your identity, especially not for something as selfish as that.”

“What’s the point of this?” Adrien says.

“The point,” Plagg says testily, no doubt wanting to go back to his cheese rather than be stuck lecturing some lovesick teenager, “is that you need to focus on what you do have. What don’t you have? A romantic relationship with Ladybug. A father who actually spends more than five minutes a month with you. What do you have? Friends who like you as Adrien. Friends who you used to sneak out to see even though your father never let you go. A superhero partner who thinks you’re awesome, and you’ve got a special friendship with her that no one else does. You two are like cheese and crackers. Quit acting like romance is the most important thing and focus on the friends you have. She’s already getting it when she says that friendship with you is just as important as being with you.” Plagg scowls. “Man, Tikki’s always the annoyingly responsible one. Makes me look bad just because I don’t like giving these silly speeches.”

“You’re saying I should just…give up on her?” Adrien says. Plagg lets out a cry of frustration.

“Where did I say that? You’re treating a relationship with Ladybug as way more important than the friendships you do have as both Adrien and Chat Noir, when friendship is just as important as romance! You humans have a weird habit of acting like one form of love is better than the other. Keep your crush on Ladybug but stop acting like romance is the most important thing. Be happy being her friend. All Ladybugs and Chat Noirs are destined to be close. It’s part of that yin and yang balancing poetic schtick. So even if you never get married, she’ll be your best friend for life. And you should be happy with that. No matter what, she’s always going to be someone you can count on, and you’ll always be the same for her.”

Silence falls on the room after Plagg’s speech. Adrien just blinks, trying to process not only his words but also the knowledge that Plagg isn’t just a bottomless stomach. But then, that makes sense. Plagg is the literal god of destruction and he’s been around for thousands of years, so of course he’s going to have a serious side.

“You were picked to be Chat Noir because you can be brave and selfless and put others before yourself,” Plagg concludes. “Don’t act like a spoiled brat and prove Master Fu wrong.”

“Wow. I never knew you could actually be wise and –”

“You gotta get me more of this Camembert!” Plagg says loudly, zooming back to his cheese. “This is divine.”

Adrien lets Plagg go back to devouring his cheese, instead rolling onto his side and sighing. “I know that I don’t know too much about Ladybug but…I know more about her than anyone else does. I know she’s feisty and confident and independent. She’s so sure of herself, like how she stood up to Hawkmoth when we were taking on Stoneheart! That’s why I love her so much. She always manages to get us out of sticky situations and save the day.”

“This is why you should love Camembert,” Plagg says. Adrien’s not sure if the kwami had completely ignored everything he’d said or if he’s just blocking out the ‘sap’. “Camembert’s so much less complicated.”

“Goodnight, Plagg.”

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #aotq fic #aotq: hold me #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #nadja chamack #plagg #prime queen #autistic marinette #time for adrien's self-reflection

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