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rosie-b · 8 months

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True Blue

Chapter 9: Fight and Flight

6534 words

“Aww, we forgive you too, Bluebird,” Golden Bug said affectionately. “By the way, do you have a name picked out? Not your real one, of course,” he chuckled.

“Uh.” Marinette’s mind raced as she thought. She wasn’t prepared for this! She’d only gotten this Miraculous half an hour ago! “Blue...wing?”

Golden Bug blinked and then smiled. “Bluewing! A pretty name for a pretty hero. Welcome to the team!”

You can read the chapter below or on AO3!

Marinette stood in the light of the attic window, staring in awe at the blue material stretching over her body to cover it.

A flash of gold on her shoulders caught her eye as two epaulettes appeared on her shoulders; blue-purple-gold feathers grew and spread into a fan in her right hand; she felt herself rise off the floor as a pair of winged heels formed on her feet. A surge of fabric flared out behind her, creating peacock-like shirttails, and above her head, her hair twisted itself into a crown braid. As the transformation ended, a thin, blue mask rimmed in gold spread across her face.

Feeling oddly in awe of herself, Marinette snapped her fan closed, examined the white gloves on her hands, and cautiously spun around on her heels, which were higher than she was used to yet didn’t seem to make her clumsier than usual.

Magic is pretty cool, Marinette thought as she faced M. Agreste with a neutral expression as she waited for his judgment.

He smirked as he looked over her suit, satisfied with the results of her and Duusu’s work.

“Excellent choice, Marinette! This is a true soldier’s uniform, perfect for fighting in, and it disguises your civilian appearance just enough that Golden Bug will never guess who you are. You look almost ready,” he mused. “I wonder — would you be willing to give the suit a test run? You’ve been late for lessons before; just tell Nathalie you fell asleep in a corner somewhere and she won’t suspect a thing. Oh, yes, this will do nicely!”

He sounded very excited about this, both Marinette’s successful transformation and the prospect of another akuma attack. But why? Surely he couldn’t expect her to win the final battle on her first day as a magic wielder!

“Why would I need to do that?” she asked him, trepidation clear in her voice. “If I detransform now, I could still be back downstairs in time for afternoon lessons, and we can always do whatever you’re thinking of later, right?”

M. Agreste only smiled, a bit darker this time, and adjusted his ascot. “We could do that. But wouldn’t you like to test the suit out a bit first, before you return to those dreary lessons of yours? It’s still possible that the suit won’t work for you, after all.”

Marinette glanced down at the fan she was holding and frowned. True, the suit was a little unfamiliar, but it had been made for her, and she could already tell that it fit perfectly.

Gabriel continued, “I’m proposing an akumatization, just a short one, mind you! You won’t be engaging the so-called heroes; you’ll only be looking on from the sidelines. I want you to test yourself beside them as they fight; run as fast as they do, leap between buildings, push yourself further than you’ve ever been able to. And you will find it all possible, thanks to your suit’s power! Once the fight is over, you will return to the mansion, detransform, and go back to your lessons as if nothing had happened until the time comes for your first real fight. Are you up to the task, Miss Marinette?”

Looking at M. Agreste’s determined expression, Marinette felt herself begin to cave. “I guess I could try doing that, but isn’t it more important for me to keep up with my lessons? I was already late enough this morning that I missed one; should we really risk me missing a whole other lesson in the same day?”

Tugging his ascot off, M. Agreste made a dismissive noise in the back of his throat. “Bah! You are already far ahead of the other students your age, Marinette. One missed lesson will not harm your progress. Nooroo, dark wings rise!”

Hawk Moth strode over to the window and opened a small panel in it, the one the akuma had flown through in the last fight.

“I will send the akuma out first, and then it will be your turn to go outside.” At Marinette’s bewildered look, he said, “The side door should let you out without any problems or spying eyes. Ready yourself,” he said, opening the top of his staff, which housed a ready-made akuma.

A pit grew in her stomach as Marinette watched the akuma fly toward the window. She wasn’t ready to fight anyone, not yet!

Then again, if M. Agreste wasn’t lying, she wouldn’t have to fight this time. She waited for Hawk Moth’s signal to go downstairs with her knees slightly bent.

“Go, my beautiful akuma,” Hawk Moth said softly. As the butterfly flapped its way through Paris, he turned to Marinette. “Nathalie should be busy; you may go downstairs and outside. Follow the akuma’s path to the park near your home; that is where the fight will begin. Be careful not to be spotted by Nathalie or the heroes.”

“I will. Wish me luck.” Marinette laughed breathlessly, because luck was against her now, wasn’t he?

Hawk Moth’s mouth curved into a confident smile. “You will not need it.”

He turned away from Marinette, back to the butterfly-shaped window and the dark akuma in the distance.

Marinette stepped into the elevator, letting its doors close around her like a coffin’s lid. It began its slow descent to the ground floor, and Marinette’s mouth flattened as she prepared for her (hopefully quick enough) dash through the side door. That’s the one the chef uses, right? she thought frantically. Yeah, okay, I know where that is.

The elevator opened, and she immediately ran to the side door; her heels caught on the rug and moved it out of place as she skidded to a halt and pulled the door open. The handle nearly broke off in her hand, a testament to the strength she’d suddenly gained. Behind her, the rug was still a rumpled mess a foot from the door. I’ll fix it later, she promised herself as she stepped outside and took a deep breath.

Now, to find the akuma. With few other options, Marinette decided to start running towards Place des Vosges. She was much faster than her untransformed self, she reasoned, so how long could it take?

Not all that long, apparently! But she nearly plowed into seven buildings, two statues, and three children on the way there. I’ll do better next time, Marinette thought with a firm nod as she came close enough to the park to see the transformed akuma in it.

He looked nothing like the others. For one thing, he was the ugliest akuma to date; for another, his bright, happy exterior did nothing to prepare for the dark powers he held (which also seemed ironically harmless at first).

Standing on one of the park benches, the Bubbler waved his wand, trapping three pairs of adults in large bubbles and sending them flying up to the clouds. Marinette’s mouth fell open, and she shrank back behind a nearby building’s corner as if to protect herself from the ghastly akuma, who was cackling in a voice which seemed too familiar for comfort.

“Ahahaha! Hard to ruin kids’ fun from space, isn’t it? Hey, Paris! Come on, it’s time to party! No chores, no homework, no more nagging, just fun, fun, fun, fun! This is the Bubbler's gift to you.” The Bubbler jumped off the bench and strode over in the direction of François-Dupont. As he did so, he called out, “Adrien! Where are you, dude?”

Marinette’s face softened as her heart gave a little twinge. “Oh, Nino,” she whispered. “What happened to you?” How had someone made laid-back Nino upset enough to be akumatized?

Whatever it was, it wasn’t Adrien’s fault, Marinette knew. But before she could try to figure out what had happened, Chat Grise vaulted into the park and confronted the akuma.

She stood there silently at first, waiting for her partner to show up and for the Bubbler to show signs of discomfort. Being stared down by the holder of destruction was enough to crack some akumas; Marinette had seen one or two falter back when she still cheered for every win the heroes scored.

She couldn’t do that now, though. Today, she was officially joining the enemy side (the right side, not that the heroes seemed to know that). Should she do something to break up the tension and help Nino focus on his goal?

While she was still thinking, the Bubbler brought his wand out again and shot bubbles in Chat Grise’s direction with a smirk and a laugh. Chat Grise leapt out of the way, slashing one of the bubbles with her claws but backing away when the thin membrane started to pull her hand in instead of popping like she’d expected it to.

“Come on dude, can’t you see I’m busy?” Nino the Bubbler called in annoyance. “I need to throw my best friend a belated birthday party, to show him I might not have known, but I still care! Why don’t you join in on the fun instead of squashing it?”

His best friend? Marinette had once held that title, though they’d grown apart in recent years. She felt a stab of guilt as Chat Grise snarled and muttered something at the Bubbler.

As the two fought, Golden Bug arrived from the other side of the park, dangerously close to Marinette’s hiding spot. She crept back into the alley, flattening herself against a doorway and hoping none of them could see her.

“Hey, ugly! Not to bust your bubble, but if you care so much about giving your friend a birthday party, why do adults seem to take priority in your grand plan?”

The Bubbler turned to Golden Bug with a deep frown on his blue face. “You guys just don’t get it! If adults have their way, there will be no party at all! Men like Gabriel Agreste don’t care about us kids. We need to throw them all out!”

Marinette winced. Why had Hawk Moth chosen someone who hated him as his akuma? She couldn’t see this fight ending well. Also, when had Adrien gotten a new friend without telling her?

“Maybe—” Golden Bug said as he ducked and jumped and rolled to avoid the bubbles the akuma shot at him, “Maybe you should just try finding a different way to celebrate! I’m sure Adrien appreciates that you care so much about him, believe me, but do you really want to get rid of his father, whom I’m sure he still loves even if he is strict?”

The Bubbler lowered his brows and dipped his bubble wand into the mixture on his back. “Maybe he does, but dear ol’ Gabe still deserves his just reward!” He spun the wand in a circle, spreading bubbles out over the park and making it harder for the heroes to dodge them.

Marinette’s heart seized, but she wasn’t there to save the city’s golden duo from a problem that they had made.

Instead, she tried her best to mimic the flips, twists, and quick reflexes of the heroes from her place in the alley, counting on them being too busy evading the bubbles to notice her.

As she tried, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing, to imitate them, her mind strayed to the adults Bubbler had sent up to space. What would happen if they never came back down, if Hawk Moth did end up winning this time? Would they die? Surely M. Agreste wouldn’t let that happen!

So distracted was she by her thoughts that she didn’t notice the fight moving to her.

A large bubble bounced around the corner, swatted by Chat Grise’s baton as she and Golden Bug pressed the Bubbler backwards. Noticing it, Marinette gulped and hurried further down the street, but it was too late.

The Bubbler saw her first, lowering his wand and frowning in confusion as Hawk Moth’s symbol appeared over his eyes. Chat and Golden Bug saw her next, both skidding to a halt as they looked over her outfit.

“You’re not Hawk Moth, are you?” Golden Bug asked, spinning his yo-yo in a defensive shield.

Marinette opened and closed her fan, stuttering as she tried to come up with an excuse. “Feathered me— I’m a bird—”

As Chat Grise lowered herself into an offensive stance, Marinette inhaled sharply. She wasn’t supposed to be seen today! She was failing already! Taking a slower breath, she lowered her fan and tried again.

“I’m bird-themed. Hawk Moth is butterfly-themed. I think the answer is obvious, right?”

Chat Grise straightened out her crouch with a frown. “Why are you hiding, then?” she asked quietly, her voice full of fire as she eyed Marinette warily.

“Yeah, you’re not exactly sending a clear signal here. I’d make it more obvious which side you’re on in the feather .”

Chat Grise looked questioningly at her partner. “The future?”

Golden Bug crossed his arms and ducked under the bubble the akuma half-heartedly threw his way. “It wasn’t my best, I’ll admit it. It’s hard to beak-lieve, but puns are hard to come up with on the spot!”

Marinette sighed in unison with Chat Grise. “That was painful,” she said disapprovingly. Then she flashed Golden Bug an apologetic smile. Maybe if she pretended to be friendly for now, she could get out of this without needing to fight two trained heroes?

“Hmph,” the Bubbler sniffed as he looked at the trio. Then he raised his bubble wand and directed a large bubble straight towards Marinette.

She could only watch in horror as the bubble drew closer, but the heroes had more presence of mind. Charging towards her from opposite directions, they attempted to move her out of the way... but instead, they wound up colliding in a tangled mess of super-powered teens caught in the bubble, which quickly shot upwards with all three of them squished inside.

Chat Grise was the first to move. “Ugh,” she muttered, scooting back from the others as much as she could to give them some space to untangle themselves. Golden Bug raised his head from Marinette’s lap, where it had landed, and pushed himself up with a groan.

“That did not go the way I thought it would,” he said, flashing Marinette an apologetic smile with honest green eyes that made her heart flutter in a way she’d never felt before. “Sorry, I promise we’re not usually this inept. Meeting you was a surprise, and I should’ve accounted for that, but I let us get trapped instead. You have every right to mad at me, but I promise, I will find a way out of this!”

“He usually does,” Chat Grise said with a small smile. “I— I’m sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have assumed,” she said quietly.

Marinette blinked as she sat up in the bubble, ignoring the way her leg brushed against Golden Bug’s and the way her stomach seemed to fill with butterflies because of it.

“I forgive you,” she said quickly. “I shouldn’t have hung back like that; it did make me look suspicious, even though— I would never want to hurt you,” she said, swallowing down the pit that grew in her throat. It wasn’t a lie, was it?

“Aww, we forgive you too, Bluebird,” Golden Bug said affectionately. “By the way, do you have a name picked out? Not your real one, of course,” he chuckled.

“Uh.” Marinette’s mind raced as she thought. She wasn’t prepared for this! She’d only gotten this Miraculous half an hour ago! “Blue...wing?”

Golden Bug blinked and then smiled. “Bluewing! A pretty name for a pretty hero. Welcome to the team!”

Chat Grise nodded and offered her own quiet, “Welcome!”

Marinette blushed at all the attention as Golden Bug grabbed her hand closest to him and raised it to his lips for a kiss which did nothing to calm the fire in her cheeks.

“Guh,” she said as her heart stuttered out a disloyal rhythm. She turned her head away but panicked when she noticed that the bubble had reached the bottom of a cloud. “Gah!”

Pointing out the bubble, she grabbed Golden Bug’s head and directed his eyes outside, where clouds seemed to part around them as they went higher.

“Oh, no! Chat Grise, use your cataclysm now! We’ll figure the rest out on the way down!” Golden Bug cried.

“Cataclysm!” As soon as Chat Grise’s fist touched the bubble, it collapsed, sending the three teens downwards in a dizzying spiral.

“Lucky Charm!” Golden Bug cried desperately. A leaf blower dropped beside him, and he clutched it to his chest.

“Oh, that solves everything,” Bluewing muttered. At Golden Bug’s wounded look, she quickly amended, “I mean, I’m sure you’ll figure it out!” She offered him a thumbs up with a wavery smile made wavier by the wind.

He wasn’t looking, already busy trying to find a safe way to land. They were nearing the tops of the buildings. Privately, Marinette was giving up hope and kissing her dreams of getting back to class goodbye. Not that she loved school, but anything was better than dying in her opinion!

Golden Bug threw his yo-yo far away, managing to wrap it around the Eiffel tower. Before the line tightened, he turned to Chat Grise and Bluewing and yelled, “Hold on to me!”

Hesitating for only a moment, Bluewing grabbed onto his right side while Chat Grise latched on to his left. Then they were swinging full tilt towards the Eiffel tower, circling it in an orbit that was steadily growing smaller and closer to the tower.

“Chat Grise, your baton!”

Pulling back, Chat Grise took her baton out and quickly extended it to the ground. She held on to it tightly, and as Golden Bug released the yo-yo from around the tower’s metal beam, all three of them slid-tumbled down the baton to the ground, where they landed in a heap of bruised, but alive, super-powered teens.

Marinette could hardly believe she was alive.

There was a weed growing in the cement a few inches from her nose. She loved it more than she’d ever loved a plant before.

On either side of her, Golden Bug and Chat Grise were already pushing themselves up and getting ready to get back to the fight.

“I think I know what my Lucky Charm is for now!” Golden Bug said excitedly as he pushed his bangs out of his eyes and turned to Chat Grise and Bluewing. “But you’ll both have to help.”

He stopped and smiled, revealing the dimples in his cheeks, when he noticed Bluewing was still on the ground.

“Need a hand, Miss Blue?”

Bluewing stared at him as he extended the aforementioned hand. How could someone so irritatingly stubborn, who she was supposed to be fighting against, be this unbelievably cute? It wasn’t fair!

“T-thank you,” she stuttered as she reluctantly accepted his help up.

He pulled her to her feet with a smile and a wink as he turned to the east side of the tower, where the polychromatic Bubbler was approaching them with a pout on his lips.

“Dudes! What is it gonna take for you to learn your lesson, huh? Leave me and my buddies alone!”

He launched another flurry of bubbles at them, but these ones didn’t seem to be the trapping-you-and-sending-you-to-space type. No, Marinette realized as a nearby lamppost went down in flames, these bubbles were the exploding type!

Bluewing flinched as one of the bubbles glided towards her, but Chat Grise knocked it aside with her retrieved baton. It exploded harmlessly a few meters away, and Bluewing let out a sigh of relief before immediately feeling guilty.

Bubbler glared at Bluewing before sending another volley of bubbles towards them. This time, Golden Bug jumped in front of her, turning on the leaf blower and redirecting every last bubble from the trio. Marinette stared at his back and the muscles there and wished for this battle to just end so she could go home already. She didn’t care who won this round. She just wanted to get away from the danger bubbles!

One tiny bubble escaped Golden Bug’s notice and drifted over in front of Marinette. The Bubbler’s face appeared on it, and she jumped.

“Dude,” the Bubbler said in a complaining tone, “Why are you just standing there? Hawk Moth told me you’re on our side!”

As one, Golden Bug and Chat Grise turned around and stared at Bluewing.

A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

“Uhhh,” she said intelligently as she pulled out her fan and half-heartedly fanned the bubble with Nino’s distorted face on it a few millimeters away.

“Dude, are you trying to hide it? Uncool. Totally uncool.”

“I-I, Hawk Moth said I didn’t have to fight this time,” Bluewing protested, throwing her hands in the air.

Chat Grise gritted her teeth and looked away.

“I have to agree with you, Bubbler,” Golden Bug said, his face showing an unexpected level of hurt and betrayal for someone she’d supposedly just met. “This is totally uncool. Why would you pretend to be on our side? Just to get the upper hand?”

“Maybe she’s afraid to fight us,” Chat Grise hissed. “I wouldn’t blame her.”

While the Bubbler started babbling on about loyalty and presents for rich, repressed teen boys, Chat Grise tossed her baton towards his bubble wand, knocking it out of his hand. She grabbed it before the akuma could and threw it over to Golden Bug, who caught it without looking and broke it while he was still looking at Bluewing, waiting for her answer.

Well, it didn’t seem like there was any way for her to get out of this confrontation.

Just then, Golden Bug’s earrings started beeping, and he distractedly touched one of them while he caught and purified the akuma with the other hand.

“Bubbler was right,” Bluewing said quietly. “I am on Hawk Moth’s side. But I didn’t lie earlier. I don’t want to fight you. But next time I see you, we will be getting physical!”

Golden Bug raised one eyebrow. Marinette went over her words in her head and slowly turned a shade of red previously unknown to humankind.

“How forward of you,” Golden Bug said drily. “I hope that day will never come. Look, do the right thing, Bluewing! Hawk Moth is a cold-hearted villain. I hope you realize that, and leave him.”

With that, he and Chat Grise took off, leaving the scene before Nino finished piecing together what had happened.

“Was I akumatized?” he asked, looking up blearily at Marinette through tilted glasses.

She bent down and straightened them for him.

“You were,” she said. “But Golden Bug and Chat Grise won again.”

And M. Agreste is probably furious with me.

Marinette sighed and turned to go, ignoring Nino’s confused questions as she started the long walk home. Or the short run. Or however long it would be by rooftop.

She kind of wished she had a yo-yo or a baton right now.

Halfway to the mansion, she traded the streets for the rooftops. There were too many people staring at her; they clutched their purses or their children and looked at her in fear.

Alya must have caught the end of the fight and posted it on her blog.

Up on top of the roofs, there weren’t any more people to stare at and judge Marinette for her choice of who to back. (It was the right choice! They just didn’t know the facts, like she did!)

Bluewing sighed and rolled her neck and shoulders back, stretching out the taut muscles there. Then she glanced around the rooftop, just in case someone had seen where she went and climbed up to confront her.

There wasn’t anyone there.

But on the other side of the street, larger than life and staring straight at her, was a jumbo-sized billboard of Adrien.

It was just an ad for Gabriel’s winter collection. But it felt like something more than that to Marinette.

You let me down, Adrien seemed to say to her with his eyes. You pretended to be friends with the heroes. You could’ve taken their Miraculous while you were in the bubble with them, but you didn’t even try to fight! Don’t you care about the mission? Don’t you care about me ?

Marinette forced herself to turn away from the billboard. It wasn’t her fault she hadn’t fought today! She wasn’t ready! M. Agreste was supposed to teach her first!

But Adrien’s eyes seemed to follow her as she leapt away to the next rooftop.

The rest of the trip back to the mansion seemed to take forever.

Nathalie was waiting for her when she got back.

Arms crossed, she stood at the side door, tapping her heel on the floor beside the rumpled rug and frowning. M. Agreste stood beside her, looking surprised, cross, and just as pouty as the Bubbler had been.

“Marinette, I presume. There’s no need to deny it; your absence at the start of afternoon lessons just as a new ‘hero’ appeared clued me in, and the security tapes told me the rest.”

“Ms. Sancoeur, I—”

“There’s no need to apologize. I know who the mastermind around here is,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she turned to face the problem. “Gabriel, how could you put her in so much danger? You know she’s just a teenager, like your son! How can you expect to have her take over the company one day if she’s dying from the Peacock’s poison? For once, ask me about your harebrained plans before putting them into action!”

M. Agreste frowned and tugged at his ascot. “She isn’t going to die, Nathalie. She’s already taking the medicine for the poison.”

Nathalie stared at him like he was an idiot. “The medicine which couldn’t save your wife? All it does is lessen the symptoms! It isn’t a cure, not by any stretch of the imagination! This ends today. Take off the brooch,” she ordered Marinette.

“Wait,” M. Agreste said, grabbing Marinette’s hand as she reached up to unpin the Miraculous. “Wait. We know there is a cure, Nathalie. We have the grimoire; we can decode it and put together a solution. In the meantime, the medicine will work to keep the worst effects at bay. Honestly, Nathalie, try to have some faith in me!”

Marinette blinked. “There’s a grimoire?”

Nathalie’s lips tightened. “The grimoire of the Miraculous is also in the safe you discovered. But it’s written in a long-dead, ancient language, and in code, on top of that. You should not count on it to solve your problems.”

“And you shouldn’t blame M. Agreste for my putting on the brooch! What happened today was my idea. Mostly.”

“M. Agreste, is that true?” Nathalie asked him with an accusing glare.

“As true as my love for Emilie,” he replied smoothly.

Nathalie adjusted her glasses. “Right. Well, this solves everything. No doubt we will have Golden Bug and Chat Grise’s Miraculous in no time, now that we have the help of yet another untrained teenager! You had better train her well before you send her out again, Gabriel. And you,” she said, turning on Marinette, “Be careful. Be far more careful than you think you need to be. Just because you are on the right side does not mean you are guaranteed success, or that you will even survive. If you need someone else to take over for you, to become the Peacock in your place, let me know. I won’t let it be said that any of those in my care died because I didn’t act to save them.”

M. Agreste laughed. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary, Nathalie, although I thank you for the offer,” he said, clapping her on the back. “Now, why don’t we all head inside and let Marinette — or Bluewing, I suppose it is now — detransform and relax. She deserves a reward for her bravery today, no?”

Marinette hesitated. “Are you sure, sir? I didn’t even do anything. I was too afraid,” she admitted shamefully.

“Oh, I don’t blame you,” M. Agreste said cheerfully. “It was my fault, anyway. I should have given you some basic lessons first before sending you out in the field. I won’t make the same mistake again. Now, what would you like to do to celebrate?”

Marinette looked at Ms. Sancoeur, but she only sighed and shrugged in a way that suggested she went along with M. Agreste’s suggestion.

“Well,” she said thoughtfully, “I think Adrien has fencing after school today, right?”

“It’s his first match of the year, actually,” Nathalie informed her.

“Right! And Nino was upset because his birthday had already passed, but he didn’t know about it. And now that I think about it, I found out about it too late to give him a gift; I only told him happy birthday and that was it. What if we go cheer him on? I want to make sure he knows we care about him. I’m doing this for him, after all, and I can’t tell him about that, but I can show my support in other ways, and I know he’d be so happy to see you there! What do you think?”

Gabriel looked a bit surprised, and he checked his watch with a small frown. “That will take longer than I had planned on,” he began, but Ms. Sancoeur shot him a glare and he quailed. “Good idea. I will let the chauffeur know to have the car ready for us.”

“Perfect. In the time between now and then, you and I can finally start on your afternoon lessons, Marinette,” Nathalie said. She kicked the rug into place as they walked inside, past the kitchen entrance and down the main hall.

“Oh, and before you do anything else,” Gabriel said, as if he’d just remembered something. “You should hand over your brooch to me. I will keep it in a safe place for you when you do not need it, since wearing it outside of transformations would bring the side effects to you sooner. There we are,” he said as she unpinned the brooch and dropped it into his waiting palm. “I will see both of you in an hour.”

Nathalie nodded. “Good. Now, come with me, Marinette. I’ve ordered some fresher medicine for you, and I think you should switch to taking it instead of the older pills from Emilie. Twice a day, now, or they won’t have a strong enough countereffect on the magic.”

“Yes, Ms. Sancoeur,” Marinette said. “I’ll do my best to help you remember.”

__*__*__*__*__

Adrien was a better fencer than Marinette had thought, though she didn’t know what she had expected.

He fought his opponents with a fierce, fiery energy, like he was mad that they would even dare to face him, although he was always kind to the ones he defeated, which was all of them so far.

“Such a good sportsman,” Gabriel remarked during one match when he wasn’t busy sketching a new design on the tablet he’d brought with him.

“He makes the best of them look like amateurs,” Marinette marveled. Would she ever be as good at fighting as he was? Maybe he should have gotten the Peacock, not her.

“That’s because he’s an Agreste,” Gabriel responded. “He can’t be anything but perfect.”

Nathalie sat forward, a pinched expression on her face.

“You care a lot about my son, don’t you?” Gabriel suddenly asked Marinette.

She tilted her head. “Yes? I thought you knew that already.”

Gabriel laughed. A few people glanced in their direction, including one person with a camera who might have been paparazzi, but he shot a glare back at them and they turned their attention away.

“Of course, I know that. But what I mean is... you care for him. You love him, no?”

“Like a brother,” Marinette responded immediately. She smiled and cheered as Adrien scored another point against a fighter in blue and white.

“Like a— what?” Gabriel was staring at her like she’d grown two heads.

She blushed. “Oh! Sorry, I don’t mean to assume we’re that close to each other. But he means a lot to me,” she said in a carefree manner. “I hope we’ll stay as friends forever.”

“Yes, yes — very good friends,” Gabriel said, sounding a little strangled. He loosened his ascot around his throat. It was probably too tight for him.

He touched the brooch under it lightly, quickly, so as to be discreet.

Marinette raised her eyebrows and turned her attention back to the match. At her left, Nathalie was looking at her with a half-surprised, half-amused expression.

“You were right, Gabriel,” she said, speaking around Marinette’s back, “They’re quite the pair; I think they’ll be friends forever. Another plan of yours going just swimmingly well!”

“Hmph.”

Gabriel sat back on the bleachers, clearly upset, but about what, Marinette didn’t know. She was too busy cheering on her best friend to waste time thinking about it.

After the match finally ended, Adrien was announced as the overall winner, and went up to receive his gold medal. Marinette cheered louder than anyone in the stadium, and he smiled and blushed when he saw her in the audience. He raised the medal a little higher and stood a little straighter when he saw who was standing beside her, looking suitably impressed.

Then he winked and pressed a kiss to the gold medal. Nathalie facepalmed, but Marinette laughed. Who knew Adrien could be so funny and carefree? She was happier than ever that she’d convinced Gabriel to let him go to public school and come see this match. It was clearly doing wonders for her friend.

“Congratulations, Adrien!” she cheered when she finally got to see him after the ceremony, when he’d changed back into his usual clothes. He grinned when he saw her, and she pulled him into a hug without thinking. “You were great! I didn’t know you were so good at fencing!”

“Thanks, Marinette! I’m glad you liked the show,” he said, pulling back from the hug with a light blush on his cheeks. “And thank you for convincing my father and Nathalie to come, too! I don’t know how you did it,” he marveled.

Marinette smiled. “I think the Bubbler reminded us all that we should do more to show you how much we care about you. You’re one of the most important people in my life, Adrien! I don’t want you to forget it.”

Adrien blushed deeper as Gabriel and Nathalie caught up to Marinette. They both looked a bit out of breath, bent over and nearly panting.

“Congratulations, Adrien. Your hard work has been paying off,” Nathalie said once she’d straightened up. She discreetly bumped Gabriel with her elbow.

“Ah, I mean, yes! You acted like a true Agreste out there. Keep it up,” he said stiffly.

“He always does his best, doesn’t he? Don’t you think we should maybe, I don’t know, let him pick something as a prize for all his hard work?” Marinette asked, slinging her arm around Adrien’s back and pulling him close. What could she say, she was feeling daring today, and she was determined to make sure Adrien knew he was loved! Nino had had a point, after all.

“I don’t know, I mean,” M. Agreste said as Nathalie elbowed him again, “Perhaps. What would you like, Adrien?”

Adrien smiled down at Marinette, wrapping his arm around her in return. “I’d like some more free time to see Marinette, actually. I was talking to M. Dupain this morning, and he said he’d be willing to provide breakfast for both of us at his place if I get there a little earlier! And it would all be diet-appropriate, nothing too— uh, nothing unhealthy. If that’s alright with you, Marinette,” he said, looking into her eyes for approval.

She smiled broadly. “I think that sounds great! I might have to wake up a little sooner than usual, though.”

M. Agreste looked flabbergasted. “Are you sure? That’s what you want, breakfast with Marinette every day?”

Adrien’s grip tightened on her waist. “M-hm,” he said, still looking into her eyes with a fond smile.

“I think we can arrange for that to happen,” Ms. Sancoeur said brusquely, tapping on her tablet. “Don’t you, M. Agreste?”

“I suppose,” he said, looking closely at Marinette and Adrien. “That might work nicely. It could be just what we need, yes, let M. Dupain know that we’ll accept his offer!”

“Gladly.” Nathalie typed something on her tablet as the Gorilla pulled up by the sidewalk outside to pick them up in the limousine.

Gabriel and Nathalie both took their own row, while Adrien sat next to Marinette in the back.

“So, did you see the news today?” he asked in a whisper, his eyes gleaming despite the darkness of the car.

Marinette shifted uncomfortably. “Depends on which news you mean,” she whispered back.

He didn’t know who Bluewing was fighting for, and he wasn't happy with her appearance. That was okay. She was protecting him, and it made sense for him to assume that she was a bad guy without the information he needed, that she was protecting him from.

“The akuma. I can’t believe Hawk Moth picked up an ally!” His voice was strained. “I mean, who would pick his side? It’s obvious who the villain is! We were all so hopeful when we first saw Bluewing. She was so nice! And she turned out to be just another brainwashed sidekick! I can’t believe it,” he said, hurt lingering in every word.

Marinette took a ragged breath. “Well, maybe she’ll turn out to be a nice person, after all,” she suggested.

Adrien scoffed. “Maybe. If she turns on Hawk Moth and fights the real villain instead, but that seems unlikely to me. But hey, she was flirting with Golden Bug, right? Maybe his good looks will convince her to join the right side of the battle,” he said sarcastically.

He was joking, but Marinette’s cheeks turned red, and she looked away before he could notice. She would never leave Gabriel’s side just because a boy looked pretty! Even if she did think his butt looked cute, she would never betray Adrien like that, no matter how hot and funny and charming her enemy was!

The silence became uncomfortable.

Marinette broke it. “Yeah, you could be right.”

Outside, the wind tugged a flag to and fro on its pole. She watched it for a moment, then leaned her head against the car window and closed her eyes.

“I think she has a crush on him.” She whispered it like a rancid secret, a rotten apple slowing poisoning the rest of her mind.

She felt more miserable now than she could remember ever being before. The Peacock’s broken magic had nothing on the raw guilt and shame consuming her, eating away the last bit of happiness she’d felt watching Adrien fence.

She had a crush on Golden Bug! On her enemy, who was a direct threat to the boy she’d promised to protect!

What kind of a hero was she?

#bluewing au #enemy au #this chapter features the Bubbler #but Adrien's birthday already happened while he was still being homeschooled. Marinette didn't know about it until too late to make a card #but she was extra nice to him all day #so he thought it was a very good birthday indeed : )#Nino disagrees #rosie-b writing #kwami swap #ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug #ml leak free

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