#fxl fic

[feminaexlux]

Just Be: Honest (Part 4)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

For @milahidee and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers

Read on AO3 here

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Marinette was cordial when they met for dinner. Luka was polite. They got a table, had their wine poured into their glasses, and a bottle of still water was left behind at her request. They'd placed their orders and the waitstaff left them alone. She might as well launch straight into it now. "Tell me why you didn't admit we'd met before last night," she asked him, hoping she put enough daggers in her glare.

Luka's wine glass was halfway to his lips and stopped there for a solid 5 seconds. He put his wine glass back down. "Alya told me you forgot things. I didn't want to push it."

Spectacular. Marinette folded her arms. "Do you think I'm Ladybug? Is that why you wanted me to talk with you? Is that the only reason you all care about me? You and Alya and Adrien." There was a lot of spite in that sentence and Marinette felt her blood boil.

Luka shook his head and said "No."

"No to what?"

"All of it." He leaned against his arm on the table. "When we were younger you were one of my best friends. I looked forward to every time we got to hang out. Things got complicated when we got older and we stopped talking 2 years ago." He looked down at the table for a second, then back up at Marinette. "You don't remember me." It was a simple statement. No inflection. No real emotion behind it at all. Marinette felt chills down her spine.

"No. I don't," she admitted. "Should I?" How could she forget a best friend? The way he said it maybe she was more important to him than he was to her. Something felt deeply wrong about that though.

His lopsided smile was bittersweet. "No. It doesn't matter."

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows. "It doesn't matter? Why doesn't it matter?"

"If I can be honest," he sighed. "You had wanted to forget me. And... it happened."

She shook her head. "And why exactly do you say that? I wanted to forget you?"

"The last thing you said to me 2 years ago was 'I wish I never met you.'"

What he had said last night came back to haunt her. “Honestly I’m happy you’re talking with me.” Another sudden, deep pang of hurt and regret and self-loathing. Marinette kept control over her emotions this time and tried to not let it show on the surface. Her face kept neutral, she asked "Any idea why I'd say that?"

"You were… upset that I got too involved in your life. Does that ring a bell?"

She frowned. "No. Look, Luka, the thing is everyone's convinced that I'm somebody else. My best friend told me I was a superhero. You'd think I would know if I was a superhero, right?" He nodded. "But I'm not. I'm not Ladybug, I'm not a superhero, and I don't want to be."

"Alright," he said.

"So. I don't know. Maybe someone who was using my name or something told you she never wanted to meet you. That wasn't me. I'd never even met you before…" Marinette trailed off. This supposed missing memory/impersonator thing was pretty fucking annoying to think about and keep straight.

"Alright," he said again. He looked tired. "Do you know Juleka?"

"Of course, she's one of my GirlSquad from back in Collège, but I think you'd know that being her twin brother and all. I haven't kept in touch with her though. Can you tell her Hi and I'm sorry? I've been kind of… under the weather for a long time."

"Sure, I'll let her know." He paused to contemplate. "You never wondered about Juleka's family?"

"I mean, I've met her mom and Jagged and--" Marinette cut herself off. A molten hot needle pressed in from her eyes to the back of her head and her vision started to fade out again. Shit. No, not now, not when she was getting answers. Please, no, she needed to know! She shut her eyes closed tight and tears were forming at the corners from the pain. "And…" she breathed out, trying to regain her senses. "And I've met you last night, finally. I should have done that earlier."

"Are you okay?" Luka asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine. I'm okay. Just... sometimes I get these... migraine attacks." Marinette poured out water for herself into a spare glass and drank a bit of it. "I'm okay now."

"That's not a normal migraine."

Marinette shrugged. "I've seen a doctor. They told me to take it easy."

He still looked worried. "You don't have to be here if you don't want," he said quietly. "Don't force yourself."

She took another sip of water and looked up at Luka. "Right now I don't want to be anywhere else." She sat back and realized it was the truest thing she'd said. "I want to know who you think I am. What do you remember of 'me'?"

He let go of a breath and she knew he felt pain and sadness. It was in the way he backed up in his seat and slouched down subconsciously. She almost cut in and apologized to wave it all away but he looked into her eyes and started speaking. "You were the most amazing girl I'd ever met. You're smart, you're funny, you're brave, you're amazing. The way you made sketches and brought everything to life was magical. I liked you a lot." He took a breath. "No. I was in love with you. I'd been in love with you for a long time. But you had someone else.

"We tried dating, if you could call it that. It wasn't for long. You were in love with someone else and that was pretty much it for my shot with you. But we stayed friends. Until you said you couldn't anymore."

Marinette blushed deeply. Oh my God someone this cute and sweet and caring had been in love with her (or some version of her)? And she'd ignored him? Who the fuck was that someone else that Luka thought she was in love with? She'd never been in love in her entire life! Infatuated, sure, but in love? No. "Oh," she said numbly. "Okay." Except it was very much not okay.

"Maybe that wasn't you," Luka said softly. "Maybe that was some other girl."

"Maybe," she said miserably. "It sounds like you miss her a lot."

"I do." A minute went by in uncomfortable silence. He cleared his throat. "You... are still a lot like her, to me."

Marinette took her wine glass into her hand and swirled the wine in it. "Well, I can't be that much like her if I'm talking to you. Whoever she was told you she wished she never met you, right? She probably wouldn't want to speak to you again, but here I am. Talking. To you." God this was getting confusing.

"I guess you're right."

"A-Are you still in l-love with her?" Marinette asked, nervously sipping her wine.

He laughed a little. "I love her, sure. She'll always be important to me. Can't say I'm in love with her since she cut off contact. That and she's not here anymore." It was simultaneously the best and the worst thing Marinette had ever heard.

"You know, I think I'm kind of done talking about this magical mystery girl that shares my name. I haven't had the pleasure of getting to know you. So can I get to know you, M. Couffaine?"

He sat back up in his chair. "You're more than welcome to."

"What do you do outside of rocking out in dingy bars on some weeknights?"

He smiled. "I like making instruments. I make guitars, bass, violins, any stringed instrument. I've been working on a monster 20 string guitar for a while."

"You can play that?"

"I can try," he laughed. "I have a few tips from other luthiers but there's always different opinions and setups to try and understand. Plus you have to be able to work with it. A guitar you can't play isn't a guitar I want to have. I've gone through 3 different variations of the 20 string so far, working on those in my free time. I get a decent amount of regular orders a year to keep me busy. Hate to say it but it helps getting referrals and personal orders from good old Dad."

"I'm kind of surprised you didn't follow in Jagged's footsteps. You're really good at playing the guitar and you've got the star power. A-And by that I mean you're ho-- You've got a presence." She almost said he was hot to his face. That would have been embarrassing.

"Well," Luka sighed. "Dad left his family behind to be as famous as he is." Oh fuck. Good going Marinette. She immediately blushed realizing she brought up something sensitive. Luka shrugged. "It was probably what he needed to do for himself." Awkwardly, their entrees arrived right then.

"Does that mean you're saying no to being in the spotlight?" she asked, starting to eat. Maybe if she stuffed her face she wouldn't be able to put her foot in her mouth.

"I get enough of the spotlight being on stage with my band here. One day I want a family for myself." He got quieter and more intense than before. "I want to be here for them." Ugh, how was he getting more and more attractive? She was halfway melting inside with the way he said it. She could almost imagine an older Luka taking care of their young children. Their children? Oh God, Marinette. Cart. Horse. Calm down now. "And that's pretty much it," he said, chuckling a little. "And now it's your turn. What does Marinette Dupain-Cheng do when she's not hanging out with a guy who sometimes rocks out in dingy bars?"

She smiled at him as he took a couple of bites of his meal. "As you already know I'm a designer, and I can make sets and stage costumes for people like Jagged. Most of the time I make smaller clothing pieces for an online store I'm running. I get repeat customers asking for things like scarves and tee shirts and dresses. I just really want to make clothes for people that they're proud of wearing." She sighed. "Except materials for clothes are too expensive so sometimes I help out at the bakery. The money's not great but it's easy and I love my parents and they need the help."

Luka raised an eyebrow. "I can tell my dad you're not getting paid enough."

She snorted. "Pfft, no, don't. I'm okay. It's all contract based anyway and I already got part of the commission. I'm just complaining that I don't have infinite money to buy all the silk and cashmere and Egyptian cotton I want. But don't worry, I'm making enough to keep going. It's just me at home, you know?" Marinette said wistfully. Oops, was she implying she wanted to have someone at home with her? Not that it wasn't true but maybe it wasn't the best thing to casually inject into a conversation on a first date. Was this a date? Marinette hoped so. "Anyway I made some headway into that project for your dad. It's... hmm..." she trailed off again.

"What's up?" he asked around a bite.

"I think it's going to be Ladybug themed. The... the first part. Later it's going to be more... human. Or at least that's the word I keep coming to."

"Going from superhuman to human?" She nodded, sneaking in another bite. "That makes sense to me for... the anniversary." He paused to see if she'd react but she just nodded again. "Is it a costume change?"

"Sort of. I kind of had an idea where it would be one changing costume depending on the set list. I need to check if that'll make sense and work with his songs, but I'm really hoping it will."

"That sounds pretty cool. I like the idea. I think people will connect with it."

"I hope so. I just want to tell everyone that... that the hard part's over, right? We don't have to put up our shields anymore? We don't have to be... burdened anymore?" Tears sprang to her eyes. "It's okay to move on?" she continued, her voice wavering. She had reached out to him subconsciously.

"Yeah," he said gently, reaching back out. He squeezed her hand in his. "It's okay to move on."

Shit, why was she crying. "Ugh, I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep getting all weird on you." She let go of his hand and pulled back. "I swear I'm not always this way," Marinette inhaled deeply and sighed, looking down at her plate.

"I don't mind. You're dealing with stress and processing everything, and... I'm glad I can be here with you for that."

"Why are you so nice to me? Is it because of her?"

"Her?"

She looked up at him. "Whoever used to be your Marinette. It's like I'm occupying the same body."

He was silent for a bit. "Yeah. Honestly, yeah. You're just Marinette to me. Before and now. I don't... see a difference." He looked away half ashamed. "Probably not what you wanted to hear."

"I don't know what I wanted to hear." She took another sip of her wine, not sure what to do. She didn't hate hearing that. "What... I remember of the past is... strange. I can remember a lot of things. I remember meeting your mom during a music festival. I can remember that the speakers got so loud that the Liberty got fined a million times by Officer Raincomprix and then... akuma.

I remember when it turned out Jagged was Juleka's dad. Well, that he was yours and Juleka's dad. You must have been there. Both times. But... I don't remember you at all. And I feel bad that I don't remember you. It must seem like some kind of cruel joke."

"You don't seem like the kind of person who'd joke about this."

"I'm not. And unless you were an asshole 2 years ago I don't know why past me would ever want to forget you."

"Maybe I was an asshole. I don't know. I was going through what... past you said over and over in my head wondering what I could have changed if I had the power. But I didn't. And you… past you… left." He shrugged helplessly.

"What would you change?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Wish I could have said something to try to change your mind. You were angry and it was because of me. I didn't know what to say then."

Marinette thought for a few seconds. "Okay... I-I'm just throwing this out there but... wh-what if this is some kind of opportunity? Maybe my mind has literally changed. And I'm not angry at you at all. This could be a second chance? A chance to tell me anything you wanted to tell me for the years you didn't get to. Do you have anything you want to tell me?" Damn it, wasn't this super weird for him? But... Marinette was definitely more than a little bit curious about what Luka might answer.

He drew his hand to his mouth to cover it. Marinette wasn't sure if he was embarrassed or had nothing to say or was thinking or… was about to laugh at her. He just looked at her with his stunning blue eyes. He seemed... worried. "I..." He sighed softly, letting his hand fall back down. "I want you to be happy. And I want to be part of your life." He shook his head again. "I guess that's what I wish I said. It was pretty simple after all."

"Well I did put you on the spot. And I'm so sorry, that was a really weird thing to make you do."

He laughed. "I don't mind a little weird."

She smiled. "Thanks for answering anyway." She looked down and played with her remaining food. "You know, if I'm at all like Past Marinette, I think she would have listened to you."

"What do you mean?"

"About you wanting to be a part of her life. A part of my life. You seem like… a really great guy. Why wouldn't I want you in my life?" She blushed a little, looking back up at him.

For a moment he looked sad, then he smiled his lopsided smile. "I'm with you now. We're talking now. Hopefully I'm not coming across as an asshole."

She snorted again. "God, no. You're waaay better than the asshole I ran into earlier today. Like, who just comes up and harasses someone about-- Hmm, wait. Do you know Adrien Agreste?"

Luka's eyebrows furrowed in concern but he nodded. "I'm friends with Adrien."

Okay, Alya and Luka knew each other. Luka and Adrien knew each other. Great. "Adrien shows up out of nowhere and tells me we need to talk. He keeps insisting that I'm Ladybug. It's why I was pissed off earlier."

Luka blinked and looked more concerned. "He insisted?"

"Yeah. And I ran away after that. I'm pretty sure Alya told Adrien that... I wasn't Ladybug so I don't get what his problem was."

Luka frowned. "Once things settle down I think you should talk to him and tell him your side of the story," he said somberly. "When you're ready. And when he's less anxious."

"What? Why?"

Luka looked at her for a few seconds with an expression Marinette didn't know how to parse. "Adrien was Past Marinette's… friend too. I'm sure he meant well and fucked up trying to communicate that. I can tell you more about… Past Marinette and Adrien's relationship if you want."

This time she felt it before it was unbearable. There was the prickling sensation of another hot needle forming right over her eyes. She swallowed, a sinking feeling in her gut. Don't, a voice told her. Enough. "I think that's enough for today."

He nodded. "Alright."

A realization dawned on Marinette. "You know, you haven't insisted that I was Ladybug. I mean. Who knows, maybe Past Marinette was Ladybug. But you didn't mention it at all."

He took a few seconds to just look at Marinette. "Do you think Ladybug would trust me?"

"Oh. I... I figured yes? I-I guess you don't know. Sorry. I don't know why I assumed you would know. I guess it seemed like the people who would want to talk with me are the ones who thought I was Ladybug."

Luka frowned again. "The truth is I do know who she was. And... I wanted to talk with you."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "So you're not interested in Ladybug?"

"Whoever Ladybug was, she was a normal girl most of the time." Luka smiled another bittersweet smile. "Or she tried to be. She was definitely a hero, but no one person can be a hero all the time. It drains you. It makes you a martyr. She was called out to do a job, a fucking brutal one, and the more that people depended on her and expected her to make everything alright again the worse the stakes got." He shook his head. "All I know is that she tried her best. Fighting over and over again, it breaks you as a person. What I cared about was the person underneath who was going to deal with all of the leftover shit when the job's done. The emotions, the hurt, the frustration, the pressure, the pain.

Ladybug had Chat Noir and the other heroes. Who did that girl behind the mask have?"

It felt like someone was squeezing her throat tight.

Marinette was breathless, choking back emotions she didn't understand. Marinette slapped her hands over her mouth, preventing the words that were trying to escape from coming out. "She could have had you if she didn't leave!" Ah shit. She should talk to a psychiatrist. Putting this off was not going to help at all.

"Marinette?" Luka asked. God with all of her random outbursts and fucking weirdness he should have been running by now. This was the worst date ever.

"I've got to be putting you through the worst date ever," Marinette muttered after putting her hands back down. "Luka, I'm… not sure what's going on with me. I've been feeling like there's echos… I don't even know of what. Every so often when I talk with you I feel like some part of me is… Is… God I don't know. Regretful? Not regretting being here with you but regretting the things that… might have happened. Something like that. Damn it I'm not making any sense.

Anyway, I just… wanted to say that you're a wonderful man and thanks for answering my questions and being patient. I don't think I'm in a state to keep seeing you--"

"Wait. Wait, please," Luka interrupted, panicked. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and then looked back up at her. "If it's hard for you to be around me… I understand." He looked helpless and then resigned. "Let me take care of the bill and I'll head out," he said.

Fuck, why did this feel so wrong? Wasn't this was the right thing to do? Marinette should be figuring out what the hell was up with her emotions. "Nnnnnng no no, don't go, I… I-I like you. I'm-I'm just kinda fucked up at the moment. I can't believe myself really. I want to keep seeing you but it's not fair to you."

"I still mean what I said about being a part of your life. You, the things you do, the things you make, how you see the world. You're fascinating to me."

"You don't deserve to have to deal with my shit," Marinette groaned.

"I still want what I want."

She blushed. "Then I think maybe you're a little weird yourself."

"Probably," he chuckled, then sighed. "I'm not intending to brush aside your concerns. I'll leave whenever you want me to leave. But I'm here to listen and I will be."

"It's going to be awkward when you turn out to be an axe murderer or something. You're suspiciously nice."

"The only axes I have are my guitars. Promise."

"Sure, sure. At least I have plenty of people who'll look for me if I go missing. Aaand morbid humor aside I… want to thank you again. For being nice. And answering things. And I guess… maybe I can ask for another date? So that one can be way less crazy?"

"This wasn't as bad as you think it was." He put his hand to his neck, looking sheepish. "I… didn't let myself think this was a date."

Marinette pounced on that idea. "Okay maybe it's not and the next one can be the actual first date."

He smiled, blushing a little. "Sure, I like that plan."

[quickspinner]

WIP Wednesday 3/31/2021

How about some Vipernette sweetness today. (In this universe, Marinette only knows Luka in passing and doesn’t know he’s Viperion.)

“You don’t deserve this,” Viperion murmured. 

“Maybe I do,” Marinette whispered, and felt his hands tighten on her shoulders. “Or why does it keep happening?” 

Viperion moved one hand to cup her cheek and make her look up at him. “It happens because the world is incredibly unfair,” he told her seriously. “Because with the world the way it is, it’s the good people who suffer, and the villains who get ahead.”

“That’s a weird thing to say to cheer me up,” she told him, giggling in spite of herself. 

“Well,” Viperion said with a crooked grin. “You’re smiling, so I’ll take it.” 

“Why do you care if I smile?” she asked, looking up into his face again.  

His grin turned mischievous. “I have a crush on you, remember?” 

Marinette slapped his chest. “Oh, you do not.” 

“Do too,” he teased, but he made no move to hold on to her when she turned away from him and walked away a few steps. His voice, though, followed her, low and earnest again. “You’re a good person, Marinette. You deserve sunshine and serenades and people who treasure you. I’m sorry that’s not what you’re getting.”  He plucked his lyre off his back and began a light, happy tune. 

[feminaexlux]

Photo Op

For @spikartxx and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers! Happy very late Valentine’s day. Apologies for the lateness, the mods and I weren’t sure if we were going to get a late entry or not. I did a pinch-hit since I loved one of your prompts :)

Also it's Thirsty Thursday ;)

Original Prompts:

A Lady Noir / Luka kind of dynamic? Where Marinette gets to be the one flustering Luka instead of the other way? Delicious Idk just kind of hungry for a playful flirting between them (maybe with a brave Marinette at the end being as flirty with Luka in her civil form and them together lol I JUST WANT A HAPPY ENDING WITH THEM)

Read on AO3 here!

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Luka was desperately pedaling his bike as fast as he could toward danger. This was happening more and more often in his rather short career as a human being (that he seriously hoped he didn't just make shorter). But he had to do something to try and alert Ladybug and/or Chat Noir when there was a new akuma. Two new akumas. Luka was pretty sure he could legitimately help the superheroes with these two akumas because they were his Ma and his sister before Shadowmoth got a hold of them.

Juleka had become Reflekta (again...). His mom became a sentient flying pirate ship called The Nanarchy after merging with the Liberty. They ganged up and the duo was wreaking havoc on Paris as akuma were wont to do, shooting Reflekta-cloning beams at every person and firing speaker-cannons at every building. All because Jagged wouldn't stop being Jagged.

Jule and Luka's dad had popped in for an unexpected visit (again...) and this time, he brought Fang! Both man and croc made a new, personal doorway entrance through the side of the Liberty, giving Jagged direct access to his progeny and Fang direct access to Juleka's yummy looking stuffies and clay models. The situation deteriorated rapidly with the twins' Ma coming down to get into a yelling match with Jagged and making things way more confusing due to an increasingly thick Scottish accent, and Juleka simultaneously wailing at and wailing on Fang for her toys which of course lead to everything tearing and breaking when Fang panic!death-rolled to get away from Juleka. Poor Luka had just been caught up trying to mediate both and failed miserably to help either!

And now he was biking as fast and as far as his lanky legs would take him, praying to every God in every Pantheon he knew that he'd find one or both of Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng soon (but mostly Marinette, if he was gonna be honest). Luka wasn't sure if it was his luck or just... because he was Luka that he hadn't gotten hit by Reflekta beams nor blasted by Nanarchy speakers. Maybe his Ma and sister were giving him a pass? But in case they forgot about that pass any time soon Luka had put in earplugs and duct taped a mirror to his bike helmet and strapped another mirror on his back.

He made his way to Tom and Sabine's Boulangerie, panting hard and sweating profusely. He burst through the bakery door and rolled from a tumble off his bike, wheezing out apologies and promises to clean up after while he climbed the stairs up two at a time to get to Marinette. God, why were there SO MANY STEPS to get to her? And he had to climb a ladder to get to her room! He slammed his fist against her hatch door three times to give her a heads up. "Sorry Marinette! I need you to--" The hatch door flung open to his surprise and he got pulled to her room up by his lapels.

He was suddenly eye level with a very shocked pair of intensely green cat eyes. Except the owner of the cat eyes was a full head shorter than Luka was so he was still partially dangling through the hatch. "H-Hi?"

The girl apparently knew him? "Luka?!" The sound was muffled and he realized he still had earplugs in.

"Is... Is Marinette here?" he panted, exhausted as hell, removing an earplug from one ear.

"Why are you looking for Marinette?" the Black Cat Hero asked, taking his arm over her shoulder and helping walk him across Marinette's room to sit down on Marinette's chaise.

"She... Marinette's usually able to get Ladybug and Chat Noir, there's... there're two akuma out there now," he wheezed, pulling out the other earplug and blushing when he became suddenly intensely aware that there was a super hot girl in a skin tight black cat suit right in front of him holding onto his arm while he probably smelled of awful teenage boy and wheezed awful teenage boy breath on her with his awful teenage puberty cracking boy voice. But where was Marinette? "Uh... why are you in her room? And who are you?"

"B-Because sh-she called for me and she wanted me to make sure that her family was safe b-before she took off to hide!" She pulled back a bit and pulled out a baton from her back to fiddle with it. She was stupid cute and the way she moved and sway of her thick braid of black hair reminded Luka of a song that said something like you are a cinema, I'd watch you forever. "M-My name is La-Lady Noire. I'm Chat's um... substitute for today? Maybe forever," she said, a little unsure of herself.

Once he stopped being so mesmerized by her Luka asked "Is… Chat Noir okay? And Ladybug knows about the change? Are you okay with this?"

She sighed. "Yeah, everyone's okay, it's… just new. Ladybug... even suggested this change up! I'll… I'll be fine, I know it. And Mr Bug will be fine too, I'll make sure--"

"Mister Bug?"

"Oh, yeah. Um. Yeah new hero there too," Lady Noire said. "Well, he's Ladybug's substitute. He's handled it once before, now he can handle all of it," Lady Noire said a little cynically with an eyeroll. "Yeah. Anyway! Um! Marinette's okay, she's just... hunkered down somewhere and she'll be just fine. Thank you for checking up on her, Luka." Lady Noire smiled at him and he noticed just a tiny bit of fangs. His tongue passed over his own canines, wondering how the fangs would feel if he kissed her...

Oh God why was he imagining that? Oh jeez he needed to calm down. He needed to... to focus on the akumas! "The-The akumas are my mmm…" Luka said distractedly, staring at Lady Noire's lips as they curled upward into a smirk.

"Mmm?" Lady Noire teased, leaning in toward Luka. "Are your…?"

He felt fresh sweat on the back of his neck as he blushed harder, forcing himself to look up at her eyes. "Mmmy sister and my... Ma."

Lady Noire looked more serious now. "Oh, I'm sorry. But don't you worry, Luka, Mr Bug and I will handle it. Thank you for giving me that information. I'll save your family!" She started turning to get ready to leave.

He started reaching out for her but pulled back before he grabbed her hand. "Wait! W-Wait, can… Can I come with you?" Luka panicked a little because she was going to leave without him! And he... he could help? It wasn't at all because he found her cute, no...

Her eyebrows furrowed. "That's a bad idea, why would you want to do that?"

Surprisingly it didn't take too long to come up with a reason because he had been thinking about this all through his journey. "I know why they got akumatized, I was there when it happened. I can talk to them and get them to calm down (hopefully)! Make it easier on you for your first time? I think they'll listen more if it's coming from me. I'll try to not get in your way."

She frowned a little but nodded. "I guess we can try, but I'm putting you somewhere safe the moment it gets dangerous." Lady Noire grabbed a hold of his waist after putting his arm over her shoulder, leaping up onto Marinette's bed and through the opened balcony entrance.

His heart was going to explode sometime soon. Luka's pulse was racing and he wasn't sure if it was because he was several hundred meters in the air or because Lady Noire had winked and whispered into his ear to hold on tight. He was certain that if he wasn't focusing on his being airborne and almost falling to his death even with Lady Noire holding onto him, he'd be incredibly awkward about being bodily pressed up against a super hot girl.

She must have seen where Mr Bug was because she changed direction after a few leaps. The baton extended and slowed down their descent to meet up with the other hero.

"You sure took your time getting here, Kitten," Mr Bug scowled as Lady Noire let Luka down, all three on the roof of a building nearby the action.

"No later than you usually do, Mr Bug," Lady Noire shot back. "But I brought a friend!"

"Yeah, I noticed. Hey there... civilian. I see you brought some mirrors, that's smart," Mr Bug said, patting Luka on the back after pulling off the mirror from Luka's bike helmet. "Looks like we have a flying pirate ship. Someone's gotta be up there piloting it."

Luka nodded. "Yeah, my sister's on the ship and the ship's my Ma, both of them are akumatized."

"What happened?" Lady Noire asked. "Forgot to ask earlier."

Luka frowned. "... Jagged."

"Ahhh," both of the heroes said simultaneously. Luka nodded sadly.

"Do you know what powers they have?" Mr Bug asked Luka.

"Yeah, my sister shoots lasers from her hand to turn people into copies of her and my Ma's... a flying pirate ship that shoots cannon balls that blast noise at people."

Mr Bug put his hands on his hips. "What were the chances we'd have to fight Reflekta again like this? Alright, let's see what Lucky Charm we get." He called up the Lucky Charm and a red and black bicycle wheel fell into his hands. "... Huh? What... do I do here?"

"Think fast, Mr Bug. It's time to get a move on," Lady Noire said, coming across rather unhelpful to Mr Bug. "We only have 5 minutes now." Luka couldn't help but sense a tiny bit of smug satisfaction coming from Lady Noire.

Mr Bug sighed. "I know, I know, I'll figure out what to do with this thing. Look, can you get Lu--the civilian to safety?"

Luka chimed in quickly. "Wait, let me see if I can get my Ma down here. I can call them over and then you two can board when the Liberty's grounded," Luka suggested.

"Not a bad plan, I guess," Mr Bug shrugged. "Lady Noire, I'll leave that to you." Lady Noire nodded and took Luka by the waist again and leapt off the building, landing them safely next to the Seine banks.

Luka noticed that the akumas were zeroing in on other civilians and he yelled up at them, trying to get their attention. "MA! JULEKA! HEEEEYYYY!" Luka yelled at the top of his lungs. He sprinted at a group of people and just barely managed to push out his mirror and bounce off the Reflekta laser beam away from them as they fled the area. He desperately hoped he could actually do his part to draw the Nanarchy down closer so that Mr Bug and Lady Noire would be able to board.

So far it wasn't going as expected. "Luka ye daft landlubber get ye away from here! Git!" Nanarchy boomed, shooting the speaker cannons near him to force him to run. All of a sudden there was a blast wave and he got knocked off his feet--wait no, Lady Noire was the one who had jumped at him and rolled them both away from the cannons. And now they landed in the precarious situation where she was on top of him with his hands in her hair trying to protect her head.

She looked at him and cracked a smile. "I could get used to being like this."

"Being shot at?"

"Being on top of you," she winked. He must have blushed something fierce because she giggled.

"Hey! Get your dirty paws off of my brother you stupid stray!" Reflekta yelled, aiming the ship down to shoot at Lady Noire. Okay, oddly that worked in drawing the ship down. Luka would take what he could get.

"Looks like Plan Grounding is working," Lady Noire said quickly, getting them to their feet. "But we need to move on to Plan De-Evilizing!" She took his hand and they took off running, dodging cannon and laser blasts coming from the Nanarchy. "And now it's getting dangerous so I need to get you somewhere safe!"

"Maybe if you tear Ma's sails down she won't be able to fly off again?!" Was that true? Luka hoped that was true.

"Alright, I'll try! But you!" They ran to a photobooth and Lady Noire pushed Luka inside, ejecting two earplugs from her baton. "Stay here, use these! I'll come back for you after we're done, stay safe!" She reached out her hand to let him take the earplugs and booped him on the nose before closing the door.

Luka set the earplugs in and laid back in the booth, not totally sure that a photobooth was the safest place to lay low. He heard a few distant booms and the ground shook and vibrated a bit, so it was probably okay to assume that the heroes were still dealing with his akumatized family.

The next few minutes had Luka sitting alone with his thoughts, filling his mind with images of Lady Noire. He didn't figure he'd be saying this so soon but… maybe he was interested in someone other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng and moving on already? And Lady Noire seemed to be interested in him, with the way she was always touching him? That was a sign that girls liked you right?

But ugh it was just like 20 minutes that he met Lady Noire jeez. And she was a hero, what would she do with a boy like him anyway? Would she date him as a superhero? Wait, did she even want to date him? But even if it'd just been 20 minutes he was pretty sure she was touching him like 90% of that time. If she did like him and want to date Luka was maybe willing to try, it wasn't like he--

A flash went off and he realized that the photobooth had taken a picture. After a couple of seconds another flash and another picture. He nearly jumped through the roof when another face showed up next to his in the reflection and flash. He turned and looked into the bright green eyes of Lady Noire. She leaned in and he figured she was going to tell him something and instead felt her kiss him on the cheek. Flash.

She gently plucked out the earplugs from his ears. "Haha, I'm so sorry I scared you!"

He could feel that his face was on fire. "H-Hey Lady Noire," he said lamely. "It's--I'm fine. What's up?"

"The tip you gave me about tearing the sails came in handy! Mr Bug and I were able to stop the ship from taking off again. We've defeated the akumas and your mom and sister are fine now. I'm here to take you home," she winked.

But… wait, did he just spend the last several minutes spazzing out over Lady Noire? Oh jeez. And he kinda just left his bike at the Dupain-Cheng's. "I… I left all my stuff at the Boulangerie on Rue Gotlib, I should go back there…?"

Lady Noire looked a little nervous but tried to hide it. "Um, you know I'm good friends with Marinette, I'll ask her to get your stuff back to you! Plus I think you need to get back to your family right away, right? Make sure they're okay with Jagged?"

Oh shoot, there was still his dad to deal with. "Yeah, you're right." Luka said, sighing.

"Great! Let's get you out of here. Oh, wait," Lady Noire grabbed the pictures from the photobooth and tucked them in Luka's front pocket. "A souvenir!"

⁂

Marinette pulled up to the Liberty with Luka's bike less than an hour later. Even though Luka was taller than she was, her legs were still long enough to reach the pedals. She got over the gangplank and laid the bike against the ship railing, placing the bike stand down so it didn't tip over. She also unbuckled her pink helmet and set it in the bike basket.

Luka had bought her her own helmet. Because of course he had. And he'd brought it somehow when he was panicking and trying to find her so she could get Ladybug. Or, in this case, Lady Noire.

It seemed like things were settling down and she heard some guitar strumming from behind the stage. She walked around and saw Luka lying back in his preferred chillaxing spot playing his acoustic. "Hey Luka," Marinette greeted.

He smiled up at her, beatific. "Hey Marinette. I'm glad to see you."

She blushed a little. "I brought your bike back. I-I mean Lady Noire asked me to get your stuff back to you so I thought I'd do just that and h-here I am!"

"Thanks," he said. "I really appreciate that." He sat up and she noticed he seemed a little unsure of himself. "If you want I can walk you back home? Unless you needed to talk to Juleka."

"Kicking me out already?" Marinette teased.

He blanched. "No, no, nev--no. I... was just... uh."

"Maybe I also want to talk with you for a little bit, too." She sat down right next to him. He blinked in surprise but didn't move. "Maybe I wanted to know what you think about Lady Noire?"

He blushed and turned away a bit for some reason. "She's... nice."

"Nice?" Marinette probed. "Is that all? Do you like her? She seems to like you a lot."

He looked at her, eyes opened wide. "Sh-She does?"

"She told me she thinks you're cute," Marinette giggled, leaning in a little.

Luka blushed harder. "... She did?"

"And what's this?" Marinette reached over and pulled something from his front jacket pocket and looked it over. "Wow, I'm jealous."

"Wh-What?"

"Look, the camera captured the moment Lady Noire kissed you!"

He looked dumbfounded. "She kissed me?"

"In this picture here," she pointed at the last picture.

He blushed hard, taking the strip of pictures in his hand and staring at it with his mouth hung open for a few seconds. "She kissed me," he said in disbelief.

Marinette sighed. "I have some stiff competition," she muttered out loud.

He looked dizzy. "Wh-What was that?"

She took his face in her hands and kissed him. "There, now I'm even with Lady Noire."

[feminaexlux]

Just Be: You (Part 2)

Part 1 here

For @milahidee and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers

Read on AO3 here!

⁂

(A little more than a week ago)

Alix held out the silver pocket watch to Ladybug as the heroine landed on her apartment roof. "Thanks for making it easy, Alix," Ladybug said, taking the pocket watch. "But I guess you knew this was happening."

"Hey, I already lived 300 lifetimes in the In Between. I did my job and I'm done," Alix shrugged. "And yeah, I saw this coming. For what it's worth, I'm proud of you for finally getting your act together, Marinette. The others will come around soon enough."

Ladybug chuckled bitterly. "You shouldn't spoil the future for me, Alix. That's not very professional of you."

"You're not even gonna remember this, Dumbbug," Alix grinned.

Ladybug stood still for a minute in contemplation. "Th-Then you can tell me this 'cause I need to know… How do you not go crazy, Alix? You had the worst job out of any of us. How did you keep it together?"

"Pfft, that's easy. You gotta live in the moment, Bug. Once your duty's done you gotta live for yourself. When I'm not Bunnix I'm just Alix, and Alix fuckin' kicks ass."

"Can you tell me about me and… Adrien? Will this work?"

Alix shrugged. "You knowing doesn't change what you're gonna do. It doesn't matter what I say."

"Can I hear it anyway?" Ladybug huffed.

Alix rolled her eyes. "Fiiiiine, fine. It works. You both are much, much happier."

"Oh thank God," Ladybug sighed.

"Just… not together."

Ladybug froze. The corners of her eyes glistened with tears. "I knew it," she said under her breath.

⁂

(Now)

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, Marinette didn't find herself too bothered with the fact that her past might or might not have been lived by someone else. What was she going to do with that information anyway? Whoever "she" was now, she was here, she was making the decisions, she was going to live for herself.

She wasn't some superhero and she didn't have any magic powers. She was a pretty normal girl other than her gift of design talent and passion for fashion that she'd put toward running her boutique store. And she was really, really behind on managing that front.

She had put a pause on her tiny trickle of commissions when she decided to journey overseas and finally return that jewelry box to the Order. At home in her room, Marinette pulled up her to-do list on her desktop and checked the project statuses and deadlines, prioritizing the ones that were labeled "ASAP" to the top and sorting the rest by nearest deadline.

She noticed one fell to the bottom as she'd previously slapped on a deadline of 3000-12-31. Why did she do that? Only a vague sense of shame and regret settled on her when she tried to remember what it was. She opened up the attached project file and it expanded out to several pages of sketches of apparel with snakeskin, lightning bolts, electric blue and magenta coloring, and grungy/punk rock themes. That stuff didn't look half bad, but maybe she didn't have a client? Or the client fell through? Oh well. Once she got organized and back on track, she'd revisit that. Maybe she'd be able to repurpose some of those elements into other commissions?

Anyway, what was more pressing was that she had an outstanding tour outfit commission for Jagged Freaking Stone and she'd just... fucked off to Tibet in the middle of it? But no, Jagged Penny knew that Marinette needed to take time off. They had such a long history of working together that Jagged had encouraged Marinette to go and find her zen.

And Marinette had found it.

The request from Jagged was... nebulous and spacey even with Penny's additional comments, but this was Jagged's usual way of telling her she had free reign to do what she wanted, so long as it ended up "Rocktastic." His upcoming tour was in a few months. Jagged Stone had asked for "Unity", "Paris", and "Awesome guitar riffs." Marinette had her work cut out for this particular project.

Marinette had plenty of inspiration for normal clothes, making sure to jot those down to flesh out later. When it came to Jagged, though, she knew he'd go for something... well, Jagged. Marinette spent most of the day thinking up costume ideas, each becoming more outlandishly flamboyant than the previous, but none of them hit the right kind of note she was looking for.

She looked over at her clock and it was already past 22:00. Fuck, she needed a drink.

Once in a while over the past few years Marinette had the guilty pleasure of heading to a low-key bar in the 4th arrondissement close to Notre-Dame. She loved walking down the the bridges across the Seine at night even though it struck her with a sense of melancholy. She stopped in the middle of the pedestrian bridge, imagining herself brokenhearted, hugging a lover for the last time as they said their goodbyes. The imagined scene felt so real, even though she was sure that hadn't ever happened to her.

A thought ran through her head like a half-remembered whisper, soft but distorted. "When you're ready, I'll be here, Marinette."

Her brain must have filled in part of the scene. She knew she let herself get lost in fantasies a little too much, but would be amazingly romantic if someone was waiting for her out there. Indulging in tiny bit of daydreaming was fine once in a while, right? She chuckled to herself and continued walking to the bar.

She heard muted music from below after she got inside the bar, a band was already in the middle of their set. She got herself a cocktail, going downstairs to the basement and sitting down at a free small table. The band was playing something fairly catchy and she closed her eyes, letting herself get lost in the music, feeling the drum beats and the electric vibrations of the instruments. Marinette reopened her eyes and looked over the musicians themselves.

Two guitarists, a bassist, and one drummer. They were all dressed fairly casually except for one guitarist in a navy blazer. It was hard to tell what the drummer in the back was wearing but Marinette spotted a lime-green mohawk and heart-shaped glasses, reminding her of a pineapple, oddly enough. The bassist was wearing funky orange plaid pants, black boots, and a simple fitted black shirt rolled up at the sleeves, showing off her tattoos. The lead singer/guitarist in the front was wearing a simple light blue polo and black pants and black shoes.

The second guitarist in the blazer stood next to an amp that had a spray painted blue heart on it. He wore a black undershirt, old/distressed gray jeans with rips at the knees, and a black leather belt. He was also wearing canvas top shoes with a flower pattern. Something caught Marinette's eyes as she looked over him: there was a triangular pendant of some sort, and when she focused on it she realized it was a turquoise guitar pick that he'd hung on a necklace. It stood out well against the black.

Then she noticed he was looking right back at her. Oh shit.

Marinette quickly looked away but felt the heat on her face after they briefly locked eyes. Her heart was beating so hard and she didn't know why. Well, he was cute though. Long black hair, neatly trimmed beard, incredibly striking blue eyes. He seemed oddly familiar... She surreptitiously looked back at him and he was still looking at her... Then he nodded and looked away after giving her a small lopsided smile. He kept on playing as if nothing had happened, so... okay, it was all just her being shy. He was probably curious about why she was looking at him. Marinette blew out a breath and took another sip of her cocktail.

Damn it, Marinette, this was some fucking basic human interaction. Time to chill the fuck out.

She listened to the rest of the songs from the band, enjoying her drink and the music, unwinding a little more as each minute ticked past. The set wrapped up after some raucous cheering and she watched as the musicians put away their gear with the venue staff helping out. She tracked three of the members from that band (their name being Remi and the Unrequiteds, Marinette noted mentally) getting a table and being beset with fans, but Marinette didn't know where the guitarist in the blazer was. That was a shame as he was amazingly talented and the one that caught her eye the most.

Then she spotted him. He was at the other end of the bar, facing away from her and the stage lights though she could still make out his strong features by profile. He was standing by himself with a single drink, leaning his back against the bar looking relaxed, smiling and giving his quiet thanks to the fans that talked at him. Eventually the fans left him by himself when he didn't seem to engage. By some inexplicable reason Marinette also wanted to go over and talk with him. Well, why not? She could just tell him that he was a great musician and cheer him on and leave it at that if he was uncomfortable talking with anyone.

Her heart was beating fast again. She took in another breath.

Her drink was finished anyway, she had the convenient excuse of wanting to get another one. She got up and took her empty glass to the bar, setting the glass on the counter next to the guitarist. She nervously brushed her loose bangs back over her ear and smiled up at him as he looked over at her. "You guys were great, I love the music," she said. God, he must have been used to this sort of play. She kicked herself mentally at how lame her attempt was.

He cocked an eyebrow but smiled at her. "Thanks, I appreciate that. I'll pass it on to the band." He paused a moment, hesitating. "I haven't seen you here before, is this your first time here?" Oh please let that be a signal that he didn't mind Marinette talking to him. Wait, was he flirting with her?

Marinette blushed and tried flirting back. "Hah, no, I don't come often. I only come here when I need a break! I might come by more often if you guys are playing again though."

"I definitely would have remembered seeing you here before. Glad to have you as a fan," he chuckled. Smooth! "What did you need a break from?" He turned to face her more. He continued to talk with her! Good sign!

"Work, I guess?" Marinette shrugged, slipping into the bar seat next to him. That was smooth too, right? Right? And the work comment was true enough, she supposed. "I just wanted to hear some music to get some inspiration for something I'm working on. I'm really glad I came here tonight and was able to catch you--you guys."

"Were we able to help?" he asked with a lopsided smile.

"Um," Marinette said nervously. "N-Not really. Maybe a little bit? B-But I still enjoyed listening," she followed up quickly. He just laughed. "It's a really tough project. You are really talented, don't get me wrong, but I just have a-a really difficult client."

"If you want to, can you tell me what kind of inspiration you're looking for?" he asked, leaning toward her a bit more. Another band had started setting up their instruments and it was getting louder. The bartender came by and Marinette slipped in another order of her cocktail. The guy next to her also got another of his now-drained drink of a whiskey sour.

"I'm a designer and… I just have to design something… ugh, my client asked for something…" She got in closer so she could whisper. "'Rocktastic,'" Marinette cringed. "Like I have any idea what that means!"

He raised an eyebrow. "This client wouldn't happen to be Jagged Stone, would it?" Oh wow. How did he guess that in one? "Rocktastic" seemed like any sort of generically ambiguous client buzzword, or maybe not, actually… The surprise must have registered on Marinette's face because he shrugged and backed away a little bit. "I'm very familiar with Jagged," he sighed. "It sounds exactly like the kind of fanciful shit he asks for without ever explaining what it means." The guy didn't sound like he was bragging, and Jagged was pretty much as described… Still, it made Marinette wary.

"Well… Mmmaybe. How do you know Jagged?" Marinette asked, a little suspicious.

The guitarist smiled his lopsided smile again. He held out his hand to shake for Marinette. "Hi. I'm Luka Couffaine, Jagged Stone's son."

Oh fuck, that's why he seemed familiar. Jagged did have a son named Luka. And now she started seeing the similar facial features between the two. Where Jagged was extreme angles Luka seemed more... filled out and rugged at the same time? Holy shit. "O-O-Oh! Hi! I'm M-M-M-Marinette! Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Marinette timidly placed her hand in his. "N-N-Nice meeting you!"

A flash of… something went through his eyes and he dropped his smile for a half-second. He regained his composure and shook her hand, letting it go after. "I know my dad is all kinds of out there. If you ever need help trying to decipher his bullshit I can give you my number."

Ohhhhh he was pulling a fast one! Marinette laughed. "You're too good at this. Do you always pick up girls this way?"

"Not in the habit of that, no," Luka said quietly, his tone surprisingly serious. "Sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No, no! I'm... just surprised you're... talking to me," Marinette admitted. "I figure you always have fans coming up and trying to get a signature or something."

"I'm known as the quiet one," Luka shrugged. "I don't have a lot to say. People get discouraged."

"You seem to be saying plenty to me," Marinette smiled.

"It's easy with you," he said simply. "Honestly I'm happy you're talking with me."

"Well, you're not discouraging me. And if you're serious about the Jagged offer I might take you up on it. I swear, he doesn't make any more sense even after working with him for years." A second later it got a lot harder to hear anything as the next band had started playing their music at the same time Luka said something and laughed. Marinette didn't hear and cupped her ear with a hand to indicate that. "Sorry, what?!" He pulled out a pen from his blazer and wrote something on a bar napkin, handing it to her when he was finished.

"Table upstairs?" it asked. Marinette bit her lip to hide a smile. She looked up at him and nodded. She followed him upstairs, the both of them taking their drinks. He found an open spot at the corner and he tilted his head in that direction. "Is that alright?"

"Works for me," she replied. They sat down across from each other at a small table. The main floor was less crowded as most of the people had gone down to the basement for the music.

"I was saying earlier that Jagged's never been easy to understand," Luka said easily, continuing the conversation from earlier. "Even as my dad. What did he ask for? I know he's going on tour 3 months from now."

"I guess you do know about his upcoming tour... I mean of course you would! Um Jagged asked me to work on his costume and he gave me some direction. 'Paris,' of course. 'Unity.' 'Awesome guitar riffs.'" Marinette added air-quotes to all of the requests.

Luka snorted and covered his mouth with his hand. He had black polish on his fingernails and a wide black ring on his index finger. "Riiight," he sighed. "Alright, so it's timed with the 2nd anniversary of..." Luka paused for a second, hesitating again. "Of Hawkmoth's reign of terrorizing coming to an end." He was looking intently at her for some reason.

Marinette just nodded. "That makes sense. God, I'm so upset I didn't make the connection earlier," she sighed.

Luka raised his eyebrow a bit but continued, watching her. "And Paris is definitely still celebrating that. But it's also been hard on everyone to adjust back to a normal lifestyle after years of Hawkmoth and the threat of being akumatized."

Sudden, deep pangs of hurt made it difficult for Marinette to breathe. There was something right in the middle of her throat that ached. She tried to swallow but it made it hurt even more.

Luka reached out and placed his hand over hers -- she realized in surprise that she was clenching a fist on the table with that hand. "Marinette? Are you alright?" he asked gently.

"S-Sorry," she managed to hiss out. Why did his hand feel so warm? Why was his voice so calming?

"We're all still healing in our own way," he said softly.

Marinette nodded mutely. Why was she locking up?! Why was she being weird?! None of this really made any sense but at least he wasn't upset at her. She hadn't been THAT affected by Hawkmoth, had she? God, this was the same as when she burst out suddenly at Alya. Ridiculous. Utterly RIDICULOUS.

Well, apparently she was affected by Hawkmoth more than she knew. And thankfully Luka was… surprisingly understanding here. That was sweet of him.

"I apologize. I don't mean to make you upset."

Marinette found her voice. "No, no, don't apologize. I… I-I just. It's okay. I'm okay, I promise. You're… you're helping, actually," Marinette admitted. "Things make more sense with you."

Luka pulled his hand back and Marinette was saddened by that. "Dad can be pretty fucking obtuse at times. Glad to hear I can help you a little."

Marinette laughed. "You're a godsend. Thanks, Luka."

He smiled back at her a little hesitantly. "I gotta confess. I knew you were working with Jagged before we started talking."

Marinette's eyes opened wide. "Oh really now?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. I've seen you at dad's studio a few times and I never had the guts to say hi. Jagged loves your stuff and I heard Penny talking about you the other day. I've known you for a while." His smile was bittersweet.

Well, shit. Maybe he wasn't flirting with her after all. "W-Well, I'm glad we're talking now," Marinette said cheerfully, trying to hide her disappointment.

He pulled out his pen again and wrote on another napkin. "Hey, if you think I can continue to help out with your project, feel free to message me whenever. I'd be happy to hang out for another drink, or coffee." He slid the napkin to her. It was his number! Score!

Marinette giggled. "I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of your advice for this one! I'll try not to take up too much of your time," she winked. What the hell. Why did she wink.

Luka smiled back. "If it's you, Marinette, I'll make time."

⁂

Part 3

[feminaexlux]

Underneath (Pt 2/2) [Horizon: Forbidden West]

The ultimately weird part is, I have no idea why this took me 2 months to write. It was supposed to be cute and fun and the brain wasn't working. Anyway, I'm calling this done.

Read on AO3!

⁂

When Aloy kissed him the first time, Kotallo thought it was an accident.

When she kissed him the second time, he was just in shock. Disbelieving. But he pulled her back in.

It was the third time that his primal instincts kicked in and he was on top of her, pressing his body down hard against hers so she’d be trapped writhing underneath him as he tasted her lips, her tongue, her neck. She hooked a leg over his hip and a hand raked over his back, the other hand pressing his head harder into herself as she loosed the moans he conjured with his mouth.

Mere minutes before that she had just woken up from a nightmare.

Half a day before that: last night after supper she had fallen asleep against him with his arm around her. He had idly wished he had pulled her in closer to him and kept her safe from the world. He had wished that her mind would let go of the burdens for a little time, while he was holding her. He had wished that she would let him protect her.

He had given what was left of his life to her.

Kotallo honestly wished she’d use his gift.

But he wouldn’t be in love with her if she hadn’t been Aloy.

⁂

(Earlier)

Instead of indulging in the fact that she had fallen asleep on him, he shifted carefully toward her bedroll and laid her gently down on it, removing the bulky pieces of armor that might cause discomfort. He covered her with her blanket, then jogged out into the nearby forest and whistled closer a pack of Watchers, stealthily overriding each with the spear he borrowed from Aloy (without permission, but he'd apologize later).

Three Watchers and the Sunwing had to be enough to patrol their tiny shelter. They had flown east after all, which was ostensibly tamer. He stood out in the rain looking back to the fire, glancing over at Aloy occasionally to see the steady rise and fall of her breathing. He knew she hadn’t slept well recently by the flush of her skin when he first saw her, by how she hadn’t noticed that he’d been thoroughly distracted all through their flight being so close to her, closer than he should have allowed himself to be.

She must have been dead tired on her feet, he was certain. He really shouldn’t have been testing the reactions of his Commander the way he did with his lingering touches but… well, he was a little selfish sometimes.

But this was still a failing. He was not going to rise above his station. His sentiments, his feelings, weren’t a burden he wanted to put on her. His duty was to aid her to the best of his abilities. She hadn’t needed his protection after all, but he was still a strong back, a swordsman, a second set of eyes.

The Anointed, the Champion, the Savior - and she still called herself "some Nora girl." She was fascinating indeed to slough off the praise, to undermine her own legend.

What was underneath those lofty titles was a woman who had been given a spear, bows, a resilient mind, a overwhelming legacy, and used those weapons to save everything and everyone she could. His love was worthless if she failed her mission. He kept that love to himself, even if Hekarro had admitted to Aloy that Kotallo was lost as a Marshal since the day Regalla was rebuffed from the Kulrut.

It was utterly obvious now that he’d been afraid of her and hiding behind duty like Tekotteh had hidden behind the Bulwark. But what could he do about it anyway?

He took off his chest armor, pauldron, and headpiece and placed them under the shelter to dry. He washed off his paints in the stream as they had gotten blotted and tacky from the rain. He stayed up a few hours reading through Old World history, trying to grasp just how much raw might and power the ancient ones had access to before that same might and power swallowed everyone whole. His eyelids soon felt heavy and he let himself doze, knowing that the Watchers and the Sunwing would keep them safe for a little while. He was a light sleeper anyway, his senses always sharp. It was what made him such a valuable warrior to Tekotteh, and later Hekarro. Later still, and most importantly, to Aloy.

Kotallo wouldn’t wake her for her watch. Aloy being able to rest was more important than anything.

He woke upon hearing Aloy mumbling. He turned to her to make sure she was well, but what he saw worried him: how terrified she looked as her unintelligible whispers worked their way through her lips. Sleep had seemed agitated for her, beads of sweat on her brow and the blanket furled tight into her fists. She had been running full tilt at strategies to deal with the nigh insurmountable threat that was Nemesis, though she couldn’t quantify any progress and it frustrated her to no end.

She’d told him about it. She'd told every one of their motley crew about it. He was surprised that she still cared about this final embassy. Or that she remembered him at all, with all that was happening.

Her whispered words came out faster, more urgently. She stirred under her bedding, deeper lines etched onto her brow, pale and sweating and in distress. Out of the words that she breathed out, Kotallo only understood one that kept repeating. “No, no, no, no no no no no,” she panted.

He had had enough. His commander did not need to suffer this way. “Aloy” he called out, hesitating to touch her as he sat up. “Aloy” he said more firmly, finally reaching out and squeezing her hand. She batted him away at first but then latched onto his forearm in a panicked vice grip, her eyes still screwed shut. “Aloy, please wake up.”

She blinked, her eyes still clouded by remnants of her nightmare. She squinted up at him, confused, still gripping his arm. He was about to speak and ask if she was alright when she sat up and placed both her hands on his face to look into his eyes. Something softened in her gaze and he forgot to say anything at all. “Your eyes… they’re so… is it you, Kotallo?”

The paints and armor. She’d never seen him without his paints and armor. He smiled. “Yes, I’m here.”

She looked utterly relieved and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her cheek against his neck. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me, don’t leave me alone.” she pleaded. Was she still dreaming? She couldn’t still be dreaming.

His face felt hot, hotter than could be explained by the fire. It was worse knowing he was without the face paint he usually wore. Dekka had told him once that he was "expressive beyond spoken words", but he thought he had more control over himself than this. “I won’t abandon you on your mission.” he answered.

She pulled back, a look of chagrin on her face after remembering where she was. She still left her hands on his shoulders. Not that he minded. "Is it because I’m your 'commander?' You know this isn’t an order, you don’t have to–"

“No,” Kotallo interrupted. “I make the choice to follow you. Go wherever you need me, do whatever is needed,” he clarified. He was repeating his pledge at the Grove, but if he said anything more it would be dangerous.

She pulled back further, dropping her hands to her sides and he found himself missing her touch already. “Thanks. I think I needed to hear that,” she smiled, but something seemed… broken. Her smile was not wholly genuine, as sad as she still seemed, and as small as she made herself.

It was painfully evident that he hadn’t said the right thing.

On a whim he held out his hand to her and she cautiously placed her hand in his. Her hand was delicate and fine, so small and soft in comparison to his: large, rough, calloused, and worked harder for missing its mirror.

“Forgive me. Those were not the right words. Truth be told, the mission is not the reason I’m here. Your rank does not compel me to act. What matters most to me is to be by your side.” He looked down at her hand and squeezed it gently, unable to look up at her eyes.

“Well, okay,” she breathed out. He thought it was his wishful thinking that made her sound curious instead of angry or appalled. He still couldn’t meet her eyes. “That almost sounded… romantic. Did you mean it like that?” she asked. She still didn’t sound angry, which was… confusing.

Step back, he thought at himself, letting go of her hand. Moving forward would be too great a risk. “I… don’t know–”

"Then maybe you can help me understand something,” she said, an edge of frustration in her voice. He had been avoiding looking at her like the coward he was but the way she sounded exhausted gave him pause. He finally looked up into her eyes. She was on the verge of tears and his shock hit him like a physical blow, making him flinch. “Just… keep in mind that I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what I’m thinking, and you have to tell me if I’m being crazy or stupid. The problem is I keep hearing the things you say and reading more into them because I think I… I’m in love with you. I need you to tell me if you don’t like me like that.”

He swallowed hard, his throat feeling almost too constricted to let anything through. His heart was beating fast, the pulses thrumming through his body and nearly drowning all sounds against the torrent. Even with the drumming against his ears he heard Zo's voice from a poignant memory.

"Tell her, you fool." Zo had sighed at him. "You two are the bravest cowards I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Your loyalty to Aloy speaks volumes, but you'll discover that burying your feelings in the Earth will grow weeds of resentment instead of the healthy, thriving relationship you both deserve. At least give her the choice of rejecting you before she crumbles under the weight of her tasks and is lost to us forever." Zo's voice had faltered at the end, her hand on her belly.

Never had he thought he'd take advice from an Utaru, but Zo seemed singularly wise. Particularly when it might not be a rejection as he feared. "No," he finally said. He watched Aloy flush in embarrassment and nod her acceptance, turning away from him. "I do like you like that. More than like. I was called a 'dumb tree' for never telling you of my interest, though I believed… I would not be welcome."

Aloy paused, sighed, and then frowned looking irritated. That was evidently also not the right thing to say. His anxiety spiked again as she drew her knees under her and made to stand up. Kotallo turned to give her room and then felt her lips at the corner of his mouth.

He blinked in surprise. "Wh--"

Aloy took his hand and pulled him back toward her, cupping his face with her other hand and pressing a harder kiss against his lips. "Is this 'welcome' enough?"

Champion. Savior. Anointed. None of that mattered. Aloy just kissed him. Twice, even. And he was stunned speechless.

Good thing he didn't need words for this. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in. He did then what he had been idly dreaming about for months and pinned her down beneath him, kissing her back and more with this realized fantasy. He got lost in this indulgence, though still hyper aware of all her reactions so he wouldn't push too far. Aloy was surprisingly willing, her legs crossed over his waist, her mouth capturing his whenever she had the chance.

There was a ping from his Focus that he barely heard as he kissed down her neck. Sylens' voice came through, stopping Kotallo in his tracks as abruptly as if he was splashed with chillwater. "Aloy, had I known about your intentions to seduce Hekarro's most trusted Marshal and literal right hand man, I would never have bothered with Regalla. I could have moved up my timetable considerably. Do think about the consequences of dallying about like you are when the world is at stake." Why… was the cryptic asshole addressing Aloy over Kotallo's Focus? Unless… Sylens was addressing them both at the same time.

Aloy inhaled sharply. "Sy--"

Chaos cut her off. It sounded like someone spat out their drink and choked, the sound electrically garbled over the Focus. There was a blue-purple overlay of all of their companions staring at Kotallo and Aloy through their own Focuses. Sylens was broadcasting to everyone at the same time.

"Oh no," Zo sighed.

Erend was yelling. "FIRE AND SPIT is that why you're delayed?"

Alva covered her mouth but a high pitched giddy squeal leaked from under her hands.

Beta was screeching, one arm covered her eyes while the other was flailing. "OH MY GOD ALOY GROSS!"

Kotallo reluctantly sat up and pulled off his Focus, putting it away somewhere. Aloy rolled to her side away from him and covered her face with his blanket. "That was… unexpected," he said dryly.

"GAIA, please revoke Sylens' access to our internal network," Aloy muttered underneath the blanket. "Or at least restrict access since he says he's so obviously crucial to our planet's survival." She pulled off the cover from her face. "Except I haven't seen anything come out of this stupid arrangement." A moment later she pulled off her own Focus, tossing it into a corner of the shelter.

"Aloy--" Kotallo started but she cut him off.

"Don't! Don't say anything. I'm going to go… I'm gonna go kill something right now. Maybe Sylens." Kotallo reached out and touched her elbow and Aloy was startled. She turned to face him. "What?!" She yelled at him. He knew her yelling was out of panic rather than anger.

He raised his eyebrows still. "You asked me to not say anything. But I do need to speak." Aloy sighed and sat up again, nodding at him. "I don't know to what purpose Sylens intends in embarrassing either of us. Whatever that is, it does not change what I feel. I can only hope the same for you."

"Yeah, that certainly wasn't how I expected things to go," she huffed, looking into his eyes. "But I still want... this. If anything I just want to keep kissing you to spite Sylens more."

He couldn't help cracking a smile. "Then perhaps I should thank him," he chuckled. He reached out and placed his arm around her waist, drawing her into his lap again. "I look forward to your spiting Sylens time and time again."

She laughed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders again. She pressed her forehead to his. "I... I like this, but--" She stopped short of continuing. "No. No. I'm not going to let that worm make me doubt myself. Not again."

"Good. I have a vested interest in having you be sure of 'this.' And more, if you're willing."

Aloy pulled back a little to look at him. "I'm in for 'more.' I think I'm in for everything."

"Everything, hmm?"

She raised her eyebrows a notch. "I can handle it. Try me."

⁂

(Later In Meridian)

"Is it just my old eyes or is the Savior perhaps walking a little strange?" Marad commented quietly to his companions. Both Talanah and Erend burst out in laughter. Again.

"By the damned forge, man, you just can't -- ah blast it Talanah shut it -- your face! You're making me laugh--" Erend gasped, having difficulty breathing in between his guffaws. "My sides," he wheezed, his arms wrapped around himself as he doubled over.

Talanah was brushing aside tears of mirth from the corners of her eyes. "Ahhh, my Thrush has… has said that she--she's sore from riding all day," Talanah nearly screeched out. "Riding 'the Sunwing,' she said."

"I see," Marad said evenly. "And you two are implying the Savior has been involved with another type of mount."

Erend laughed again and bellowed out "Blast it Marad! Blast you straight to HELL! 'Blameless' my ass. You flamin' heap of scrap, you're just as bad if not worse than Vanasha or this one." He pointed at Talanah with an accusing finger.

"Sure, Aloy's said nothing about that Behemoth of a man she brought from the West," Talanah said, her voice still slightly shrill. "But that Tenakth Marshal's the 'mount involved' with the Savior, that's for certain." Talanah took a deep breath and sighed. "Reach whatever conclusions you need to, Marad. Sun and Shadows, I haven't had a laugh like this in years."

Marad sighed. "Leave it to the Savior of Meridian to bridge East and West by aiming straight at the Tenakth and foregoing the Sundom entirely."

[feminaexlux]

Just Be: Done with it (Part 1)

Happy Valentine's Day, @milahidee and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers! Hope you enjoy, I focused on the "drama" and "suspense" lol

Original Prompts:

where marinette loses her memory and luka helps her and falls in love again, It can also be something like fantasy where luka is a snake king and marinette knows him because it helps juleka (etc.) some drama, suspense

Something where it contains Suspense and a lot of drama between luka and marinette, where they separate and later meet again and fall in love again Where everyone is against them but doesn't care about luka and marinette*

Rating: T+ (I know you asked for nsfw but I think you're 17 so I toned it down :sweats:)

Part 1 out of 3-4 or something iunno. There's no Lukanette just yet. Consider this the preface :)

Read on AO3 here!

⁂

Marinette opened her eyes and… just was. She imagined she was floating in an ocean of white, drifting along in a subtle current. It was blissfully silent. It wasn't frightening or oppressive or blinding at all. It was just something she found herself in. She checked herself over as she started realizing that maybe she was in a dream? But no, she moved her hand to her chest and she felt fabric against her skin. She felt her heart beating steadily.

She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, age 24, unhurt and feeling okay. Well, feeling slightly better than okay. She couldn't explain where it came from but there was a huge sense of relief that something heavy and incredibly taxing was taken off of her shoulders.

There was a pleasant scent of jasmine green tea in the air. The universe started resolving itself around her, the white slowly getting less and less… opaque? What used to be vague shapes started getting outlined, then slowly the colors came in, and then she recognized things like lanterns and chairs and tables and tea sets and a person sitting at the table drinking tea by lanternlight. It was sometime in the evening, Marinette guessed. The tea-drinker person - no, she sort of remembered from somewhere that he was a Grandmaster - he was… Su-Han? His bushy gray eyebrows rose fractionally as he looked over at her.

"How are you feeling?"

How was she feeling? Why'd he ask that? She… she was fine. Felt pretty good, actually. Marinette wasn't quite sure what was going on. Maybe she'd missed something important? "I… think I'm fine, Grandmaster Su-Han."

His eyebrows rose further. "You remember me. How… unusual. Do you remember how you got here?"

Okay, now was the time to panic. How… she got here? Where is here? Okay, wait wait wait. She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, age 24, from Paris, France and an aspiring designer and clothier. Here… Here was… she was in Tibet? She was in Tibet. Because she'd specifically sought out Grandmaster Su-Han. To return… a box. An important box of heirloom jewelry. Right. She must have passed out for some reason or another though. That was concerning.

Marinette had stalled for a few seconds as she processed things. "I had to return something, right? I… I remember having to return something and I'm so, so sorry, I must have tripped and knocked my head against something and concussed and you had to take care of me!"

God, that was probably exactly what she'd done being the clumsy dumbass she was. No wonder he was asking if she remembered anything, she must have knocked her head pretty hard. And that was why she was in a bed in all her clothes with a warm towelette on her forehead.

His eyebrows knitted but he smiled at her. The look was grandfatherly, like she'd just said something stupid and he decided to humor her. "You returned it, yes," he said gently. "The M-- box is back and safe in our hands. I am deeply thankful for your incredible bravery in returning the box to the Order. I--We have the utmost gratitude." Wh… what was that M word? It sounded like static. He pushed away from the table to stand and bowed to her. "You honor us, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. We will never forget the things you have done, even if you have chosen to."

Part of her head hurt when he said that last part. Part of her body hurt when he said that last part. She didn't know what happened there. "Th-thanks I mean no thanks needed! I don't know why I kept the jewelry box so long, they've always been yours--I mean the Order's right? So I'm just glad I was able to finally give them back, haha!" She had the sinking feeling that she was just going to get even worse headaches staying here any longer. Marinette decided she wasn't going to spend the energy trying to figure out why that was. "So I-I think I'm okay now, I should really get out of your hair--" Oh good going Marinette he's been bald for over a decade! Wait how did she know that? "--I mean out of your wayyyy so um. I'll-I'll get going!"

She took the towelette off her forehead and got out of the bed she was in. Su-Han helped her to her feet when she felt wobbly all of a sudden, but out of sheer willpower Marinette stood up straight and… shook his hand? It felt like the right thing to do. She saw that her bag had been left at the foot of the bed so she picked it up and slung it over her shoulder like she always did. She pulled out her phone to call her mom, more than ready to go home. Her home screen looked weird: did she really take a lame-ass selfie with Adrien Agreste? They weren't even close friends!

Wait. She was in Tibet. Why was she going to call her mom to get a ride back home? Well, okay, not a terrible first instinct to call her mom when she was feeling weird.

A few scattered details floated back into her brain from somewhere. She'd told her parents a week ago that she needed to head abroad to get some inspiration and insight for her designs, looking at the current fashion trends in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Xiamen. All of that had been half-truths just so she could leave Paris and spend a few weeks away anywhere else. Being in Paris made her skin crawl and had for the past couple of months for some reason. She took a break for herself.

She didn't remember if she had a plane ticket to get back home. Well, no. She hadn't even had a plane ticket to get here. That was super weird. Surely she hadn't walked all the way… Grandmaster Su-Han cleared his throat behind her. "Do… you remember how you got here? You seem to be having trouble."

Marinette's temples started throbbing. "I think I flew here from Paris," she said, shrugging.

Su-Han smiled faintly. "I could call for a… taxi," he struggled for a half second to find that last word. "We are much less remote here than before. The… airport is not close but will not take too long to get to." God Marinette hoped her credit card worked here, this was going to be expensive. "But it would be much easier if we asked Kaalki for assistance," Su-Han added a little reluctantly. "It is the least we can do." Marinette was about to ask who (or what) Kaalki was when her mind flashed an image of… Max? From Collège? That was random. She hadn't seen him in forever.

Su-Han rifled through a nearby box and fetched a pair of glasses to put on and suddenly Marinette's head exploded. Well, not really, but it felt like it: a searing pain went from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet like lightning had struck her. She flinched in pain and Su-Han apologized, for some reason. "I am sorry. But this would be easier for you, in the end. Kaalki--"

Marinette's brain decided to shut off and stop processing things right then. Which is why the next thing she knew she was waking up in the middle of Place de Vosges, sitting on a park bench facing toward a carousel in the middle of the afternoon. She felt rested��? She felt fine now. She must have needed a nap real bad. But it was a bad sign that she blacked out again.

She hadn't remembered getting into the taxi and going to the airport. She hadn't remembered getting on a plane to come back to Paris. She hadn't remembered her parents coming to pick her up. This wasn't normal. She should… probably go see a doctor. Okay, yeah, a doctor would be good. She pulled out her phone from her purse by habit. She looked at the screen and…

No, she remembered that she'd just looked at that stupid home screen picture. She remembered just talking with Su-Han. She also remembered that she had shown up somehow to the Order of the Guardians to return a box. She'd returned it, and then just a few minutes later she was here in Paris.

That was… that was supposed to be unsettling, right? Maybe even disquieting. But instead she found herself feeling the happiest she'd ever been in 10 long years.

She decided to not let it bother her. The world was pretty magical, anyway. She was just glad she didn't have to pay for a plane ticket. But still, it wouldn't hurt to drop by a clinic and get her headaches checked by a doctor.

⁂

Marinette took a taxi ride back to her parent's house after a visit to the clinic. The scans and lab work came back clear. Even after her GP told Marinette to take it easy and rest up and try to alleviate the stress that potentially caused her headaches and sporadic memory issues, Marinette decided she'd rather keep herself busy than sitting around doing nothing. After all, she'd been putting aside her boutique fashion shop for far too long, and she couldn't remember why she'd left the fledgling online shop by the wayside so many times. It was time to get serious about her dreams!

Then she realized she had gotten a text message from Alya during the checkup.

Alya: Hey girl, noticed that you're back in town already. Wanna meet up?

The text wasn't so creepy after Marinette remembered they'd been sharing each other's locations through their phones for over a decade. For some reason. Alya was her best friend… that was what friends did, right? Marinette had intended to say hi to her parents but if Alya reached out so quickly she was probably watching Marinette's location like a freaking hawk. Her best friend must have something important to talk about.

Marinette: Okay, do you want to meet at the café?

Alya: Gimme 20, I'll be there.

After saying a quick hello to her very surprised parents, Marinette walked to the café and grabbed a table and two teas. It wasn't long before she was joined by Alya. "Hey, how are you doing?" Alya asked, looking worried.

"I'm okay. What did you want to talk about?"

"Well… you," Alya gestured. "We'd all barely seen you for the past year and then just last week you showed up out of nowhere and told me you were 'done' with like, everything, and that you'd be gone for a while. You said I'd know when you'd be back and that we could talk then." Alya reached forward to take Marinette's hands in hers. "You looked so damn miserable and tired before you left but you didn't tell me anything. You said you couldn't. I'm so glad you're back and looking great, but… what happened, Marinette? Are you okay? Are you really done being--?"

Rage hit Marinette out of nowhere and she wrenched her hands from Alya's and yelled "I'm fucking done!" Marinette saw the shock hit Alya's face just as the shock registered to herself. Where the fuck did that come from? "Oh, I'm sorry," Marinette said, covering her mouth. "I don't know why I yelled at you. I'm sorry, Alya."

"It's… okay," Alya said, clearly unsure. "I… know you were having a lot of doubts these past few years. I didn't know it was getting worse," she sighed. "God I'm such a bad bestie. Are you doing okay now?"

"Y-Yeah, I think so," Marinette answered. "But I'm… I'm gonna have to be honest here, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't remember having that conversation with you," Marinette said nervously.

Marinette saw her best friend pale. "Oh. Oh God. Okay. You said that you might have trouble remembering things when you came back. Shit." Alya bit at her thumbnail, furrowing her eyebrows in concentration. "What do you remember of last week?"

Marinette shrugged. "I wasn't doing anything, really."

"What… do you remember of the M--?" It was that staticky M word again.

"The what?"

Alya blinked. "M--?" Marinette just shook her head. "Oh fuck. Okay. What about Hawkmoth? Chat Noir?"

"I remember them," Marinette nodded.

Alya nodded as well. "'Kay, that's good. Do you remember being…" Alya leaned in and whispered. "Ladybug?"

Marinette's eyes widened. "What? I'm not Ladybug, that's crazy!"

There was a mixture of horror and sadness on Alya's face. "Oh shit," Alya sighed. "Oh, Marinette. I… I'm so… sorry I wasn't there for you. You shouldn't have had to do all this alone. I should have been there for you," Alya said quietly.

"… What are you talking about?"

"When you and Adrien were… God I thought I better stay outta both your business but I didn't realize… I never… I never asked… Goddamn."

"Me and… Adrien?"

"You don't remember Adrien?" she asked, looking more horrified.

"I remember him! Nino's best friend and he's the son and model of Gabriel, right? Wait, didn't Gabriel fold a few years ago? Crap…"

Alya scoffed. "You remember that?" She shook her head. "Gabriel was Hawkmoth. That's why the company dissolved."

Marinette gasped. "Oh no! Poor Adrien!"

Alya just shook her head again, looking incredulous now. "Yeah… you both took that hard. But I thought you'd recovered, you know? You both pulled through really well. But then maybe you and Chat Noir weren't doing so hot after all."

"Is… is Adrien okay?" Marinette asked, not sure what to make of Alya's resulting frown. "And… I only met Chat Noir a couple of times, Alya. What do you mean we weren't doing so hot? He seemed nice?"

Alya closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Marinette, you were Ladybug. Adrien was Chat Noir. You two were always together, until… until a year ago."

Marinette opened her mouth but realized she had nothing to say. This whole premise was ridiculous, how was she the one and only Ladybug of Paris? But Alya seemed to be deadly serious about this whole thing. "Nnnooo, no, I wasn't Ladybug," she said eventually. "I don't remember hanging out with Adrien that much either. We were friends, sure, but we didn't hang out like you're saying."

The corners of Alya's eyes were glistening with tears. "Oh, Marinette," she half-sobbed. Marinette went to her friend's side and pulled her into a hug.

"Alya, you're scaring me a little. I'm sorry… I'm making you cry but I… I don't know what to say? I'm not and have never been Ladybug. And… are you supposed to tell me that Adrien is Chat Noir? Isn't that supposed to be a secret? How did you find out? Did he tell you? Does everyone know?" Okay Marinette, your friend is having some kind of mental breakdown and you're asking about Chat Noir? Jeez. "Nevermind. Sorry, Alya. Sorry."

Alya chuckled softly. "No, no, this must be so… weird." She took in a deep breath and hugged Marinette back. "I'm… I'm just working through some things."

"Sorry if I'm not really getting it," Marinette said, leaving her hand on Alya's shoulder after breaking the hug. "And sorry I'm not Ladybug. But it's awesome that Ladybug and Chat Noir trust you with their secrets. You're just that cool!"

Alya barked out a pained laugh. "Hah! I'm so lame, Marinette. So fucking lame. But I'll be better. I promise you."

"O-Okay, sounds great," Marinette said, awkwardly shuffling back to the other side of the table. "I did get us some tea if you'd like it? I was going to have dinner with my parents, but I can put that off for tomorrow if you'd like me to stay and talk."

"Girl, I'm not even sure what I'd be talking about, if what I remember and what you remember of last week are different things." Alya pressed her fingers against her temple. "But I don't think you'd be lying to me. Something weird's going on." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'll need to call Luka. Or Adrien. Maybe both. Not that I can get a single thing out of that snake, but I'll be able to wring it out of that damn cat if I try," Alya muttered.

"Whatever you need to do," Marinette agreed, ignoring the weird animal references.

"No, fuck, maybe Alix," Alya continued to herself. "God, I hate time powers."

"Time powers?"

Alya snapped her head up, realizing that she'd been off in her own world. "Oh, nothing, nothing, just… thinking out loud on ya. Tea sounds delicious right now. Thanks for getting it, Marinette."

Marinette took a sip of her tea and stared into her reflection. "Look, Alya, I'm really sorry I haven't been around for the past while. I've… had pretty bad depression and I didn't want to see or talk to anyone outside of my parents. But coming back from my trip? I feel amazing, re-energized, you know? It just makes me wonder… if last week you remember me doing something I know I didn't do… did I maybe get impersonated by someone else? Was someone pretending to be me?"

"I… God, I don't know. This is some real comic book shit, girl," Alya sighed. "I know for sure I saw you last week. But that… that sounds like it might be something, I guess."

Marinette felt something heavy in the pit of her stomach. Something that hurt a whole damn lot. If Alya thought Marinette was someone else all this time… Who, if not Alya, knew who Marinette Dupain-Cheng was at all?

⁂

Part 2

[feminaexlux]

Fall to Me

TBH I realize belatedly after writing this that Truth was fomenting chaos in my soul and it needed to be taken the fuck out with a proverbial shotgun

Anyway here's a fic that was based off of Truth and without knowledge of the rest of S4 so far, just in case nothing makes sense

I also know I promised smangst (smut + angst) but I got tired/lazy and @mintaka14 posted something I felt was eerily similar (or just reminded me I needed to get this done) so I wanted to get this out the door

Read on AO3 here!

Rated M for language I guess?

⁂

Luka was in a precarious situation. He was lying half-naked on Marinette's chaise, with Marinette herself lying half-naked on him. She let out a quiet sleepy giggle when she brushed her thigh against his raging hard-on, still unfortunately trapped under his over-tight jeans. His neck felt sore where she'd bitten him and he figured there'd be a pretty obvious bruise there soon.

His chest was also similarly marked.

He woke up like this. He had woken up when he had needed to sneeze because some hair got all up in his face. He then realized he had a whole-ass person on top of him. And that person was the girl he had been in love with for years. He had gently brushed away her hair and she had hummed out a "Mmmm, Luuuuka," that got him hot-and-bothered and unable to go back to sleep. He kinda didn't want to wake her in fear of this whole precarious situation blowing up in his face.

⁂

This all started a week ago with Dingo, that fucker. Well, sort of. Maybe. Maybe that was all circumstantial. But Dingo had 2 extra tickets to The Bondsmiths and Ding had given them to Luka. Juleka was busy with stuff, his Ma wasn't into this newfangled noise, Ivan wouldn't go without Mylene, Mylene was in Spain on vacation, Rose was "stuff," and if Dingo was involved most of Luka's other friends wouldn't be.

He'd just thrown it out into a group chat "Hey I have an extra ticket anyone want to come?" and Marinette was the one that said "me~!" Luka and Dingo had a tense stare off when Dingo handed over the tickets.

Her? Dingo's sharp brown eyes seemed to say.

Luka stared back coolly. Yes. We're friends.

Dingo fucking smirked. How much longer, eh? Cheers, mate. He gave the tickets to Luka with a smarmy wink.

The night of the showing Luka got stuck being the designated driver. He was used to it. The concert area was indoors and packed. Ding almost got shitfaced and Brielle had to keep him from falling over. At least the sets were fantastic. When the concert was closing at around 02:34 Ding and Brielle were having sloppy disgusting make-outs, making both Luka and Marinette ever so slightly uncomfortable.

That was when it all started getting weird. Weirder.

Brielle came up for air and told Luka that she and Ding would take a cab back, so all Luka would need to do was drop off Marinette. Luka shrugged and did just that, but Marinette invited him up to crash at her place because it was already so late and he looked so tired. He was about to pass on that when Marinette mentioned that her parents were on vacation in China and wouldn't be back for a whole month, just… out of the blue.

Before he could formulate any sort of coherent response she took his hand and pulled him up the stairs to the living room, sat him on the couch, started brewing some chamomile tea for the both of them, and talked about the concert. Marinette smiled at him after handing him a mug and short-circuited his brain again. "That was fun!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed," Luka smiled back, sipping his tea.

She sat down next to him and brushed her hair back over her ear. A shiny black earring seemed to glimmer with the light it caught. "I'm really glad I was able to go with you."

His head was empty except for noticing the light blush she had on her cheeks. She looked up at him with her big blue eyes, and somehow Luka got the sense that she was… expecting something? Oh, a response, duh. "Same. It's always nice to hang out with you."

She smiled, drank the rest of her tea and set it aside. "Luka, can I kiss you?"

… What? Wow, alright he was tired. He thought he heard her ask him if she could kiss him. He was already in the half-asleep pseudo-dream state and probably imagined that whole thing. Goddamn he was such a simp for her. "Heh," he said noncommittally.

Marinette blinked at him. "Is that a… a no?"

"Hmm?"

She scooted closer to him and he took a big gulp of his tea to hide his nervousness. "You… don't want me to kiss you?"

Oh God he heard that correctly. He sputtered and coughed, covering his mouth with a fist. "Wh-what?" He blushed hard.

She blushed as well. "Sorry! I'm sorry. I-I-I thought… um."

Several years ago they had tried to date but she'd always been… unavailable. So they kept hanging out as friends, which was… fine. It was fine. They'd never even gotten to really do anything together as a couple but as friends? It went better.

He wasn't over her. Never tried to convince himself he was. But he also honestly hadn't expected her to want to get back together. So… what changed? She sighed heavily, her complexion calming back down. "Nothing changed. Not really." She looked down toward the floor at her feet and he finally realized he asked that last thought out loud. "I… maybe I guess I did." She looked back up at him. "I've been thinking lately that I just want… to do something for me, for once. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" She trailed off and stared back at the floor.

"I've never stopped wanting to be with you." Oh shit he said it. She looked back up at him and he awkwardly took another swallow of tea and looked away. "Sounds bad. I guess it is," he said eventually.

"But you didn't tell me?"

He met her eyes. "You were happy. You were with Adrien. I can't force my feelings on you."

She took a breath and let it out slowly. "I was, yeah." Her words hung in the air.

Luka hadn't figured out what happened to break up the state of Adrienette, but when he came back from touring with Jagged, Marinette and Adrien were "just friends" again. Luka wasn't sure how long ago the split happened and after 2 or 3 years apart did he even know Marinette anymore?

She had welcomed him back to Paris as a more grown up Marinette, not actually so different than he had remembered her. She had more confidence, less anxiety, a spine of steel. She was in charge of herself and it was so good to see her so sure.

He didn't want to mess that up for her in any way. So they remained friends for 2 more years. And for one reason or another they both kept being single.

He had somehow reintegrated back in her inner circle of friends. Luka saw for himself that Marinette and Adrien had a lot of history in their little in-jokes and double talk, dropping code phrases and making each other laugh at random. Maybe they'd reignite that spark and Luka didn't want to be caught in the resulting blaze. Even if they didn't, underneath it all he worried about being disappointed and left in the dark by Marinette like he'd been all those years ago.

Not that it did anything to change his attraction to her. He was a sucker for girls like her, except there had only ever been the one.

Marinette took his free hand and squeezed it gently. "I was happy, yes. And… I was hoping I could be again. With you?"

⁂

Slowly, Marinette thought, take it slow. She did spring this on him a little suddenly but hey, it felt right, and she had it on relatively good authority that it was time. At this point in her life she knew to trust her gut instinct and friendly advice. Although she felt more okay with this because her head was sliiightly impaired right now.

She also thought that he'd jump on… her, she supposed, given the opportunity - but he was uncharacteristically reserved. Was it uncharacteristic? Maybe not. He'd always been pretty laid back and easy going.

And observant.

Which meant he was thinking and had doubts about them. Well, shit. Okay. She didn't make it easy on them the last time they tried anything like this. Actually, Hawkmoth had made life difficult for her so there hadn't even been an opportunity for a them.

He sighed softly and squeezed her hand back. "I want… this. I do. But there's still something that worries me."

Alright, fuck going slow. "I'm Ladybug. I am now and I was then. That's why I kept disappearing." This was alright, it was kind of an open secret by this point in her superhero career. Her parents knew, her closest friends knew, and Luka was a close friend she wanted even closer, so he should know.

His mouth was slightly open and his eyebrows shot up. "Ah."

"Things are… okay now, aren't they? I'm not needed like I was before."

He smiled a little and his worried expression softened, understanding. "That… does explain a lot of things but that's not the only thing I was worried about."

That surprised Marinette. And actually now she started to worry herself. What other red flags had she given him? Shit. She'd been a basket case in her earlier teens but she'd left behind the Teenage Angst Things and graduated to Adult Things, hadn't she? Fuck.

He chuckled. "It's not --all-- a you thing, this is a me thing," he said.

"Oh please don't give me the 'It's not you it's me' talk when we haven't started anything," Marinette interrupted.

He snorted, putting down his empty tea mug on the table. "Yeah, I still want to give you some context," he continued. "First off, I'm not like Dad, I don't want to be a big rock star with all that baggage. I just wanna play music and do small gigs and have fun. I'm not gonna be rolling in money and I can't give you everything that you'd possibly want."

Marinette blinked. "I… already knew that?"

"Second, if you do want to 'start' things I promise you I'm not just going to let you go again."

Marinette bit back a smile. "Alright. Are we entering some kind of agreement here? Is this a pre-nup?" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"We're already getting married?" He laughed.

"Not if you don't want to kiss me!" He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.

Soft, warm, simple. Real.

She placed her hands on his face and brought him in for another kiss, stopping him from pulling back all the way. "More," she breathed out.

⁂

"More?" Luka thought. It was… an odd ask but okay… He was sort of interested in more as well so why not? Except well, there were a few things clarified but he really meant to talk about things in detail before diving into… her mouth like he just did. Her fingers worked their way through his hair, her nails skimming across his scalp sending shivers down his spine. She gave back as much as she was receiving from him in their make-out and if he had to taste only one thing for the remainder of his life he'd want it to be her: sweet, warming, with notes of chamomile, bourbon, vodka, and rum.

This was getting a little too indulgent but most of him didn't mind. One part of him craved this from her, but… wait, shit. Bourbon? Vodka? Rum? She'd been drinking, dumbass. Shit. "Mm--" He tried to say her name to get her attention, maybe slow them down a bit -- okay, a lot -- but she had just leaned back on the couch and he was pulled down with her still relentlessly kissing him. "Mar--" he tried again, but she took that opportunity to take his bottom lip gently between her teeth. One of her hands went to his hips and she grabbed a belt loop and hooked a finger under his jeans, tugging him closer.

Oh boy.

He broke free from her a little reluctantly. "Hold on," he chuckled nervously after pulling back. "Wait a sec."

Her eyes went wide open and she froze. She pulled back her hands and stuttered out a "W-was that bad? S-Sorry! Oh I'm so--"

He pressed two fingers to her lips to stop the torrent of apologies. Apparently the penchant of apologizing for everything wouldn't change about Marinette even if she'd been drinking. "Marinette, you had a few drinks. I don't… I don't think…" He sighed, sitting back up.

"I only had 3?" Marinette squeaked.

"4. You finished off Brielle's."

"I-I think I'm pretty sober?"

"But you're not sure."

"I'm… sober enough, aren't I?"

"I'm not confident making that call."

"But I… I want this," Marinette said quietly but firmly. "I really want this."

The thought that kept mentally slapping Luka across the face was But will you still want this in the morning? Well. He had to be honest with himself. It was really Will you still want me in the morning?

Her knowing the general trajectory of his life and joking about marriage aside, she hadn't said anything about wanting him. Wanting a "this" and wanting to be happy again, sure. Having him along for the ride, sure. But actually wanting him and all he was? Still unclear.

And even if she said she wanted him, would he believe her? She'd been 14, yes, but she said she wanted to date and… never actually followed through, Ladybug duties aside. He sighed to himself. She hadn't been ready. That wasn't her fault. She couldn't tell him then.

But that time of being left behind didn't magically evaporate with an explanation.

He didn't think he was bitter or resentful but all of that was hitting him full-force now. Not again, his head warned him. Not again. You don't have to deal with that. And yeah, he didn't have to deal with that... Sometimes a heartbreak was worth braving.

He needed some time to think about if this was worth braving.

He felt Marinette shuffling at his side but he didn't give in to the temptation to look. He stared down at his hands, his elbows propped on his knees as he slumped forward.

"Can… Can I hear what you're thinking?" Marinette asked softly. There was a little bit of uncertainty in her voice. He didn't say anything for several heartbeats. "Luka?"

Well, at least she didn't call him Adrien. That was a plus. God that'd been once and it still left an awful taste in his mouth. "You should probably head to bed. We can talk later." Later. There was always later. Except he was tired of later. It'd been better when he didn't have to tell himself he could wait. It'd been better when he hadn't had anything to wait for.

Easier. Not better. He had to give her that.

"No," she said. "I'd like to talk now if that's alright. I'd like to… understand." Right, she was better at standing her ground. She wasn't 14 anymore. He wasn't 16 and naïvely hopeful anymore.

He probably wasn't going to sleep anyway. "I don't know how to trust you."

⁂

Shit. Shit shit shit.

Marinette felt the all too familiar cold panic settling on her shoulders like it always did. Of course he didn't trust her, she wouldn't trust herself fully now with how things played out back then. She was definitely getting a headache.

Fucking Cockmoth. Fucking Guardianship. Fucking… Adr--no, she made her peace with Adrien. They were past that now. Fucking… obligations and wrangling all those threads in her life to hold together. Marinette figured she was done with all that, but…

At the epicenter of all of these problems was her. She had to admit, it wasn't her fault but it became her responsibility to treat those around her as fairly as she could. And she hadn't been fair with Luka.

God, she spent hours staring at pictures of Adrien and drooling over every damn appearance. When she tried to get past the crush the whole universe was conspiring to push her to indulge it instead. And worst yet, she did indulge it while trying to date Luka! This was… she should have seen it coming. Who in their right mind wouldn't be at least a little bit wary of her intense obsession over Adrien in her formative years influencing her now? It defined who she was for a long time.

But she was different now, she grew up. She just needed to show it, right?

Wait. There was something about the way he said what he said. "You don't know how to trust me?" He nodded. "Do… do you at all?"

"Mostly." Okay, so there was still a tiny sliver of a chance? "I trust you with almost everything."

"Except?"

"Except me." He paused for a moment. "And you've been drinking."

But! But I… Yeah. "Okay." Her being slightly impaired did make things a little complicated. And maybe that was the reason why she was being a bit impulsive right now, the alcohol was fast-forwarding her decision making process. Marinette let out a breath she held in. "Will you stay here tonight?"

He raised an eyebrow but relented with a "Yeah."

"Come upstairs with me?"

He raised the other eyebrow as well, looking nervous. "Upstairs? To your room?"

"Yes, I wanted to--" It took a second but it clicked. What she asked didn't sound any less impulsive with how he probably interpreted that. "Oh I'm not going to seduce you or anything I just was thinking it'd be nicer for you if you were using my daybed instead of the couch here but I guess it could sound a little like I'm asking for sex which I'm not. I mean unless you consider making-out se--okay nevermind!" Wow, way to go, Marinette. Her face was burning with embarrassment. "I'll bring down a blanket!"

Okay, she had to admit it, she was definitely more than a little tipsy. She felt lightheaded when she stood up quickly. She tried to hide her disorientation as best she could as she walked away, heading toward the ladder leading up to the hatch. She'd been so focused on seeming not-drunk that she bonked her head at the top climbing up. "Ouch!"

"Are you alright?" Luka asked, and even tipsy Marinette could hear the puzzled amusement in his voice.

"I'm fine," Marinette muttered. She forced open the entry and it slammed open on the other side with a loud thunk. Fuck, she wasn't at all convincing him that she was sober. She slipped off her shoes and sat back down on her chaise/daybed, feeling incredibly embarrassed at herself. This was not at all going the way she hoped. He still felt betrayed at the things that happened when she was an idiot teenager. Should she have known? He never told her!

But he never told her because he never thought they'd get back together. That was obvious in the way he said all the things he said.

He did want to be with her. He did want her. But he'd been so hurt by what happened and… she never knew. No, of course she knew, he was akumatized by it. He'd carried that for so long and let her live her life without her knowing. Damn it, she needed to… she needed to make this right.

How could she make this right?

She was unsurprised as she felt the cool streaks of tears falling down her cheeks. In the morning, they'll talk. Ignoring the fact that it was already morning, she knew they both just needed to put this aside and get some rest for now. She heard shuffling and Luka making his way up the ladder. She quickly wiped her eyes.

"Hey, you doing okay?" He had a clear look of concern on his face, kneeling down in front of her. "Is your head hurting?"

"Oh no, sorry, I just spaced out."

"You hit your head that hard?" Luka asked, sounding even more concerned.

"No, no. I-I was… My head's fine, Luka." She sighed. "Just. Thinking, is all. Sorry, let me get the blanket."

He looked up at her a bit more keenly. "You've been crying." A simple statement.

"Yeah," Marinette said quietly, defeatedly. "But I'm okay." She pasted on a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She started getting up but he caught her attention and spoke with some hesitation.

"I don't need the blanket. I'm probably not going to sleep," he said with a half smile, sitting down on the floor in front of her. "Too much going on here," he tapped against his temple. "I'm guessing the same for you?"

"Yeah again," she said, smiling for real this time. "Can we keep talking?"

"We can. I thought it'd be better if you got some rest but sleep isn't coming for either of us anyway." The lights in her room were muted but she could see the bags forming under his eyes. He passed his hands over his chin, lightly scratching at the stubble coming in.

"I was really kind of… no, not kind of. I was awful when we dated before."

"You weren't awful. You just weren't there. I understand that you had Paris to save," he added quickly when she had furrowed her eyebrows. "But the fact remains that I wasn't able to spend any time with you. Juleka kept telling me to watch out and that you dated me only because Adrien wasn't available to date anymore. I was hoping you'd change your mind and you would want to be with me, but then you were making time for him and your other friends while I was left waiting. I'm a human being, Marinette, not a doormat. You forgot about me. It was miserable and I felt like shit. I almost regretted asking you out at all."

⁂

Ah, fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. There were none of his usual filters. He just spewed all that out there. It was all true but maybe he should've let it go? She was young and dumb, anyone at that age was capable of making stupid-ass mistakes. Luka himself made soooo many of them. It'd been like 5 years since their breakup, maybe he should just get over it already. Marinette was in his arms literal minutes ago and he had to go and get like this. And he made her cry again. Nice one, Couffaine.

This was the worst sort of crying. She went absolutely still with a solemn expression, being oppressively silent while the tears fell from her eyes. He felt his mouth go dry and he swallowed. "I--" he cut himself off.

Marinette nodded her head so slightly Luka almost didn't see the motion. "I didn't make time for you," she agreed, her voice tiny and broken.

He suddenly wanted to make a quip about knowing all about time and giving Second Chances to let them both recover but that would be disingenuous and corny as hell. He wasn't so sure he believed in them much anymore. And maybe the way this played out was better anyway, at the very least he needed to own what he said as he couldn't take back his words.

Marinette broke the silence. "I… I wasn't very happy with myself back then. I did make a lot of bad decisions. I didn't give you… much of anything I guess."

He smiled a little. "I still have that pendant."

"I could have given you more. I could have been doing so much more. And I didn't. I didn't," she repeated, a hitch in her voice.

Fuck. He could meet her halfway at least. "It sounded like you had a lot to deal with. You knew your friends better so it makes a lot of sense that you'd prefer to hang out with them. I was just some guy. The brother of a friend. I wasn't that important in the long run."

"Don't say that," Marinette cringed a little. She wrapped her arms around herself. "You were--are important. I was… I was scared. Of a lot of things. A lot of stupid things." She shivered slightly. "I was a little scared of disappointing you. I was scared that maybe I had used you to… make me feel better about myself. I was scared that you'd never see all of me. I was scared that Hawkmoth would use you against me and your family and Paris if you knew I was Ladybug and it happened anyway without you knowing about me. I was so stupid back then."

He sighed. "Hey, please don't beat yourself up. I didn't want to make you feel like you have to explain what happened in the past. I got too… wrapped up in how I felt back then. We didn't work out and that's just life." It hadn't been their time.

Did he still love her? Sure. But they'd been better off as friends. She even made a point of trying to hang out with him nowadays. She told him everything that was on her mind. She gave him small gifts here and there, made it to all of his gigs, invited him to all of her fashion showings. They saw the movies and concerts they wanted to see together. When she felt lost or sad he was the first one she reached out to.

As… friends?

There was this uncomfortable feeling tugging at the back of his mind. He felt it at the base of his skull, a slow dawning realization. But… he almost didn't want to acknowledge it as it could have been just some phantom hope that she would love him like he sometimes dreamed. It was way too easy to get lost in some fantasy.

Maybe he was just scared himself. Scared of being ghosted again if he picked up this hope and tried to make it real. In a roundabout way he was saying that, at least.

Okay. Time to bite the bullet. He leaned forward and put his hand on her elbow. "I know we're hanging out a lot more now. I'm sincerely enjoying all the times we get to do stuff together. I'm grateful that you're giving me all that." This is it. Just say it out loud. "I'm saying that if we want to be more than friends, I'm scared that you're going to leave me again."

Whew. Was that so bad? Actually yeah it was terrifying.

There was a grimace on Marinette's face. "I… I-I understand," she said weakly. "I understand why you'd be afraid of that. But I don't know how to prove to you that I won't?"

It felt like the world shifted, the same as the first time he ever saw her. That earlier hope was coiling around his heart, making it beat faster. "You won't?"

She kept looking pained. "J-Just so you know I t-totally get it if you wanna stay friends or… or something, but I-I want… I know I messed up and I get pretty crazy sometimes so maybe you don't want anything to do with me after this and it's completely your right to do that--"

"Hold on," Luka interrupted her, half anxious and half this is so Marinette. "I'm not--" She put her fingers to his lips to quiet him.

"B-But I have to ask if you could give me a second chance?"

⁂

Marinette pulled her head back a bit and got annoyed at herself. "Sorry, that wasn't supposed to be a pun. O-On your… history as Viperion."

Great, so not only had she made an ass of herself but she just unintentionally punned at Luka. Marinette intensely disliked when Chat had made those inappropriately annoying puns whenever moments were tense. She seemingly picked up the habit, ugh.

Luka laughed and the tension was cut a bit. Maybe Adrien wasn't so wrong to have joked all the time. Luka took her hand into his and pressed his face against her palm. "Alright, alright," he breathed out. Instantly Marinette's heart started beating faster. "I just wanted you to hear me out. You do hear me, right?"

Marinette nodded. "I hear you." There was a slightly rough and tickling sensation under her finger tips as she was able to feel some of his 5-o'clock-shadow (except what was it now, 4am?). Funny, she didn't notice that so much when she'd been kissing him.

"Then you should know that even though I've been scared, I could never stop hoping you'd warm back up to me." He gently folded her hand in his and smiled up at her. "Do you want to go out to dinner with me? We don't have to get married along the way."

"W-Well, yes to dinner, or maybe breakfast? But I mean," Marinette said, attempting for casual but probably still coming across nervous. "Don't throw that whole marriage idea out yet. I'm still not sure how to… prove things?"

He smiled. "Spend some quality time with me. That's all. It doesn't have to be big."

"Okay, breakfast and dinner. And lunch, too." She wanted to spend all the time she could with him. He wasn't asking for much -- to be honest he never asked for much, and this was something she wanted to give.

Luka smiled, probably thinking she was joking. "Think you can get some rest now?" He asked. "I can head back downstairs--"

"No! No, no, I mean, stay here with me. I-If you want."

"You're not trying to seduce me, are you?" He grinned.

"Well, I can," Marinette grinned back. "Can I?"

He seemed a little surprised by that. "Uh," he blushed.

How cute, he got flustered. Capitalizing on that, Marinette leaned forward to wrap her arms around his shoulders, her forehead against his. "I'd really like to," she whispered.

"How... inebriated are you?"

She sighed. "Do you really think I'd be having a coherent conversation with you if I was drunk?"

"You tell me, Ladybug."

"Luka Couffaine, you are a gentleman but I'm merely... warm and not even buzzed anymore. I would definitely still like to seduce you."

He blinked a few times. "Oh." He paused again, thinking it through. He gave a little laugh. "I'd really like that too."

[feminaexlux]

Underneath (Pt. 1 / 2?)

Okay so just to clarify I'm pinning Kotallo's age down at 27 and yes I know Aloy is 20 but she carries the weight of the entire world on her shoulders and acts as if she's twice her age a lot of the time so she's a Cougar in spirit in this fic. Girl can get it from her local sassy beefcake sweetheart yanno what I'm sayin'

Quick shoutout to my beta @vanorablogs​ 🧡

This is largely the same snippet as before but there's more text underneath I swear

Read on AO3

⁂

"By the Ten," he breathed out. Kotallo grabbed onto Aloy's proffered arm and hauled himself behind her on the Sunwing with her assistance. "You sure this... machine won't attempt to shake us off when we are in flight?"

She snorted. "You've got nothing to worry about, Marshal. I've got it. I thought you trusted me?"

"With my life. It is why I'm on here," he said, his voice low.

"Good. Hold onto me. The takeoff is a bit rough but that's the price we pay for air travel. Chief Hekarro!" Aloy called out, performing a tiny salute to the Tenakth chieftain atop her Sunwing. "I'll have to borrow your best Marshal again, sorry!"

"He is no longer mine to lend, Aloy," Hekarro said back in his deep dulcet voice, smiling up at them. "I borrow him from you, Champion."

"What is he talking about?" Aloy asked Kotallo under her breath. She didn't need to speak above a whisper since Kotallo was right behind her.

"Hmm," Kotallo answered in his usual way, non-committal. It almost sounded embarrassed, but Aloy doubted the grumbly Marshal behind her knew anything of embarrassment.

"O... kay then," Aloy chuckled. "Let's go!" The Sunwing reared onto its legs and Aloy hunched forward to brace and keep her head level, but she wasn't expecting that a man easily twice her weight was using her as a brace on their ride. "Oof," she grunted, feeling the air get squeezed out of her as his arm pressed into her midsection.

"Sorry," Kotallo gritted out. She could feel his legs strain trying to wrap harder around the Sunwing's plated exterior and easing off some of the pressure he was putting on her with his single arm by grabbing at the Sunwing plates in front of her. He managed to grab the ridge of plate right in front of her crotch. "Sorry," he said again, half-chuckling.

"It's fine," she hissed out, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Just... need... to--" Finally the Sunwing got enough lift. It beat its wings down and after a couple of intense seconds climbing at a steep incline Aloy leveled out the beast. "Whew," she breathed out, Kotallo's arm settling more comfortably against her stomach. "I didn't expect how hard that was. I need to get used to how additional passengers affect takeoff."

"You... have not done this with the others?"

"No, you're the first. I thought you might enjoy it," Aloy grinned, though she wasn't certain Kotallo could see. "Seeing as you were inspired the last time I flew one?"

"It is an honor," he said, his voice sounding awed. Aloy's smile widened. It was too bad she couldn't see his expression, she thought. His little smile would have been a treat.

"And now that we're alone, you mind telling me what the Chief meant?" She knew she had him as a captive audience and he knew she never backed down. It wasn't a surprise when she felt more than heard him sigh behind her. Several months with the terse Tenakth Marshal had allowed her to understand and enjoy these wordless exchanges more than she thought she would. He was expressive in his own quiet way.

It meant he didn't choose his words lightly. "Chief Hekarro understands your mission to save the world. It is no easy task to take on by a single warrior. Even if you won't ask for it, you need all the help you can get," Kotallo said, lightly teasing. "So I am here. With you. Until the end."

She smiled again, still hidden from him. "So you are." Aloy banked the Sunwing around a mountain range, taking on more altitude. Going too high would make the air harder to breathe and skimming too close to the land would only attract trouble, so she had to balance the reach of any cannon shots and human comfort. It felt wonderful to fly without worries and have the wind pass through her hair, though she idly worried that her hair would be buffeting Kotallo in the face. "Are you alright back there?"

"It is... more than acceptable," he said simply. She rolled her eyes. "Thank you. For bringing me with you. For letting me fly." He sounded sincere. He always sounded sincere because he was, when he wasn't teasing her. It was his best trait. She loved that.

And ultimately she didn't mind the teasing either.

"We'll see if you're still thankful after we get to Meridian," Aloy mused. "I get sore after riding for a couple of hours." She felt a soft snort behind her. What was funny about that? "But thank you, Kotallo. Establishing the embassy was important for Tenakth and Carja both. And now it should be easier since Regalla won't be there to interrupt."

"And I will be meeting this Sun-King Avad himself?"

"More or less. Me and Erend have already vouched for you since you're Hekarro's envoy, and one that was at the original embassy. You'll need to talk official things with Avad but I think that's it."

"I won't be held captive for five years, will I? I remember Marshal Fashav had agreed to those terms."

"I don't think so... but if that does happen we still have the Sunwing to make our escape. If I never have to step foot in Meridian again it will be too soon. But try not to have any diplomatic incidents."

"Hmm," he grunted, sounding amused. Aloy was continually surprised at how much Kotallo could convey with just one hum. "For you I will try." Aloy smiled to herself again. "I should ask, this has nothing to do with Nemesis, does it?"

It was her turn to sigh. "No. But this is a problem that can be solved."

He didn't say anything for a few heartbeats. "Of course." He hugged her a little tighter and relaxed his hold. A comforting gesture, Aloy thought. It was nice. They fell into a comfortable silence.

Aloy wasn't sure when it started but her little squad at the base had given her the gift of touch. Varl had rested his hand on her shoulder. Zo had embraced her. Erend had drawn her up in his crushing hug. Alva had sometimes reached out to grab Aloy's hands when she was excitedly explaining things. Beta herself had run up to give Aloy a hug after she was freed from the launch tower.

Far Zenith were gone forever. But so too was Varl.

The remaining squad had each other and they reminded Aloy through their touches. Except for Kotallo, who gave his touches more sparingly than his words. That made it more meaningful in a way. She was soaking up what she could get with his arm against her stomach and his chest against her back. He was warm and solid and here and those experiences meant more to her than she knew.

She tried not to think about how much she was enjoying this.

And she tried not to think about how she could have just taught him the override to get his own Sunwing. A tide of guilt rose up in her and she put it on her mental to-do list. He'd get his own. She owed him that for all that he'd done. She'll help him catch one when they got back to the base.

She got a notice on her Focus that the Sunwing's battery was running low. Oh. Right. Extra weight meant extra load on the battery. And there was 3 times the usual riding weight. Whoops. She spotted a nearby fire pit with a basic shelter and turned toward it. "Sunwing's running low on power, we'll need to camp for the night."

Kotallo gave a grunt of acknowledgement. As they were coming down and the Sunwing reared up to land on its legs, Kotallo grabbed the ridge plate in front of Aloy again. Again she blushed at how close his hand was to... a place, but wasn't like he had much choice in the matter and she didn't have to think about it too long.

Aloy landed the Sunwing and tapped on her focus, connecting out to Erend. "Hey, slight delay, we ran down the battery on the Sunwing. It should be recharged tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh, hey Aloy. Alright," said Erend, sounding slightly surprised. "Still faster than on foot so no worries. We'll see you when we see you, then."

"What was your original estimate for reaching Meridian?" Kotallo asked after dismounting from the Sunwing. He reached out his arm in an offer to help Aloy down.

She smiled a little and grabbed his arm, letting him guide her to her feet. "I figured it was half a day of riding. We'll only be late by one day." There was a distant clap of thunder and Aloy sensed the change in air pressure of incoming rain. "And it sounds like we got to shelter in time. I hate flying through storms."

"To travel by sky and soar over mountains, crossing vast distances in a single day. I have lived as one of the Ten. I will never stop feeling blessed." He chuckled softly. "Tonight I'll hunt for dinner. Will you set camp?" Kotallo asked.

Belatedly Aloy realized she was still holding onto his arm. She let go immediately. What was wrong with her? "Yeah, sounds good, thanks," she said, feeling mildly embarrassed. Aloy took their bags and placed down the bedrolls under the shelter. She lit a fire with blaze and foraged nearby, filling their water-skins with fresh water from a nearby stream.

Kotallo was already there when Aloy came back to camp. They sat down next to each other in front of the fire, having a simple meal together with the turkey he caught and the fruits she found in their comfortable silence. The rain came in soon after and the fire sputtered but blaze kept it lit.

"What is Meridian like?" Kotallo asked after they finished cleaning up, surprising Aloy a little. She assumed he hadn't really cared at all with it being the Carja capital.

"It's… crowded," she replied, feeling the chill settling in around her as the rain came down around their shelter. "It's a big city. I guess it's pretty? There are people everywhere, mostly Carja but also a lot of Oseram. And too many petty Carja nobles who think they're better than you."

"You saved their kingdom and they still think they're better than you?"

"Some Nora girl stopping Deathbringers and Corruptors from razing their city doesn't fundamentally change how they look at outlanders."

He frowned. "I suppose I understand that. Perhaps there's some similarities with the Tenakth."

"All tribes are like that," Aloy shrugged. "And that's why I need this embassy to happen. We'll need everyone working together to have a chance against Nemesis." She sighed and hung her head, feeling exhausted.

"I will be on my best behavior," Kotallo said, adding a little humor and nudging her with his shoulder. "Be charming. Witty. Noble."

Aloy looked back up at him with a smirk. "I need you to talk with Avad, not sleep with him."

"What a union that would make. The esteemed Sun-King Avad taking a Tenakth barbarian to bed? Bawdy drinking songs would be sung for generations to come."

"Stop that," she laughed, slapping his right shoulder. "And you're no barbarian."

"I may be charismatic but I doubt I'd be appealing to the Sun-King nonetheless."

"Well, he does seem to like people who could snap him in half," Aloy said absently.

"You know of his interests?" Kotallo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He uh… was in love with Ersa, Erend's sister. She led the Freebooter mercenaries that helped him overthrow his father. He also asked me to stay with him," she answered, feeling awkward. "I didn't want that, or him," she added a little hastily, watching as Kotallo's brows ticked down in... annoyance? Concern? Maybe... jealousy? Aloy's heart strangely soared at the idea that it could be jealousy.

But for the love of GAIA, she didn't want Kotallo thinking she was interested in Avad.

Kotallo smiled sadly. "Ah, I think I understand him. A single person making the difference in your people's survival. Appreciation turning into something more…" he said, trailing off. Aloy's heart fluttered in sudden despair. If Kotallo liked her, saw her, only because she saved his people?

She needed a partner, not an admirer.

It took a lot to admit she needed a partner.

"You would have been trapped by duty to a single land," Kotallo said, solemn. Aloy nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "It would be suffocating."

She scoffed bitterly. "Yeah. But what's one more problem to add to the pile? I'm only trying to save the entire world from total annihilation because I'm one of only two people who can unless there's more surprise clones of Elisabet out there."

"It is my belief that you and Beta will save the world," he said simply, choosing to ignore the comment about more clones.

Aloy felt a different kind of despair. "How do you even know?"

"I don't, but you've shown me things I'd never even dreamed before. I've witnessed countless miracles in the time I've known you." He shrugged. "I know it won't be easy. It is why I intend on knocking down whatever obstacles we come across that would impede you, much like your actions for me at the Bulwark."

She buried her face against his shoulder. "Thank you," Aloy said softly, slightly muffled. He drew her in closer, putting his arm around her shoulders. Aloy got shifted in to rest her head against the crook of his neck. "I'm so fucking terrified, Kotallo."

"The wisest warriors are, when faced with uncertainty."

She groaned. "I could use a little less rhetorical goatshit."

"My apologies. Yes, it's fucking terrifying," he chuckled, ending it with a weary sigh. "I'm scared too. We've survived such incredible adversity and overwhelming swarms of enemies, each time pulling through with your - and your sister's - knowledge and ingenuity. But I wonder, how much of that was... luck?"

Aloy closed her eyes and stayed quiet for a bit, replaying over the events of the past 2 years. Life was so damn simple back before the Proving, when all Aloy wanted was to know who her mother was. "Not all of it was luck, but... but maybe some of it was," Aloy admitted.

She felt so lost.

As her teacher, Rost had made her focus on her goal of becoming the best at the Proving, honing her mind and her skills to the sharpest edge, driving her to the very brink of her capabilities... and then letting her realize for herself that she was more capable than she believed. Aloy knew that Rost had loved her in his own way, but there was no denying she had felt alone and unwanted for most of her life. He had been her father. But she had not been his real daughter.

Aloy knew she was needed by the world. She'd been created by a dying GAIA, given a dire purpose to unlock hidden mysteries with her genetic code serving as key.

People like Petra and Avad wanted her… for her skills and fighting prowess and symbolism to bolster their own tribes.

She was no longer alone in her role now that she had Beta, but Beta was still fragile, learning to be part of this world after being isolated for so long.

Where could Aloy feel safe when the Earth was dying?

"Aloy?"

A voice, both distant and yet so close. She half remembered she was having a conversation but she must have been falling asleep. "Mmm sorry," Aloy breathed. The fire was still going and the meal she had was filling, satisfying, lulling her closer to slumber. There was someone? incredibly warm next to her, holding her, touching her skin. The heat suffused through her, easing the bone-deep weariness of her thoughts.

There was a low hum by her ear, a familiar rumble. "Rest well," Kotallo said softly.

[feminaexlux]

Fall to Me Vignette: Brielle

Does nothing for a month

Writes something tangential

shrug

Rated T for language

⁂

During a break between sets Brielle had pulled Marinette along to the women's restroom à la the Buddy System. She pulled out a face wipe and cleaned up the lipstick smeared across her mouth after having Dingo's sloppy but enthusiastic tongue drag itself all over her face.

Marinette was a teeny bit tipsy and a tiny bit wobbly so Brielle thought it'd be a good time to mention something that'd been annoying her as long as she knew Marinette. Marinette's guard was down, after all. "Hey Mari, did you know you bite your lip whenever you think he's not looking?" Bri reached into her tiny-ass jeans pocket and pulled out a tube of chapstick. Re-applying more lipstick was gonna be a lost cause with Dingo as drunk as he was.

"H-Hmm?" Marinette said, blushing. The girl had such gall to play dumb. "What?"

God, these fuckers were so damn stupid for each other. Why was Bri still friends with them? Bri took a second to look at herself in the mirror to put the chapstick on, pressing her lips together a few times to make sure her lips were thoroughly covered with balm. She glared at Marinette's reflection in the mirror. "You, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, bite your lip when a certain Luka Couffaine looks away," she sighed.

Marinette nervously looked away. "S-So? What is that supposed to mean? I-I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"It seems to me," Brielle said, leaning against the large basin sink with her hands and still talking at Marinette's reflection. "You keep wanting to kiss him but you don't let yourself. It's annoying that you two keep looking so longingly at each other when you think the other's not looking. God, the pining. It's fucking dumb is what it is." She turned around to glare at Marinette directly. "Just kiss him already."

"Y-You've got that all wrong," Marinette stammered, blushing harder. "We're j-just friends!"

"'Cuz you won't make a move on him?"

"'Cuz he doesn't like me that way!"

Bri scoffed. "Uh, yeah he does."

"Nuh-uh," Marinette countered. She shook her head and got dizzy. "No he doesn't!"

"Are you saying that to convince me or to convince you?"

"I'm saying that because it's true," Marinette said, sounding far more sober than before. "Because I messed up and he doesn't want me."

"Yeah, no," Bri sighed again. "Look, I don't know what happened but it sure as hell isn't stopping him from being so fucking stupid around you. He's got it bad, and you keep looking like you're two seconds away from straight up jumping his bones. So just do it!"

"But I don't wanna mess it up!" Marinette groaned. "What if you're wrong, Bri? What if he hates me? What if he thinks I'm nothing but a nuisance?"

"You're delusional if you think he hates you. And you're certainly less of a problem than Dingo is and Dingo's his best friend for some reason."

"I think I hurt him pretty bad before, Bri," Marinette mumbled in a small voice. "I can't do that again."

Bri rolled her eyes. "Then don't hurt him again, duh."

"It's not that simple."

"It sure is. You're the one making it difficult."

Marinette sighed. "Then what should I do?"

"I don't know, just kiss him like I've said 3 times already?"

"You said it twice," Marinette grumbled.

"Fine. What you should do is kiss him, fuck him, marry him, have a ton of babies with him, and live happily ever after." Brielle grabbed Marinette's hand and pulled her out the restroom. Sounded like the next set was starting and Bri didn't want to miss it.

"That's your idea of 'simple'?!" Marinette yelled over the noise.

"Gotta start somewhere!" Bri yelled back.

[feminaexlux]

Fall to Me Vignette: Adrien

You know how it goes, I wasn't intending this to be a series or anything but I was hit by a lil inspo and it's important to capitalize on it yeah?

Read on AO3 here!

⁂

It'd been a while since he last saw Luka, so Adrien flagged down his friend on his way home from the coffee shop with the passion fruit tarts Nino kept raving about. Adrien really should remember the names of places himself. After all, Nathalie and Cockmoth had been in jail for some time and he needed to manage his own life. "Luka! Hey!" Adrien shouted and waved.

Luka jumped a little and turned to face him. "Hey, Adrien," Luka greeted back, somewhat hesitantly. "How's it going?" Adrien wasn't sure why Luka, of all people, was so jumpy recently. Luka looked like he was heading toward the boulangerie and Adrien ran up beside him.

Adrien furrowed his brows. "Dude, you look hot."

Luka blinked. "What?"

"It's 35C outside and you're wearing your hoodie up. You must be dying in there."

"Oh." Luka stood still for a second, thinking about something, so Adrien stopped as well. Luka often stopped to think around Adrien. After that brief moment Luka pulled off his hoodie. "Yeah, I was, actually."

"Ah, I see. That bruise looks pretty bad. What happened?" There was a patch of discolored skin on Luka's neck, right below his ear. It looked like Luka got punched in the throat except for the teeth marks.

"Nothing. Just an accident." Luka pointedly looked away from Adrien.

Adrien grinned. "I don't know. Your Lady is accident-prone but this looks intentional."

His friend had the good sense to blush. "I… have no idea how to respond."

Adrien laughed. "And she said you had a way with words. Don't worry, I often leave people speechless, it's part of my roguish charm."

Luka's lips pressed into a flat line and his blush faded out. He finally looked at Adrien directly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm doing great."

"Cool, cool." Luka paused for another second. "Is it weird with me and… Did you call her my 'Lady?'"

Adrien tilted his head. "Weird? No. And I guess she's Paris' Lady, isn't she." Luka furrowed his brows and Adrien could physically see the gears turning. "You know, I used the Snake Miraculous a few times and know how it works. I've also learned to read between the lines. I know you've known our identities for years." Adrien let out a tiny breath and smiled. "And I'm glad that you two are making it work."

"You are?"

"Is Marinette happy?" Adrien countered with his own question.

"I think so," Luka said slowly.

Adrien and Marinette had a lot of adventures together. It was some of the best, and the worst, times in Adrien's life. That chapter had closed, but there was always a new one to write.

"Then yeah, I'm glad."

[feminaexlux]

Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver

Re: title -- there's no bondage or being duct taped anywhere I just can't get the title out of my head 😂

For @verfound, happy birthday!!! This is based off of a MegaMind AU some of us at LBSC were shooting around for a long while. I decided to make some of it a reality, and of course I also decided it would be moderately fun to do it as smut.

Rated E, for reasons above lol

Find on AO3 here :)

(Okay so it's a day late)

Notes:

Adrien Agreste is Chat Blanc, hero of Paris (Metroman), sir not actually appearing in this fic

Luka Couffaine is Silencer, villain of Paris (MegaMind), working together with Sass (Minion). Sass is also not appearing in this fic but I thought I'd give it a mention

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the intrepid special-news reporter (Roxanne)

Felix Graham de Vanily is the museum curator (Bernard)

Theo is (now) Chat Noir, new hero of Paris, formerly creepy cameraman (Hal/Titan), now creepy superhero stalker mentioned here and there

Also for all of you out there thorsty for Felinette I apologize 'cuz I will be serving up a gallon of POISON BREW, aka this was always Lukanette. Altho I appreciate your visit! This is an official apology for the bait and switch.

⁂

Felix looked nervously around the restaurant, taking in the families and other couples dining quietly at the fancy-ass place he reserved for his dinner date with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was running late… which wasn't hugely out of the ordinary for her, but still… this seemed later than usual? He adjusted his bracelet, re-checked that the flutes of champagne were perfectly topped off, centered the now burnt-out candle on the table. Taking a quick peek around and making sure no one noticed, he pulled out his raygun and fired it into the candle, re-lighting it. He tucked away the gun as fast as he could.

"Felix!"

"Marinette," Felix sighed in relief.

"Sorry I'm late," she breathed out a sigh, dropping down into her chair.

"Wow, your hair…" She didn't have it up in pigtails! It was flowing loose and was wind-swept. So wind-swept that her bangs were sticking straight up. She'd always been gorgeous but this took it up to another level, geez. "Looks... exciting?"

"Hmm, not the only exciting development of the night," she said, leaning in closer. "Silencer's created a new hero, and I know why!" There was a pop as another bottle of champagne was opened nearby and Felix jumped a little. "It all makes sense now!"

Felix choked. "Uh huh, yeah?" He shakily drew up his water glass to take a sip.

"He missed getting his ass kicked so he created a new hero to kick it for him," Marinette explained. Felix nearly spat out the water but luckily the glass was still in front of him so it sprayed back into it. "But why pick Theo? Theo is the worst possible person you could pick!"

"Wow," Felix said nervously. "That's a lot to take in."

"It boggles my mind," Marinette huffed, leaning back into her chair.

"I am extremely boggled. You know, I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of who's kicking whose ass, but in the meantime," Felix held up his champagne. "Let's enjoy each other's company."

"Ah, I'm sorry Felix, of course you're right," Marinette smiled. "You know I could use a breather," she sighed again, but raised her glass of champagne to toast. "To Felix, for being the only normal thing in my crazy, upside-down world."

Felix felt a pang of guilt but tried not to let it show on his face. "To… being normal," Felix said, clinking his glass with hers. "Marinette?"

"Yes, Felix?"

"Say I wasn't so normal… Let's say I had the complexion of a popular primary color, as a random, non specific example. Would you still enjoy my company?"

"Of course," she said easily. "You don't judge a book by its cover or a person from the outside--"

"Oh, that's a relief to hear," Felix chuckled, leaning in closer.

"You judge them based on their actions!" Marinette finished.

Felix blinked, sitting up straighter. "Well that seems kind of petty, don't you think?"

Marinette smiled pleasantly, but he could tell there was something she wasn't saying. "I am starving," she said, changing the subject. "But I see this is such a cute restaurant, I love the décor!"

"Oh yeah, I'd recommend their special entrée for tonight, it sounds delectable."

The dinner was actually very good and they enjoyed chatting about various subjects. They had just finished up dessert when Marinette sighed again, looking a little… spooked, maybe? Nervous? "Hey Felix?"

"Yeah?"

"I… I'm not sure I want to go home alone… Do you think it'd be okay if I… stayed with you tonight?" She looked up imploringly at Felix.

God her big blue eyes were so beautiful… wait, what did she just ask? Oh shit, Felix thought. He choked, coughing. "Uh w-wow, I…" Felix put a hand to his collar and loosened it a bit. "Th-that's uh… S-sure. I'll be… I'll be right back," he said awkwardly. "Promise I'll be back," he said belatedly when Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. "Just need to… take care of something," he kept talking. Just GO, dumbass, Felix thought at himself.

He practically ran to the bathroom. Oh fuck he had no idea where Felix actually lived. He pulled out a dehydrated cube from his jacket pocket, running the sink tap. He threw the cube into the sink and the real Felix popped back into being. "What the hell--" the real Felix started.

Silencer pulled back the serpent's head on his bracelet and detransformed. "Where do you live?" he asked Felix, pointing his raygun at the startled man in the sink. "Give me your keys."

"Wh-what?! OKAY, okay, okay I'm at--" Felix blabbed, panicking when Silencer shoved the raygun under his chin. Felix took out his apartment keys and handed it to Silencer.

"Cool, thanks," Silencer mumbled, firing the raygun and re-dehydrating Felix back into a cube. "Alright, Silencer, she just asked to spend the night with you," Silencer talked at himself in the mirror. His face was kept neutral but inside there were Code Red alarm klaxons ringing through his entire body and he was fucking ecstatic and goddamn petrified at the same time. "And you said yes. She's… spending the night. With you, you lucky asshole," Silencer chuckled a little disbelievingly.

Well, okay, she was spending the night with Felix, but… it was really him anyway? Silencer felt an even bigger pang of guilt run through his system after thinking that, but… he'd been so in love with her and she'd never give him a chance as the real him. He thumped his head into the mirror and sighed. "I should tell her," he thought despondently.

Maybe? She'd probably throw water at his face and walk out on him if he did admit he wasn't who she thought he was. And… and why did he care? He was Paris' Big Bad. He was bad to the bone. So what if he was lying to his most favorite person in the entire world (outside of Sass)? She was… she was just Marinette Dupain-Cheng, reporter for TVi, and he was a Supervillain.

Supervillains never got the girl. This was his only shot.

And he'd take it.

He fiddled with his bracelet again, re-disguising himself as Felix. He straightened his collar, necktie, and vest, combing back his hair with his fingers. He smiled back up at the mirror. "Let's do this," he said to no one in particular.

He went back to their table, feeling much less nervous about things. "Sorry about that," he chuckled. They went ahead and took care of the check and they walked out to his car. He'd been able to hold her waist while she leaned against his arm. His heart still thumped double time whenever she touched him and he was able to touch her. They'd been comfortable holding hands for a while, but this was all pretty new since it was basically the first time Silencer had ever been able to get that close with anyone.

"Wow," she giggled. "This is pretty… rockin'," she commented wryly. The normally-invisible-but-currently-visible car was black but still stood out against the rest because of its many spike ornamentations.

"Oh, uh, yeah, it's a classic," he laughed nervously. "Didn't want to change too much from the way I… I found it, you know?" He helped her into the passenger seat and got in the driver side. "Don't touch anything, by the way. The buttons are… just for show but they're very delicate."

"So strange," Marinette smiled as she looked at the console. "What is this, a jellyfish launcher?" She'd pointed at one of the buttons. "Is that a shark with a laser attachment?!" she yelled excitedly, looking at another button.

"Th-those darn people from the ol' days. They were… eccentric," Felix chuckled, shrugging. He started the engine and the car blasted Jagged Stone at them. "Oh shit, I'm sorry," he said, panicking as he turned down the volume.

Marinette laughed and it was beautiful to his ears. "I don't mind actually, I kinda love this music."

"Huh, really? Cool," he said, internally screaming a YESSSS SHE LIKES THE SAME MUSIC I DO. "He's my favorite musician."

"Mine too!" Marinette started singing along to the tune and Felix turned the volume back up to a comfortable level. "Oh, you know I actually designed one of his covers when I was still in Collège, the one for Rock Giant."

"No way," Felix gasped, driving out into the Parisian streets. Oddly enough Felix lived in the same direction his lair was in, which sort of stressed him out a little. "That's my favorite album. Very nice work on the cover," he said, distracting himself. They continued talking about Jagged Stone on the ride until they ended up in front of Felix's apartment and he parked, shutting off the engine. "Uh, we're… we're here." He felt a little on-edge now that they arrived.

"Huh, I thought it'd be more…" Marinette trailed off. "Lair-like."

His brain ground to a halt. "Excuse me?" Felix asked blankly.

"Ha, right. So here's the thing," Marinette started, turning to face Felix. "I was late tonight because, guess what? I got a visit from Chat Noir! He flew me off around the city and decided I needed to be rescued, so he dropped me from 1000 meters in the air into traffic and 'rescued' me! I nearly died about 3 times." Marinette grabbed Felix's lapels angrily and pulled him in. "I was trying to tell him that Silencer was planning something with the new hero, but Chat Noir got angry and he left me nearly stranded at the top of the Eiffel! And now I think Chat Noir has a vendetta against me and I'm scared as fuck and you need to help out and keep me safe because you created this mess, Silencer!"

Felix blanched, his mouth gaping wide open in horror as he searched for words. "I… I'm so sorry you had to go through all that b-but I don't know what you're talking about," he tried to laugh. "That sounds terrifying, though! I-I'm not--" Marinette heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes. She grabbed the bracelet on his left arm and moved the serpent-head, going through a series of disguises before it finally detransformed him entirely. "Okay, you got me," Silencer smiled nervously. "Su-surprise?" She didn't respond except to take her hands off him and glare. He lowered his head and thumped it against his steering wheel. "How'd you find out?"

Marinette folded her arms. "Remember when I broke my sunglasses?"

"Yeah."

"Well, turns out when you change the angle of the polarized lens filter you get to see things from a brand new perspective. Your disguise thing didn't work when I saw you through the lens at a different angle."

Silencer tilted his head toward her and frowned. "That… was a month ago."

"And?"

"Aaand you kept dating me even though you knew?" He tried to keep the hope out of his voice but he wasn't sure he was successful.

Marinette rolled her eyes again. "It's called putting up a front, Silencer. I needed to keep tabs on you." She stared forward, looking pretty angry.

Shit. Ouch. He'd been bruised and battered and broken being beaten up by Chat Blanc countless times, but for some reason this hurt more than anything. "Sorry," he breathed out, straightening himself back up into his seat. "Okay." He turned the engine on again, the music continuing to play a mix of Jagged Stone albums, but the two car occupants sat in silence on their way to his lair.

He drove toward the sewers, going through a secret entrance down a level into the garage of his lair. The huge, heavy metal doors shut close behind them in a booming metallic thud. He parked, turned off the engine, and got out first to open Marinette's door for her. She got out and folded her arms again, looking tired and sad but unafraid.

"My room's over there," Silencer pointed at a door heavily decorated with gothic elements. "You can have it, feel free to use whatever inside. Let me know if you need anything, I'll… be at my desk." The little brainbots hovered nearby, beeping and whirring anxiously. They somehow knew not to attack Marinette.

"Thank you," Marinette said softly, heading toward his room.

"You've got a surprising amount of trust in me," Silencer said offhandedly after she'd taken a few steps. "I could have -- might have just kidnapped you for nefarious reasons."

Marinette stopped but didn't turn around to face him. "No, you haven't. I made you come here. And besides," she glanced over her shoulder. "Between you and Chat Noir, at least you haven't ever hurt me." She had a sad smile on her face. "So, yes, I do trust you."

"I would never hurt you, Marinette," Silencer whispered to himself after she went into his room and closed the door.

⁂

Okay, Marinette, she thought at herself. You just willingly allowed a Supervillain to take you back to his lair and now you're in his room because you were being stalked by a brand new superhero creep calling himself Chat Noir and this was literally the safest place you could be. She took a look around his room and while it was all painted black or blue with lightning bolts everywhere, she saw a bunch of music posters and guitars hung up on the walls.

She smiled, remembering that Felix -- no, scratch that, Silencer -- had always been kind of a music nerd. She walked forward and flopped onto the bed in unexpected exhaustion, but God, she needed a shower. After that horrifying experience with Chat Noir and the… weird sense of guilt she felt for pushing Silencer to do this for her, she just wanted to wash herself of the grime and sleep it off. It was largely Silencer's fault anyway, even if he did look completely surprised and shocked when she said Chat Noir had paid her a nasty visit.

She went into the bathroom and turned on the lights. She opened the shower door and turned the faucet to hot, testing the water after a bit to make sure it was the right temperature. She stepped in after taking off her clothes and shoes, sighing in contentment as the hot water hit her skin.

But she wasn't relaxing as much as she hoped she would.

She couldn't forget the heartbroken expression on Silencer when she told him she'd been dating him as a front. Well, he had to be a Supervillain (even if he never actually did intentionally hurt anyone), if he'd just been a Hero instead she probably would have loved to -- Wow, fuck, where did that thought come from? Ugh.

So what if he was actually kind of cute, blue skin and all? And so what if, when he wasn't terrorizing the city and causing massive property damage, he'd been sweet and kind and thoughtful and she felt the happiest and safest she'd been in a long time when she spent time with him? "Ugh, stop it, Marinette," she groaned, slapping her palms against her face. "You're being stupid." So stupid it sounded like she was in love with a Supervillain. Yeah right, as if…

Fuck, she was.

She turned off the faucet and angrily stepped out, drying herself off. It hadn't ever been about superpowers. If she'd been interested in heroes she would have probably propositioned Chat Blanc, but she hadn't. Chat Noir was a definite no-go. Instead she'd flirted with Silencer and was now in his Lair, because she had trusted him.

She stepped out of the bathroom and rifled through his closet to find and put on a robe. It'd been embroidered with "The King" across the back and it made her laugh. King of what? Evil? Silencer was bad but he didn't have an evil bone in his body. Which was kinda weird to think about so she stopped thinking about it.

She crawled into bed. 30 minutes to an hour later she found that she couldn't sleep after tossing and turning. She sighed, sitting up and getting out from under the covers. She slipped on her flats and walked out of the room, finding Silencer looking through the exterior surveillance cameras in his chair, but he was facing away. She pushed on his chair and turned it around to face her. "So what did you--"

"Aah!" He nearly jumped straight out of the chair. "Ma-ma-ma-Marinette?!" He flushed, the tips of his ears were pinker and there'd been a red tinge to his cheeks.

She giggled. "Are you alright?" She left her arm on his chair, noticing that she was leaning over him a little bit, maaaybe showing a bit more skin than usual as the robe had separated slightly. He definitely noticed that too and was desperately looking away.

"Fine, fine. Why do you ask?" He was playing it cool but it was obvious he was trying his hardest to not look at her. "Did you need anything?"

Oh now this was precious. "Why, Silencer, are you scared of me?" she teased.

He started sputtering, finally looking back up at her. "Wh-what? Pfft no, nooo. S-scared? Of you? Nope. So what if you're unbelievably brave and amazingly intelligent and manage to outsmart even me sometimes? A-and so what if you're really, really ridiculously good looking?"

She smirked. "Are you trying to charm me, Silencer?"

"H-hey, you're the one trying to seduce me, you-you temptress," Silencer continued to stammer, his blush getting worse as she sat down across his lap and leaned against him.

"You know, Silencer, it's strange. For all the times you've kidnapped me, you've never treated me badly and you'd only kept me until Chat Blanc came to fight you. When we were dating and I found out that you were impersonating Felix, I thought you were trying to use me or control me or brainwash me, but you haven't. There were so many times, like now, where I'm clearly unarmed and helpless, and yet you've never done anything to make me think I need to be afraid of you. So what's the deal here? What do you want with me?"

He looked elsewhere (anywhere but at her) and she could see a slight grimace forming as he ran through his options. "Can't I just like spending time with you?"

"So you've been lying to me, pretending to be Felix, to spend time with me?"

He laughed a little despairingly. "That's the only thing I've lied about. Everything else I've told you was the truth. But you like me as Felix. You don't like me as Silencer. So yeah."

"Would you have slept with me still pretending to be Felix?" Marinette asked the question that had been plaguing her, preventing her from being able to sleep.

He looked ashamed. "Honestly?" he sighed. "No. I would have bailed."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I want you to be with me," he said quietly. They both went quiet, and outside of the occasional beeping of the brainbots hovering nearby the room was nearly silent.

"It's funny," Marinette said after a few moments, placing her hand along his cheek and guiding his gaze back down to her. "I've gotten to know you when you're not blowing up half the city, and you're pretty fun to be with. So maybe I do want to be with you. As you are, right here, right now."

"I-I thought you said you were just 'putting up a front,'" he said, sounding confused.

"Doesn't stop me from wanting to kiss you," she said. "And more, if you want that."

He choked. "M-more?"

"Even if your spandex suit doesn't leave much to the imagination," Marinette said, her voice sultry and low. She traced a finger from the tip of his jaw down his chest. "I'm still... curious about what you have underneath it." His gulp was audible. It was simply so fascinating to see his reactions and it made Marinette want to keep teasing him.

For a long moment he looked like the physical equivalent of a spinning loader icon. "Wait, you're not making fun of me, are you?" She pulled his face toward hers, pressing her lips against his. She kissed him again, harder the second time after he looked so deliciously surprised. She got back onto her feet standing up from his lap and he numbly followed his gaze after her, forgetting that he had the rest of his body in his chair. "Wh-what--"

She smiled and partially bit her bottom lip. "So, still think I'm joking?" She spun one end of the robe's tie as a little show of impatience. "Like I said, there's more if you want it."

"Uh, I..." he trailed off, the fingers of his hand touching his lips where hers had been just a few seconds ago. "Is this real?" he asked, still apparently dazed. She sighed but kept a smile, placing her hands on her hips, which had apparently been enough to bring him back to the present. He braced his weight on the armrests and got halfway up. "Hell yeah, I want--"

"Sit down," she commanded. He dropped back into his chair, surprised. She unfastened the robe and let it slip off and fall into a pool of fabric at her heels. She hadn't had anything on underneath. She sat back in his lap, straddling him, watching his expression grow ever more wide-eyed and mesmerized. There was a little whine that escaped him as she leaned his head back, running her fingers through his hair and kissing him again. She pulled back, raising his chin further to find the zipper at his neck, and pulled the tab down. There were some intriguing shimmery purple striations across his chest that seemed to define the valleys of his muscles...

"Oh shit," he murmured. She giggled and bit at her bottom lip, then thought of a better place to set her teeth, nipping lightly at his neck while she unzipped the shirt or whatever it was all the way and pulled it off. Soon after he wrapped her in his arms, pulling her in a tight hug while he let out a shuddering sigh as she was pressed up against his bare chest.

She froze in place. "… Do you want me to stop?"

"No! No. Just need…" he groaned a little. The brainbots hovering nearby chirped quizzically. "Privacy." Whoops. She forgot they had cameras.

"You're not recording this, are you?"

He cleared his throat nervously. "Not... intentionally." Shit. At least he was honest. Oh well.

She leaned in to nibble at his ear and tugged at the earring stud. "Then take me to bed," Marinette growled. She had felt a burgeoning warmth press up against her inner thigh before, but she felt it -- him -- flare a little more when she growled. He liked that, then? Oh god, he whimpered when she pressed herself into that warmth. She was going have so much fun torturing him and she'd just barely begun. She was already reveling in the way he was responding to everything...

Apparently he felt a little in over his head. "A-are you sure?" he asked, a little breathless, his voice strained. She saw him swallow again. "It's... it's me," he continued, as if she hadn't been well aware of that and was mostly naked on top of him anyway. "You know, the villain?"

It was equal parts endearing and frustrating that he wanted to check like that. "Yes, I know. Now do you want me to fuck your brains out or not, Silencer?"

Whatever he'd been worried about halted abruptly. He nodded emphatically and mouthed a yes even though no sound came out. He stood up from the chair, supporting her weight by gripping onto her ass, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Yep, she could definitely feel the bulge in his pants. He groaned and shifted her so he could carry her in his arms bridal-style when she brushed up against it -- she was probably teasing him a little much. Thankfully it wasn't too long before they got to his room and he kicked the door closed behind him.

He didn't get a chance to go much further after that. Marinette pushed off from him and got back onto her feet, then pressed him up against the closed door. She brought him in for another kiss, one hand working its fingers through his hair and down his neck, the other hand causing him to jump a little when she cupped and squeezed his erection. "Mmm, too much?" she asked.

"N-no," he shook his head, half a shy smile on his face.

"Good." She pulled down both his pants and boxer briefs to mid thigh and got on her knees. He yelped in surprise but other than shivering he didn't move. He made little gasps as she kissed his inner thighs, then the delicate skin bridging his legs to his groin, deliberately putting her mouth anywhere but his penis, hearing him whine at the lack of attention to his most sensitive part.

Then she wrapped her fingers around the tip, running her tongue along the underside of his cock, marveling at the way it was so (thankfully) familiar but still uniquely his. His cock was oddly beautiful. There were... shimmering purple ridges and thick veins running across the length of his skin, accenting the normal coloring of blue at the base shifting to a lovely pink at the tip. She uncovered the head of his penis with her tongue, pushing his foreskin back gently, and then took him as far as she could into her mouth and squeezing the rest with a firm grip.

He groaned loudly at that, his hands reaching for anything to hold onto and ended up just bracing himself against the door as his entire body shook. It made her giddy that she was having this effect on him and she giggled with him still so full in her mouth. While he was already plenty hard and thick she felt him surge, making it harder to breathe, but all she was thinking about was how good it would feel when she would finally ride him.

She pulled her head back to take a breath, then ran her tongue across the flared ridge of his head, licking up the sticky fluid dripping from the very tip. She went down on him again, squeezing tighter with her hand gripped around the base. His moans were getting more strained, getting louder every time she took him in as deep as she could and pulled away, all up until he slammed a fist against the door and exploded in her mouth with a stifled yell.

He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled away from her when she swallowed and kept on going. "S-sorry," he breathed out, sliding down against the door until he landed on his ass. "That was... too good..." He was sweaty and breathing hard. She just smirked, satisfied with herself, pulling off his boots and finally taking off all of his clothing with no resistance on his part. Then she wordlessly lead him back to bed.

He turned her around and kissed her, pressing his tongue up against hers, and kept kissing her as he laid her down on her back across the bed, just at the edge of the mattress. He was already hard again, now that was fun, and she reached out and stroked him but he jerked back slightly. "Not yet," he laughed softly, placing her hand back on the bed. He kissed down her neck, seemingly encouraged by the soft little gasps she made. He moved further down, hesitantly resting his fingers around her breast, then squeezed, flicking a tongue across her hardened nipple.

"Mmm, yesss," she moaned, weaving her fingers through his hair, scoring lightly down his scalp and neck with her nails, causing him to shiver. He kissed down her stomach, and went further down still until he was on his knees between her legs, which Marinette was only happy to encourage. He lifted her hips a little, bringing her thighs over his shoulders and decided to pay her back for teasing him in kind, his mouth pressed against her inner thigh and ghosting his lips across everything but her pussy. She laughed.

He stuck his tongue deep in her.

"Ah!" She raised herself up further to get his tongue in even deeper. "God, yes, Silen--" He pulled away after lapping her up. She... didn't actually realize how wet she was until she felt his breath against her. It was both hot and cold at the same time. "Silencer?"

"Luka," he said quietly, but she heard him clearly enough.

"H-huh?" she asked, a little dazed. He sucked on the sensitive little nub, flicking his tongue across it, and she cried out an "Oh god, yes, there!" He pulled away again, a little further this time.

"I want you screaming out my real name," he said, voice dangerously low.

"Luka?" Marinette repeated. She saw his eyes darken at the mention and he dove his tongue back into her, tasted more of her juices, drank in more of her until she was dizzy. "Luk-aah!"

"Just like that," he sighed. He went back to devouring her, switching to lavishing her clit with attention, drawing circles with his tongue around her most sensitive part, then back to going as deep as he could with his tongue until she felt her blood rush to her core and she was screaming.

"God yes, yes, aaah!" Her back arched and everything in her body was taut, her mind's focus on the heat and the slick and her nerves lighting up bright as she came. She felt him holding her down as her body nearly writhed in the ecstasy, and he continued, her muscles tense and vibrating, aching now for something more... "Luka, I need you," she moaned, heady and nearly delirious.

He groaned and pulled his head back again, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He buried his face in her thigh, nipping and sucking at the delicate skin until it left a mark. Marinette was still breathing a little ragged but the sounds escaping her mouth set him to get off his knees and do it again on her stomach and breasts. He stopped there and Marinette felt him shudder, his eyebrows furrowed in a wince. "I am so hard it hurts," he breathed out in a soft chuckle. Her toes curled as she imagined feeling his length sliding in her, hard and hot and spreading her wide.

Why the hell was she waiting? She wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling him in and rolling them over so she was on her knees straddling him again. "I want you to watch me fuck you, Luka." She sat up on his thighs, gripping him upright and sliding along his underside until she reached the tip and sank down slowly on him, making sure his eyes were on her. He was most definitely watching and she saw the furrows in his eyebrows deepen as she sheathed him, fully seated. "Did you like that?" She felt him tense beneath her.

"I--" she wasn't sure how his voice could break in the middle of a single syllable but that happened. He cleared his throat. "I did, yeah." She couldn't keep it serious and started laughing, especially since he was trying so hard to sound smooth. She bit her lip when she couldn't keep the grin off her face. She leaned back, getting back into business and watching his frown quickly turn into wonder, supporting herself by putting her hands on his thighs as she moved, letting him reach out and hold onto her hips. She lifted herself up and came back down, feeling him fill her up so full as she inched down, savoring the sensation. It wasn't long before she moved faster, squeezing him as hard as she could on the way down to get him to moan as loudly as he did before.

It wasn't long before he had started losing control. He gripped her hips tight and she saw him swallow hard. There were beads of sweat at his forehead and she was half starting to wonder if he was...

He pulled her down on him suddenly, an arm wrapped tight across her shoulders, pushing her hips hard against his with his other hand gripping her ass, his fingernails leaving marks into her skin as they dug into her flesh. "God, fuck, I'm coming," he breathed out through gritted teeth, jaw clenched tight. She clenched her core harder in turn, setting her teeth at his neck and biting down, reveling in the way he groaned and spasmed inside of her. She could feel how hard and fast his pulse was on her lips. There was a deeply primal sort of satisfaction in all of this.

"Ugh," he groaned in a much less sexy way. "Shit." He brought his hand to his face to hide his embarrassment. She started giggling again before she could catch herself.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I swear." Actually she kinda was but it was over how powerful she felt bringing him to the brink that fast (honestly it was kind of flattering), and how stupidly cute he was being.

"I'm--we're not done." Before she could ask what that meant he rolled on top of her and kissed her, and to her surprise he was still hard inside of her. He pulled out slowly and sank into her deep, going a steady rhythm. She hooked her feet together behind him over his back, making sure he didn't dare pull out all the way. Their breathing grew rougher as they continued, tongues dancing together as they kissed. He dragged his lips from her mouth to her neck, to the sensitive spot behind her ear and she shivered and cried out beneath him. It felt so good with him inside her, his weight on top of her, his heart beating as fast as hers.

There it was, she could start to feel the tension down where they were joined, that hypersensitive tingle that told her that she was building up to something grand. She needed a bit more to push her to that peak... "Luka, harder, please -- I'm so close," she gasped out. He made a low, deep growl that left her tensing up in anticipation, then she held a hand above her head to brace against the headboard as she started to get driven into hard and fast. That was exactly what she needed. All of her senses rushed down her body to focus on his rock hard cock hitting her deep, stretching her open, so hot she was melting on him.

There it was, it was her turn to come hard, and she did. "Aah, Luka I'm coming--!" She was stretched so taut and he was so much bigger than what she was used to but she felt herself tighten and collapse into a singular point, squeezing him with so much pressure that he was gasping for air. He kept pounding his cock into her over and over while she kept screaming out his name.

He came again with a reverent murmur right before he kissed her. "God, Marinette, you're so amazing." She could feel his whole body turn rigid, felt his arms get threaded underneath her to hold her tight against him, and felt herself being flooded inside as he continued thrusting. But he was slowing down, falling back to his deep, languorous penetration.

God, they were both exhausted. She kissed up his neck, barely able to do anything else. She still had tiny little echos of her orgasm run through that made her shiver and him gasp as he was still inside her.

Maybe sometime in the morning they'd be able to figure out where to go from here. If she had the opportunity she would have heard him say she was the best thing to ever happen to him. She would have wondered about saying that she was his and had been for a while, and except for that whole villain business she was happy.

Except that Chat Noir had followed them. And was waiting outside.

And he was pissed.

⁂

Additional notes:

Jellyfish launcher :p

I'd been imagining a little bit of Divinity: Original Sins 2 elves for how Silencer/Luka's built?

DEFO NSFW but I was also sorta thinking BadDragon's Elliot >_>

I kinda love that I switched the chill levels of Marinette and Luka. Luka's the one with high anxiety around Marinette. Marinette just wants to kiss him (and more).

[feminaexlux]

Hot Chocolate

Merry Christmases & Happy New Years & Happy Valentineses, and Happy Super Belated Birthdays to @fenheart87 and @mamanabeille and @motherofwoofers AND @MAL HAH (I’m so bad at this) 😹😿🧡

This was a Christmas exchange for LBSC for @mamanabeille and I hope it’s cute at least if not massively overdue o m g

On AO3 here!

⁂

Marinette wasn't sure how she strung the words together into a coherent enough sentence to convince Luka to take a walk with her on a lightly snowing afternoon, cruising for a little café to find some hot chocolate together. He probably understood most of what she'd been trying to say (or ramble, more likely) since they'd been friends for years.

Actually now that she thought about it, it probably hadn't been coherent at all, but Luka came along anyway because they were friends.

Friends. Close friends? Close enough that she loved his company with his generally good natured chillness and kissing his face with little bises in thanks.

They'd always been comfortable with casual intimacy like that. She always felt so… warm and comfortable with him near. That must have been the reason she was so panicked when she heard from him that he'd be leaving a few days after Christmas to tour with the one and only Jagged Stone as lead guitarist at age 19. It was huge for him, Marinette knew that. But to face that sudden dearth of his presence made her uneasy, to say the least.

It had gotten to the point where she forgot about making a Christmas gift for Adrien. She'd just repurpose one of her many Adrien Birthday gifts, so that wasn't too bad. But she wanted to make something important for Luka. Something that would hopefully show him just how much he meant to Marinette. And maybe it'd be something for him to remember her by.

She had been up all night working on Luka's Present. Well, she'd been up late a couple of nights working on it. She maybe had about 8 hours of sleep in the past 3-4 days.

Kitty Section had wanted to throw one last hurrah for Luka "moving up in the world", and along with it a mini-concert for Christmas and New Year's for their closest friends. Marinette had shown up late to the Liberty and nearly fell overboard crossing the gangplank but Luka had sprinted forward and caught her.

She blamed her unsteadiness for holding onto him the next couple of minutes after that. He kept an arm around her shoulder and they'd been just fine. She was warm. She was comfortable. The GirlSquad™️ that were present gave her looks. Marinette pretended that she didn't notice.

As it turned out the Liberty had run out of coffee. Marinette had rambled on that she preferred hot chocolate anyway and that she'd go out and get some while Kitty Section was just setting up. At least, that had been what she was trying to say, but it turned out she'd said something else that convinced Luka that he'd have to accompany her.

Or maybe it was because she was still a little wobbly. So she held onto his arm on their walk to find some hot chocolate. Luka didn't seem to mind. She slipped on something icy and instinctively threw her arms around him to steady herself. "Oh God I'm so so sorry," she squeaked.

"Are you alright?" He looked concerned but had on a smile. "Hey, let's find somewhere to sit down for a bit."

"Noooo, no I'm okay," she said hurriedly. "I don't wanna make you miss the party."

"They can deal," Luka shrugged.

"But it's for you! It's important!" It was important, wasn't it? Marinette was a little sleep-drunk, but her mind had registered this party as "For Luka" so it was automatically labeled IMPORTANT with big red letters and underlined 3 times.

"You're more important to me," he said quietly.

For some reason, Marinette giggled. "I know," she said, squeezing him tight. "But this is for you so I want everything to go right and have it be spectacular!"

He laughed. "The party is just for close friends, you know that, right?"

"It's for you," Marinette said. She straightened herself up and stepped back, having realized after the fact that she'd been talking to him all this time with her arms around him. "It's… it's for you and you're gonna be… gonna be with Jagged and people will notice you and you'll become a big star, I can… I can feel it!" She'd gotten wobbly again, and she hadn't even noticed that she'd been waving her arms to emphasize her points so hard that she'd lost her footing. She slipped again and landed on her butt. "Oof!"

"Alright, we're finding a place to sit down now," Luka decided. He took her hands and helped her to her feet, wrapping one arm around her shoulder again. "Hold onto me," he said.

Marinette giggled again. "Always," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around him tight. Luka stopped for a heartbeat but pressed on. He found a bench along the Seine that they could rest at for a few minutes. He sat her down first, then stood in front of her with a hand on her shoulder to make sure she was steady.

"Looks like there's a café nearby. Let me get you something warm, alright? I'll be a few minutes."

"Mmkay," she said sleepily.

He chuckled. "Try not to fall asleep out here. Are you cold?"

"No, I'm alright," she yawned. "I'll be awake, promise," she smiled, looking up at him. He did look a tiny bit concerned (a little like he doubted her to be honest) but then jogged off. Marinette let her focus soften and turned her head up to the light snow, the chill helping to keep her awake. She felt a few flakes land on her cheeks and closed her eyes just for a second, the white clouds fading out to black.

The heat from where he had held her had radiated out, leaving her colder than she liked. She wanted him back so she could lean herself against him and feel him near. Ugh, she was soooo close to dozing off. She shook her head and patted her cheeks, dusting off the snow that had started to cover her.

She better keep herself busy. She pulled out her phone and was momentarily confused. She wasn't so sure what made her upset staring at her phone until her brain unfuzzed after a few seconds. Her phone backsplash was of Adrien Agreste and it didn't feel right… She needed to change that. She went into her settings and tried to find a good replacement picture. She did think Adrien was cute and all, but… her tastes had… well, they weren't quite the same anymore. She had barely thought about Adrien until now. That background had just been… there, static, as the scenery for ages.

She found herself being embarrassed scrolling through her photos. Her most recent pictures had been selfies with her friends and pictures of her crafts or baking. Anything more than a year ago had mostly been pictures she stole off the internet of Adrien. He'd definitely grown more handsome over time she had to admit, but it was… kind of cringey just how many pictures she had of him. She started deleting the Adrien pictures that hadn't been taken by her or her friends. It just didn't have the same appeal anymore.

As she kept going further back in time in her photos she saw sketches of the prototype kittycorn masks she had made for Kitty Section. Wow she really needed to update those sketches, and maybe she could ask Luka if he wanted a custom logo? If he did she needed to go back and tweak some of his Christmas presents, but it'd be worth it to see Luka's reaction.

Marinette desperately hoped he'd like what she made for him.

She'd been setting her phone background to the pink and blue lightning bolt of Luka's kittycorn mask when he came back with 2 takeout cups. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Thank you," she smiled up at him. She took the cup that was offered to her, then wedged the cup in between her thighs to take off her gloves to feel the warmth more directly. She picked the cup back up and loved that feeling of the heat suffusing into her hands. She leaned in and smelled the hot chocolate.

He sat down next to her and had taken the lid off of his… she couldn't really smell what it was but he did have whipped cream on top of that drink. He took a sip and got some of that cream on the tip of his nose and on his lips.

Before he was able to wipe it away, and before even Marinette knew what she'd been doing, she reached out and wiped her thumb across his lips and licked off the stolen cream from her finger.

Then, because she still wasn't thinking about it, she did the same with the whipped cream on his nose when he turned to face her, giggling after mentally adding a boop. Ugh, it was that cream that came out of an aerosol can. Too much air, not enough body. "What'd you get?" she asked. She noticed his eyes were pretty wide, and she hadn't fathomed what had surprised him except maybe the drink?

"Uh…" he trailed off, looking a little red. "C-Coffee?"

She leaned against his shoulder and sipped her hot chocolate, feeling it warm her up inside. "This is good," she sighed happily. "Feels really nice."

"Yeah," Luka said absently. "Nice. Did… I didn't ask if you wanted… any whipped cream… I can get…"

"Hmm? I'm okay," she murmured, drinking the rest of her hot chocolate. Plus she really didn't want him to go anywhere. He was warm and it felt like she could sit here with him forever. It'd be nice if they could snuggle together in her bed or something like that. She should ask if she could steal him away for a cozy snow day. That was a grand idea.

"Marinette," Luka started, then just. Stopped. He'd been looking at her, eyebrows furrowed. It was a few seconds during which Marinette turned back to face him, pressing part of her face against his shoulder. He exhaled, then smiled his lopsided smile. "Nah. It's alright." Part of him looked… resigned, maybe?

"I want you… to be as comfortable with me as I am with you," Marinette said sleepily. "I'm… I feel like it's so easy to be with you," she added. "You're so good for me," she sighed, letting her body lean back against the bench. The hot chocolate was working its magic and she felt parts of herself relax.

⁂

She woke up feeling slightly more rested but still overall groggy. Ugh, what happened? Wait. Wait. Oh no, she'd been with Luka and she'd just… she'd just dozed off? Wait, where was she? She sat up and blinked a few times, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She was back in her own room?! Her winter gear had been taken off as well as her shoes, but she'd been tucked back into her own bed by her mom by the look of it.

Marinette threw off her blankets and rushed downstairs. Oh God it looked like it was already evening -- did she miss the concert? Ugh, Marinette why did you have to be so lame?! "Maman?! Papa?!"

"Did you rest well, hon?" Sabine asked. "Luka brought you back a few hours ago--"

"HOURS AGO?! Oh no! Oh no oh no," Marinette yelled, pulling at her pigtails. She'd definitely missed the concert. Luka's last concert with Kitty Section!

"He also came back to bring the rest of your things from the Liberty," Tom added. "He stopped by just a minute ago! He can't be far, dear, why don't you see if he's still nearby?" Her dad handed her purse and gloves back to Marinette from where they were sitting near the register.

Marinette was ready to run out when Sabine tossed her a jacket. "And don't forget your shoes!" Sabine added, tossing boots at her daughter as well. Marinette didn't see the calculating smiles her parents exchanged with each other after she hurriedly put her gear on and ran out the Boulangerie.

Her mind was scattered but one thing seemed pretty clear: if it'd been a minute or two and Luka was heading back to the Liberty, Marinette would most likely find him in the subway station waiting for the next train. She didn't know the trains by heart but they came really quickly. She might have already missed him but if there was even the slimmest chance that she could catch him before he left she'd try.

She flew down the steps of the nearby subway entrance going toward the Liberty and saw only a few people milling around, but there was definitely a train pulling into the station right then and Marinette felt the rush of air buffeting her. There was one familiar figure in the distance and she ran toward them, hoping her gut instincts had it right. "Luka!"

Of course, as soon as she was close enough she tripped. She'd overstepped something or other and caught the edge of… something. If it hadn't been Luka she was hoping whatever kind soul she had just launched herself at would stop her from faceplanting. "Whoa!" a voice yelled out. Gloved hands braced her and pushed her back upright. "Marinette?" Yes, yes, yes, thank God, she thought looking back up at Luka, her world finally feeling right.

She promptly burst into tears after the relief faded. "I'm so sorry I missed it!"

Luka smiled, shaking his head slightly as he pulled her in for a hug. "The concert? Doesn't matter to me, I'm glad you got your rest."

Right, the sudden and inevitable betrayal of her body just because she'd stayed up a few nights makiNG PRESENTS OH SHOOT SHE NEEDED TO GET THOSE TO HIM! She snapped her head back to look up at him and slammed her head into his chin instead. "Ouch! Oh I'm so sorry oh no--"

Luka just started laughing after rubbing his chin. "God I'm gonna miss you," he said breathlessly, wiping away tears of his own, though his were caused by laughing too hard. The train next to them closed its doors with a hiss and started moving away. "Ah, whoops," Luka sighed. "I'll catch the next one."

This moment stretched in her mind as her mind raced. When he said he was going to miss her… it just reminded her how horribly she was going to miss him. Why had she been so freaking indecisive all this time? How was she going to deal with the Luka-shaped hole in her heart? How had she not realized that she'd wanted him and needed him until right as he was leaving for another freaking country and what if he was gone for a year or maYBE 10 YEARS or what if he decided he didn't want to come back and found himself someone else and she'd gone ahead and thrown this all away because she'd been too shy and too scared and too freaking stupid to realize she was in lo-- Oh, oh no.

Oh no. Don't freak out now, you saw this coming! Don't let him leave! she yelled at herself. Not yet. Not… yet, anyway.

"Wait! Wait, um, I-I have your presents pack at the packery--back at the bakery! I-I-If it's okay did you want me to get them now?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you already bring one to the Liberty?"

Marinette pressed her lips together in a wan smile. "One's not enough," she said quietly. "There are more. I… wasn't able to carry all of them." HE won't be able to carry all of them, she thought angrily at herself. But there was one that she wanted to give him in person, in private. Now was as good a time as any, if he was willing.

He looked a little worried, but then Luka shrugged. "Sure, I don't have anything else right now. I'll head back with you. Thanks, by the way… You know you didn't have to get me anything."

"How long have you known me?" Marinette sniffed.

His smile broke through again. "Fair enough." They walked back up the stairs back to surface streets and walked to the bakery when the pedestrian light was green. Tom and Sabine looked delighted that Marinette brought Luka back. "Hey again. It's been a while," Luka joked.

"Go on upstairs, we'll bring you some snacks in a little bit!" Sabine said cheerfully. Marinette noticed that there wasn't any room for argument in what her mom said. It'd nearly come across as a command.

"Stay as long as you'd like!" Tom added unnecessarily.

Luka just smiled and nodded politely and followed as Marinette decided she'd best leave right then. They went up the stairs past her parents' bedroom floor and into the main floor. Luka almost went up the Marinette's bedroom ladder behind her but decided against it. "I can wait down here unless you need help getting it down?" he offered.

Marinette wondered why he was getting weird about going into her room now, of all times. "Just come up?" Luka let out what was the tiniest sigh and he relented, going up the ladder. She waited until he was finished climbing. "I didn't get a chance to wrap this up yet, but… I want to make sure it fits properly anyway." She took a long leather jacket off of her mannequin and presented it to Luka. "This is yours. I made this for you. Can you try this on?"

He just stared for a minute. "That looks… pretty damn incredible, Marinette," he said in awe. He took off his current jacket and handed it to Marinette when she offered to take it from him. She pretended she didn't feel just slightly awkward watching his lean form emerge from his bulky outerwear, pretended she didn't notice that his gray shirt underneath fit snug around his chest, pretended that she didn't keep getting drawn to the lines and curves of the muscles he usually kept hidden underneath hoodies.

He put on the jacket she made. Most of it was black leather lined in fleece, but she left the arms and the hood a softer, more pliable fabric so he wouldn't have his arms constrained by the stiff leather. The dark gray fabric of the arms extended out past the wrist to cover the palms and backs of his hands, and had slits for him to put his thumbs through. He pulled the hoodie over and smiled at Marinette. "Feels pretty good," he said.

Marinette moved his arm so it extended out, looking at the pull of the fabric and making sure that it was fitting well. She made some minor adjustments to the way the jacket sat on him, checking the length, checking seams, checking if there were any problems at all before she realized she was probably being weird on him. "Oh! Sorry, I just--just wanted to… um. A-anyway, how is it?"

Luka had just taken her hovering around and fixing things with quiet dignity. "It's great. It's… like I said, incredible. This must have taken a lot of work," he said with clear praise in his voice. "I honestly can't believe you're giving this to me. Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Since you're l-leaving in winter I wanted to make sure… that you're warm." Like you keep me warm. "And comfortable." Like you keep me comfortable. "And it's… it's not obvious but I also have something on the back. Here, you can check it in the mirror," she said, pulling him toward her full length mirror. He faced away from the mirror but checked over his shoulder to look. In the light Luka could tell that she had painted the leather in subtle blue and pink, more stains of color under the light than distinct painted lines. "I wasn't sure if you'd like it but… I put in the lightning bolt from your Kitty Section mask. So that way you even if you're not part of Kitty Section anymore, you can bring them with you? Am I making any sense?"

"I got it," he nodded, still checking out different parts of the jacket. "God, I don't have words for how amazing this is."

"I'm glad you like it."

"Marinette, I love it." He paused suddenly after looking back up at her. He was a little surprised when he saw that she was crying again. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He moved to her and pulled her into another hug.

"I'm just," she sighed, burying her face into his chest. "Seeing that on you. It makes it real that you're going." Luka took in a breath like he'd wanted to say something, but he let it go without saying anything. For a few heartbeats they stood there like that.

They heard Tom shuffling below and the hatch opened. "Hey kids, I brought some crois-- Oh, that looks wonderful, Marinette! That jacket turned out very nice!"

Marinette sighed and pulled away from Luka. "Thanks Papa," she laughed, taking the proffered plate of steaming hot bread.

"Eat them up while they're still warm!" Tom beamed, going back down the ladder and closing the hatch behind him. At least her dad didn't make a comment on how he found her and Luka. Maybe he was saving that for later… ugh.

"Want one?" Marinette giggled. "They are best straight from the oven."

"Sure, I'll take one."

Marinette handed one to Luka and ate one for herself, feeling pretty self-conscious at how awkward it got again. She put the plate of croissants on her computer table. "So um… The other presents for you are just… um. I guess there might be a lot to carry now that I think about it, ha."

"Keep them," Luka said between bites. Keep them? As in he didn't want them? Marinette froze in place. "Here," Luka added belatedly, smiling after he finished his croissant. "Keep them here. I'll be able to pick them up when I come back in the summer." He took a step toward her and leaned in close, placing his fingers against her cheek. Marinette blushed at the contact but she didn't shy away.

He pulled an errant flake of pastry off the corner of her mouth and ate it. "H-hey," Marinette grumbled. Well, it was probably her fault for expecting something… different. "That was mine," she added lamely at the end.

"What, you want it back?" He chuckled. "Dunno how--" She grabbed his lapels and pulled him in to kiss him hard. Then she heard Tom shuffling around again and shoved Luka at the chaise lounge just in time for Tom to open the hatch.

"I brought hot chocolate!" her dad announced with a huge grin, though it faltered a little as he took a slight pause to look back and forth between his daughter and the startled young man on her chaise. The kids were blushing pretty hard and Marinette just knew Tom was formulating some conclusions on what happened.

"Thanks Dad, we're good on snacks for now," Marinette said, trying to emphasize that she did not want anymore interruptions as she took the cups from Tom.

Tom grinned again. "Sabine and I added a little Dupain-Cheng magic in the cocoa, let us know what you think, alright? We'll leave you alone now," Tom winked.

UGH. She handed a cup over to Luka who took it automatically, still staring at her in a slight shock. Oh God maybe he didn't like her like that? "I-I'm sor--" she started.

"Don't," Luka interrupted. "Be sorry. Don't be sorry, I mean." He looked a little panicked and laughed nervously. "I didn't. Think. That you. Were…" he continued, speaking in fragments at a time. "Are you? Was that…"

Marinette sipped her hot chocolate nervously, her cup shaking slightly in her hands, but asked "Are you?" for some reason.

"How long have you known me?" Luka barked out as a laugh. "I've always liked you. Always."

"Me too. Really." Marinette said quietly. "I… it just. I suck at timing, you know?"

"Yeah," he breathed out, nodding.

She pouted. "But since you're leaving… it was something that… it just scared me."

"You know I'm coming back right?" He put his cup of cocoa on the floor. "Especially if you're waiting."

"You-you could meet someone new…?"

Luka furrowed his eyebrows. "I'll let you know if that happens. Is that what you're worried about?"

Marinette sighed. "No, orrrr ummm, sort of but not really. I just… didn't want things to change. And by that I mean I didn't want to… I didn't want to make… make any mistakes. With you." She chugged her hot chocolate, tasting the hints of buttery toffee and cream with a pinch of sea salt, then set her mug aside. "You've let me just hang out, you know? Let me be… me. And I was so afraid I'd screw something up if there was… anything more between us, if anything changed between us."

"But now things are changing anyway?" Luka replied. "Because I'm leaving for a while."

Marinette nodded. "Yeah. So, I thought I'd… well, give you that," she pointed at the jacket, "at least. So a little part of me can go with you."

Luka got back up to his feet and took off the leather jacket. "Then I'll only wear this when I'm away. Right now I'm here," he said. "And you're here. And I've always liked you. If you want me, I'm yours."

"That simple, huh?" Marinette smiled shyly.

"Always been."

Marinette drew herself into his arms and hugged him tight, feeling him wrap his arms around her. "I do. W-want this I mean. You. I really do suck at timing," Marinette sighed.

"Yeah, you do," Luka laughed. "But you've just given me some of the best Christmas presents I've ever gotten." He drew her face up to look at him and smiled. "And something to look forward to when I come back." He leaned in and kissed her.

[feminaexlux]

Marinette’s Luckiest Charm 10: Knit

So much for WIPril. Oh well 🥲

Read on AO3 here!

⁂

While Kagami was putting on a brave face after Adrien left, Marinette hadn't been so sure that Kagami was really as calm as she pretended to be. "Hey Kagami, Luka, maybe we can go to the arcade after this? It's not time to go home yet, right?" Marinette smiled, hoping the suggestion didn't come across as awkwardly as she thought it sounded in her head.

"Sounds good to me," Luka said affably. Thank goodness he was willing to roll with it. Marinette didn't doubt that Luka understood the intention behind Marinette's request.

"I… might enjoy that," Kagami said shyly, a small smile touching her lips. "Thank you. I would have left with Adrien in an hour but… I have more time than that if I request it. I'd like to spend more time with the both of you."

They finished off their floats and took a subway to the arcade, talking about the experience at the archery range. Kagami explained more about archery forms and her past competitions and how she prepared for them, with Luka listening in and absorbing all she said and asking clarifying questions. Marinette wasn't able to keep much of an interest but it was great to see Luka and Kagami interacting like friends as Marinette had always hoped they'd do.

They spent about 2 hours at the arcade before Kagami got a notification that her mother wanted her back home. Marinette and Luka said goodbye as Kagami stepped into Tatsue, and then rode the subway back to the bakery.

"I think Kagami will be fine," Luka said. "I sorta got the sense she was prepared for this."

Marinette sighed. "Yeah, I guess. It probably still sucks for her though."

"It probably does. But if you both want we can keep hanging out and spend more time together. Well," Luka then shrugged sheepishly. "I guess you can do that without me."

"No, it was great to see you two talking with each other. I want you two to be friends!" Marinette beamed up at him. "Thanks for hanging out."

"It's what I'm here for."

"To hang out?"

"To hang out with you," Luka smiled. "But I've taken up enough of your time. I'll head out. See you tomorrow." He leaned over and kissed her.

Marinette waved him off as he went back down to the subway. Marinette's parents welcomed her back and the family ate their dinner together. Marinette finally got back to her room and… something felt off. Her first instinct was to look for the Miracle Box, but it was hidden away under her sewing supplies, only… Only she had recently pulled out the Bee, hadn't she? She was wondering if she needed to find a new bearer for the Bee and had no idea who to give it to. She'd been toying with the idea of handing it off to Juleka before the date, but she had to set it aside to leave on time. Where had she left it?

Had she taken it out?

There was a thunk on her balcony roof. Hmm, she had actually expected him but it still gave her a little trepidation that he'd arrived now. She'd have to search for the Bee later, if she'd even taken it out at all, she must have just misplaced it somewhere like she did everything else! Marinette climbed up her ladder and opened the hatch to the balcony.

Chat Noir was perched on her railing. She hadn't expected him as Chat. "Ch-Chat Noir?"

"Hey." Chat said that so softly Marinette almost didn't hear.

She made her way out onto the balcony proper and leaned on her railing next to him. "Are you alright?" Chat didn't answer except for a shrug. "Kagami said it felt like you two broke up."

He turned to face her, looking surprised. "What do you mean?"

"The way you left today. She said it was the end for you two."

Chat laughed a little bitterly. "Yeah. I guess. And now you know who I am."

"Chat Noir would never give up his Miraculous to someone he didn't trust. And you didn't hand it to me. Kagami wouldn't give up Longg to anyone she didn't trust. It had to be you, Adrien."

"Surprise." He sighed. "I wish I told you earlier."

"You tried, remember?"

"Ugh, sorry. Not that way. In a nicer way," Chat sighed.

"It's… alright. What did you want to talk about, Chat?" Marinette tried to keep the question neutral but she was thinking he'd start talking about Kagami.

"I found my mother."

Marinette reeled back in shock. "Oh, oh my gosh, that's so…" Good? Exciting? Why did it sound like Chat was mourning? Was it bad news?

"My father is keeping her in some… life support thing. In a secret basement. A secret basement I didn't know we had!" Chat growled. "I thought she disappeared and she's been right under our noses, literally, for the past year and a half? How crazy is that? And why? Why would he do this?" Chat Noir slammed a fist against his thigh. "I hate this. I hate all of this. I can't believe he'd lie to me, I can't believe he'd just let me think that my mother was dead. I can't believe he and Nathalie are… some kind of together. I can't believe he put Mom in some suspended animation tube capsule thing in a garden underneath our house!" Chat let out a breath. "I needed Plagg back. I needed something to make sense. So yeah, I think Kagami and I are done. Or whatever. But I can't handle anything right now."

"I'm… so sorry," Marinette said softly. "What can we do?"

"I was gonna ask you that. I don't know, I really don't know. Somehow maybe I find myself wondering if my father is Hawkmoth after all? This seems like such a supervillain set up, you know?"

"But he'd been akumatized before? As the Collector?"

"Yeah, I guess." Chat hung his head in exhaustion. "I don't know anything anymore, Milady."

"Well, no matter what happens, if Gabriel is Hawkmoth or not, we'll find a way to set things right together. We'll figure out how to save your mom. I promise," Marinette said as gently as she could, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing. He turned toward her to put his head on her shoulder.

Except that wasn't what he did.

He had leaned in to kiss her.

Their lips had barely brushed before she shoved him and leapt away yelling out a "NO!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't--I didn't…" Chat stuttered, clinging to the railing to prevent falling out onto the street after he lost his balance.

Marinette covered her mouth with both hands but gasped out a "Wh-why?"

"I…! I…" Chat gulped and stared down at his hands. He let out a breath and his entire body sagged, drooping down to hang his arms and chin over the railing. "You were the first girl I fell in love with. I saw you being so brave and courageous when you told Hawkmoth that you'd protect Paris. I thought 'there's a girl who has a plan and knows what to do and she isn't afraid of doing the right thing.' Whoever you were behind the mask, that's who I wanted to be with." He lifted his head slightly to look at her. "I still do."

Marinette looked at Chat for a long moment before shaking her head. "I can't do this." She turned around to open her hatch and go back down into her room.

"Wait!" Chat leapt over the railing and grabbed her arm before she dropped down. "Please, wait."

"Chat. Don't touch me."

"Wh… what?"

"I said don't touch me!" Marinette yelled, wrenching her arm from his grip. She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself tight. She looked around, anywhere but at Chat, and after a few tense moments she sighed. "What is it, Adrien?" She still wasn't looking at him.

"I'm… just scared. I really am sorry, please you have to believe me. I know this sounds like an excuse but it's the truth. You just… seem to have it together and… I really wanted to… have that too."

In that instant Marinette heard Luka's voice in her head: "Cool story. Still wrong." She laughed softly to herself, tinged with a little bit of bitterness of her own.

Oh no. Luka.

She had to tell him.

"I… know this is going to sound bad, but. I don't know where else to go, Marinette. You're the only one I trust."

Marinette looked up at Chat Noir, her forehead wrinkled with lines of worry and questioning. She searched his eyes and knew he was miserable. She took in a deep breath and let it out. "Okay. You wanna stay here for tonight?"

Not trusting himself to say anything, Chat nodded.

"Okay. Let's go back inside." Marinette silently prayed that she was doing the right thing. She dropped down to her bed, leaving her balcony hatch open so Chat Noir would follow. Marinette went down to her desk and… and there was something that she'd been doing before… looking for…

Well, whatever.

She needed to call Luka anyway. Marinette pulled out her phone and her last screen had been sending a text to Sabrina that it was alright to go in and pick up the group project. Oh, that must have been it, duh.

"Hey, Marinette?"

She flicked her eyes up at Chat Noir only for an instant. She looked back down at her phone and… she didn't feel like she wanted to call right now, so she pulled up Luka's texts and started typing. "Yeah?"

Chat took in a breath and started saying something but bit it back. "Thanks." She heard him sit down on her bed. "Claws in," he said quietly.

Good, it sounded like he was going to stay up on her bed. That was fine, she was hoping to get some more homework done at her desk anyway.

"Are you going to tell Luka?" Adrien asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"You… don't have to. It won't happen again. We can keep it between us."

Luka's voice was in her head again. "You can tell me everything, or nothing if you prefer." She nodded to herself. "I'm not telling him because I have to, Adrien. I'm telling him because I want to. He's important to me."

Adrien was silent for a few heartbeats. "Alright," he said, sounding defeated.

M: Chat Noir is here, he's

M: not doing okay

After a few moments she saw that he was typing back.

M: he tried to kiss me

L: Oh? Is he

L: What???

She was in the middle of typing out "it's okay, I stopped him" when she saw another message pop in.

L: I trust you

L: Hope you're okay

She felt tears falling from the corners of her eyes. Marinette was surprised by that. Maybe she wasn't okay after all.

⁂

HAH take that canon

[feminaexlux]

Dragon, Viper, Tiger

Tossing my hat back in the ring for @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers AU sprint challenge!. I went with the Thief/Heist AU since I’d been kicking this idea around for a while.

I gave myself an arbitrary editing deadline of 6pm so I hope it both makes sense and reads alright, but shrugs

Hope you enjoy! Find on AO3 here :)

⁂

Viper was sometimes glad he had a longer running gait than the woman on his tail only a few meters behind. He put his long legs to use and leapt up onto a couple of filing cabinets, scrambled up to the bare industrial support beams of the so called modern office building he’d broken into, and jumped over the dividing wall via the exposed ceiling.

Post-Modern styled offices just lent themselves so well to the good old B&E.

The wiring crisscrossing through the exposed ceiling allowed him to occasionally cut the telecommunication lines in his hasty exit, which was great in trying to prevent any of the security cameras from tracking him. If he also took out the internet lines that was just an added bonus, since that’d probably slow down anyone trying to access the proprietary blueprint he pilfered. He just needed to buy some time.

He probably could have gotten out a few minutes ago since he already had the memcube in his pocket, but this was really the only opportunity he had to see Officer MDC in action. Oh, nice, there she was, waiting for him in her combat stance at his specified exit point. Even at 5 foot nothing she’d landed him on his ass waaaay too many times, but honestly he loved the challenge of facing her. She always had new tricks up her sleeve.

But so did he, with some of the info that Tiger kept leaving him. Like, for instance, even if MDC had gotten the EMP disruption lace installed in her gloves, it could easily be counteracted and redirected by the additional aluminum alloy mesh Dragon had added as the inner lining to his wetware, so the memcube wouldn’t be completely fried if MDC did manage to land a hit (and she usually did). The only problem was trying to find where to ground the pulse… But the priority order was, as ever, keeping his identity safe, then getting the payload, then trying to escape unscathed. Paris PD’s Special Circumstances wasn’t ever going to figure out his identity (unless he died), nor would they get to know that the same general producer for their own tech was his boss (unless he died).

Viper didn’t relish the idea of dying, so he’d been doing his best at avoiding that particular outcome. He’d done well so far, even if he did come out of MDC encounters with more bruises and scars than when he went in. He had landed in front of Marinette and smiled. She rolled her eyes at him. And before he knew it, she had launched herself at him with her classic opener: a roundhouse kick to his solar plexus.

⁂

Viper slid underneath the food truck and unlatched a hidden panel, hauling himself through the opening feet first as quietly as he could. He toed the hatch closed behind him but caught it with his fingers before it made impact. He couldn’t give up the game now by being loud, that’d be so, so lame. He heard the gravel get scraped below his temporary entombment and he knew it was Marinette. She felt at the truck’s undercarriage and probed for any particular weaknesses or different materials and he heard her muffled voice as she worked with her TIKKI AI to scan any infrared signals and find any potential structural modifications done to the vehicle.

Here’s to hoping that Markov did its job correctly, he thought. Otherwise they’d be out of a job… and a food truck.

A few minutes later he heard her curse and slam an open palm against the undercarriage in frustration. “I know you’re in here, Viper!” she yelled.

“Ma'am?” He heard another voice chime in. “Why are you under our truck?”

⁂

A very cramped 3 hours later after a thorough inspection and nearly complete teardown of the food truck, Viper finally popped the floor panel and took in some fresh air. Well, relatively fresh, it smelled like greasy food all around him. The truck was already on the highway, having been released from the PD’s temporary impounding for being present at the scene and potentially housing a wanted criminal. The scans came up with nothing, the truck’s workers came up clean through the ID system, the truck’s visit and movements were tracked and scheduled and above board.

The actual food truck owners were unaware of his presence, which was just the way he liked it. He stretched his legs out a bit after being folded up into such a tiny space for so long. It was the sole disadvantage of having long legs, but he was the best in class at his job for all the contortion required. Plus he wasn’t claustrophobic like Tiger was. Speaking of… he checked his watch.

ur late, asshole

cg again? u simp

special 4u 0xdeadbeef

Oooof course. He could always count on his sister for ribbing on his infatuation with Cafe Girl, their codename for Marinette. He took one last relatively fresh breath of air and went back into hiding, sealing the latch shut. He listened for the engine knock signature: 4, 5, 1, 4, 2, 5, 5, 6, opened the bottom panel, dropped onto the street with his camouflage on, and kicked the panel closed before the truck took off. A bus drove over him and he hitched a ride, holding on underneath for 4 blocks, then rolled into the gutter drain.

⁂

It was a pretty quiet evening at Cafe Orriko, a cozy little cafe that had some steadfast regulars. One of Luka’s favorite hangouts due to the owners letting him lounge around and play his acoustic without complaint. There’d been another reason Luka loved this particular cafe, though.

Nathaniel heard the door chime and looked up, smiling at the newcomer. “Hey welcome to–oh hey Mar–oh shit MARC WE HAVE A CODE PINK!” There was a hastily tossed pillow from Marc that Nathaniel covered with a tea towel and passed to Marinette. She pulled up the pillow to her face and screamed into it for a good 20 seconds. Nath grimaced. “Bad day?”

She lowered the pillow. “Stupid fucking Viper I swear I will rip him in half and tear him to fucking shreds once I finally get my hands on him!”

Luka chuckled, having stopped playing his guitar when he noticed that Marinette had come in. “Careful, sounds like he might like that,” he winked.

“Uuuuugh,” Marinette groaned. “Thank you, Nath. Just… just gimme my usual, please.” She looked pretty dejected this time, handing back the pillow and tea towel, walking to Luka’s couch, and plopping down next to him. “Please, Luka, could you play me something soothing?”

“Anything for you,” he said, starting up an easy tune. “I know you can’t talk a lot about your work, but… what went wrong today?”

“Nnng, just… just I knew where he was and we still didn’t get him. He’s like a fucking ghost, he just… disappears! Poof!” She usually discussed what was already covered on the nightly news broadcasts, just to be safe.

“Then he’s pretty good,” Luka said neutrally enough, but hid a smirk behind a cough when Marinette gave him the stink eye.

“He only needs to fail once,” Marinette huffed. “He can’t always have luck on his side.” Marc came by with her salted caramel hot chocolate. “Thanks, Marc,” she sighed, relaxing a little bit as she took a sip of the steaming hot drink.

Luka set a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “You’ll get him one day, I know it.”

“I’d still have my work cut out for me. I have to find the Dragon after him,” Marinette groaned again. “And Adrien’s still obsessed with that stupid Fencer lady so he’s no help.” Marinette shut her eyes tight and shook her head. “But enough about that. How are you, Luka? I’m glad I was able to run into you today.”

Luka wasn’t going to mention that she’d already run into him earlier as the one and only Viper. “It was going alright, but it’s better now that you’re here,” he smiled. Marinette blushed a little and smiled back, nudging his shoulder with hers. “Sorry about your rough day though,” he added quickly.

Marinette shrugged. “It’s work. It’s… it’s so weird what the Syndicate goes for, it’s not even like… anything really valuable? I swear they’re doing it just to mess with us and wreak havoc.”

“You haven’t figured out a pattern?” Luka asked. Marinette made a zipping motion across her mouth. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

She shrugged again. “No more talk about work, please. I’d just… like to hear you play, if that’s alright?”

“Yeah, no problem,” he chuckled.

She closed her eyes as he started playing the guitar again, something soft and pleasant that reminded him of her. She leaned her head against his shoulder while he played and he felt his heart beating faster.

One day, when the jig was up, he’d love to take her out for dinner. Assuming, of course, that he hadn’t been torn to pieces by her hands.

[feminaexlux]

All That Matters (Pt 1: I Got Chills)

Happy Valentine’s Day! This is my @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers exchange fic for @nobodyfamousposts. Find this on AO3 here!

Summary: What if Miracle Queen happened 6 months later in the dead of winter?

Part 1 of 3, probably.

⁂

"Ladybug?"

"Yeah, Chat?"

"I have a girlfriend."

"Oh! That's wonderful, congratulations!"

Chat Noir looked… confused, which was odd given the news that Ladybug just got. "I thought you'd be jealous," Chat said eventually. Part of him sounded chagrined, but another part of him sounded a little relieved.

Ladybug tilted her head. "Why would I be jealous? I'm happy for you!"

"Thanks," Chat said with a small smile. "It's new for me, you know? I've never done this before. I feel like I'm going to mess something up."

Ladybug laughed. "You're a good guy, Chat. I think all relationships are going to be hard and there will always be ups and downs. But I think you'll be fine if you work together on the problems." Ladybug then had a concern. "You're not dating her as Chat are you?"

"Pfft, no, no my Lady, the real me is doing that part," Chat laughed.

"Okay, good. Remember you can't reveal your identity to anyone."

"I know, my Lady, I know." Chat sighed. "I wish I could, sometimes. It sucks having to leave her without a good explanation, you know?"

Ladybug paused and considered. "Can I ask how you deal with that?"

"Luckily for me, my fath-- uh, family has a pretty tight leash on this cat. I say that they need me and… she understands." Chat leaned forward and pulled up his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. "She's… sad whenever that happens so I try to make it up to her."

Ladybug laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "That's good. It sounds like the sooner we can take down Hawkmoth, the better."

Chat turned to her and nodded. "Yeah. Agreed."

Ladybug took her hand off his shoulder and rested it back on the roof of the building they were on. They had done some patrols and met back up again to report nothing out of the ordinary. They sat together watching the sunset as they did on the good days.

It was partly cloudy and chilly in the early days of winter. The freezing cold hadn't yet settled in but Ladybug knew it was coming in soon. She'd noticed in the previous winter that part of her felt sluggish and her body felt more lethargic in general, even in her powered up super suit. Tikki had said something about how ladybugs didn't do well in winter, and maybe that was why? Okay, sure. Ladybug didn't want to be any sort of liability to Chat or to the city of Paris when it got cold so she was able to convince Master Fu to lend out the other Miraculous on a semi-permanent basis.

Rena Rouge and Carapace were more than recurring heroes now. Ladybug had entrusted the Miraculous to Alya Cesaire and Nino Lahiffe after they promised to protect their identities, each other, the city of Paris, and to not misuse the Miraculous powers for personal gain. She’d done the same for Pegasus, Ryuuko, and Viperion. Ladybug didn’t know who King Monkey was so she had enlisted Fu’s help in tracking him down.

Queen Bee was… on an as-needed basis. Chloe Bourgeois was still an unknown. She had her moments of true selflessness but they'd been rare and unpredictable and that wasn't an ally Ladybug or Chat Noir could trust. They tried explaining that to Chloe once, but it ended when the mayor's daughter threw them out in a fit of tears. They still gave her another chance but the last time Queen Bee was used was with HeartHunter and Ryuuko had to bail them all out when Queen Bee stopped listening to them.

It wasn't going well.

"How are you doing, 'Bug?"

Ladybug snapped out of her thoughts and turned to face Chat. "I'm… okay. It's starting to get cold."

"Maybe you need to find yourself a boyfriend and get some warm snuggles," Chat grinned. "What about that boy you love?"

Ladybug closed her eyes. "He's found someone else," Ladybug said softly. She had a small smile on her face, remembering how it felt to see Adrien and Kagami together. Kagami fit in to his life so seamlessly and Adrien looked happier than Marinette had ever seen.

"I'm… I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Ladybug sighed, looking back out at the sunset. "I think he's happier now." And now Marinette wasn't feeling like the universe kept pushing back. It hurt a little bit to know nothing was going right with Adrien and there wasn't anything she could do to change it. She finally made the decision to stop feeling hurt all the time and allowed herself to let him go. "And I think I'm happier too."

"Okay," Chat smiled, sighing in relief. "That's great to hear. I'm sorry it didn't work out but I'm glad that you're happier. A happy Ladybug is always good news."

"And a happy Chat Noir is always good news as well," Ladybug giggled. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Of course. You're my best friend, Ladybug. I want to tell you everything, but…"

"You shouldn't tell me. It's to protect us," Ladybug stressed. "But… you know you're my best friend too."

⁂

One good thing about no longer obsessing over Adrien was that Marinette had less to worry about. The GirlSquad was no longer a pain in the proverbial butt about getting her to ask him out either. Instead Alya had fixed her sights on improving the LadyBlog and tracking down interviews with the other semi-permanent heroes, though (for obvious reasons) she had way more articles about Rena Rouge than any of the other Miraculous holders. It didn't seem like it was for personal gain as Alya had styled the interviews as asking the heroes advice to inform all of her blog readers how to defend against or prepare for akumas, so Marinette decided she'd let that pass for the greater good.

The only thing that felt a little weird about the GirlSquad sometimes was that Juleka seemed like she kept wanting to talk with Marinette and then backing out at the last second. That probably meant Juleka still felt confused about Marinette dating her brother.

Marinette knew it looked kinda bad to date someone else soon(?) after giving up on Adrien, especially since Adrien started dating Kagami(!), but it just happened so… naturally. Marinette had been the one to keep visiting Luka at the Liberty. Luka had kept inviting her to watch movies with him. They'd just felt like having lunch together often. After months of not-dating Marinette had finally asked, flustered and tripping over her words, if they actually were. Or… If he had wanted to.

"If you want to, I'm game," Luka had said casually, but Marinette had seen the faintest blush on him.

They had both been surprised when she said "Yes."

Their relationship was nice and easy. They had taken it slow. Most of their "dates" were just hanging out, low key chilling around each other, listening to music or working on Lycée homework. He would lend an ear to whatever she wanted to talk about and offered his thoughts and commentary. She'd given him small gifts here and there. They'd gone out ice skating and met up with other friends a few times. She had been worried that she'd been a pretty boring girlfriend overall but he said "If you wanna be here with me and I wanna be here with you, that's all that matters."

Whenever she and Luka were together during an akuma attack Luka did have the penchant for staying with her for as long as possible. He did eventually give an excuse of having to check up on Juleka or his mom and left Marinette to run out as Viperion… and then she would transform into Ladybug and follow after him. If anyone caught on that Ladybug always came in right after Viperion, the other heroes were smart enough to not comment on it. Nor comment on how they always left at the same time. Luka had, after sprinting back to her, breathlessly apologized the first few times for leaving her but Marinette had said it was so brave of him to look out for his family's safety and that'd been enough. Marinette did have to admit to herself that dating another superhero was actually pretty convenient. Chat would never let that go if he found out.

On the bad days it'd been so good to melt into his hugs when she felt the weight of the world press down harder on her. He'd been the calm in her life she so desperately wanted. It hit her like a ton of bricks just how much she needed him when he got taken from her.

⁂

Marinette and Luka were hanging out at Place des Vosges having coffee together after defeating yet another akuma. It had gotten much easier dealing with Hawkmoth most of the other heroes helping out, and the fight was over in practically no time at all. Just when everything calmed down again she and Luka heard screaming nearby and saw people running away from… a swarm of wasps?

They got up and started running, but they were too slow and the wasps were catching up. "Aw crap," Luka yelled. "Marinette watch out!" Luka pulled her into his arms and shielded her from them, getting stung in the process.

"Luka!" Marinette felt his arms drop from her shoulders and she looked up to see his face devoid of any emotion. His eyes turned a weird shade of yellow and he wasn't responding to her shaking him. "Luka!" For one tiny moment he blinked and looked down at her with concern, then his face went slack again. "Oh no, what happened to you?" He turned away from her and started walking off. "H-hey! No! Don't go!" She took his hand and tried to pull him into the bakery but he resisted and kept walking. Another swarm of wasps was closing in on her and Marinette cried out in frustration, letting Luka slip out of her grasp.

Wasps… wasps? Was this Chloe?! Oh no, Marinette thought, turning on her heels to sprint toward the Seine. She transformed while diving in, making sure to use her aqua powerup. She plunged into the river and then looked back up to see the swarm hovering above the water and eventually disperse away. She pulled out her yoyo and slid the cover up, checking if any of the other Miraculous holders were active.

Oh no. None of the other heroes were showing up on her communicator. At least not yet. Oh no. Ladybug let the communicator close and swam in circles, wondering just how she'd be able to handle this on her own if she had to. Suddenly she got a ping and Ladybug whipped out her yoyo, franticly checking which of her allies was nearby. Oh thank goodness Chat Noir was alright. Okay. She swam to meet him as he was heading in her direction and they met up halfway. "Chat! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm definitely glad to see you, 'Bug!"

"Th-this is… this is Queen Wasp again, isn't it?" Ladybug fretted and pulled her hair in a mix of frustration and guilt. "I… I thought…"

"We beat her before and we can do it again," Chat said, squeezing her shoulder with his hand. "And… and I have this, if we need it," he said somewhat sheepishly, pulling out what looked like a necklace. It was a choker… a very familiar choker. One she had given to Kagami Tsurugi to keep for the time being. What was Chat doing with the Dragon Miraculous? "I… found this near… a girl after she got stung by one of the wasps."

Ladybug blinked at the choker a few times. All she could think of was the dread she felt when the wasps were after her and Luka. What had Chat Noir gone through? And he had been conveniently nearby Kagami and the Dragon Miraculous and recognized it fast enough to grab it? "We might be able to use this." Ladybug closed Chat's hand over the choker. "You keep this for now, let's make a plan. None of the other heroes show up as active on my locator yet--" As soon as she said it she got a series of pings on her yoyo that indicated that most of the other Miraculous holders were becoming active, all but Ryuuko, and all at the same time and location.

Even Viperion showed up on her locator… she knew that Luka had been taken. Which could only mean…

"This is bad news." Ladybug bit at her bottom lip. "I personally saw that… one of the holders got stung. This means they've captured everyone else with a Miraculous and we're on our own. We'll have to use the Dragon and get any edge we can." Chat nodded at Ladybug and she sighed. "This is going to be tricky. We need to take Viperion out first."

"How are we going to do that?"

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other in silence for a bit. "We have to split up and you have to use the Dragon Miraculous. You can't be caught by the wasps or Pegasus if you're in Wind form and I don't think it's safe to do a frontal assault with Viperion working against us."

"And what about you? What are you going to do?"

"I'm… going to use the Mouse. They can't capture all of me that way… hopefully."

Chat looked pained. "This sounds dangerous, 'Bug."

"Do you have another idea?" Chat shook his head. "Then let's do this for now. We'll have to play this by ear." Ladybug called her Lucky Charm and got a scarf, now waterlogged with Seine water (ew). "A scarf? What the heck am I supposed to do with a scarf?!"

⁂

To be continued (insert Jojo music here)

Actually j/k it's right here

[feminaexlux]

All That Matters  (Pt 2: They’re Multiplyin’ and I’m Losing Control)

Part 2 of All That Matters. Part 1 here

Find this on AO3 here!

⁂

Ladybug convinced a newly transformed Dragon Noir to use Water form and launch himself into the sky. He'd be able to get a look at what was happening from a bird's eye view and find Queen Wasp and the other Miraculous holders. Dragon Noir was hovering above Paris in a large water bubble at the peak of his arc when he contacted her. "Hey 'Bug, she's at the Trocadero, and… you're right," Dragon Noir sighed. "She's got the other heroes all brainwashed and suited up. Except Ka--uh, the fencer girl is just… standing there."

"Is she okay? M-Master Fu isn't with them, is he?" Ladybug asked nervously.

"I think she's fine, just… non-responsive. I don't see him. Am I supposed to see him?" Dragon Noir asked, concerned.

"No! No." Ladybug breathed out a sigh of relief. "Just… just that Queen Wasp doesn't have access to all of the Miraculous then," Ladybug said. Okay. Master Fu was still safe, to a degree. Even though he wasn't really the Guardian anymore.

"Master Fu" was, in fact, not even a real person anymore.

There had been one too many close calls with Master Fu being nearly discovered by Mayura and Hawkmoth, and with Marinette being as hyper-competent as she was, Fu made the decision to retire earlier in the late summer. After all, the Order had been restored and he was no longer the last of his kind. Marinette had proven herself worthy of Guardianship time and time again. He was just too old, too weak, too slow to react and adapt.

Fu had handed over the Miracle Box to Ladybug at the end of summer. His penultimate act as Guardian was to tell her who King Monkey was after handing out the Monkey Miraculous to Kim. Ladybug became the new Guardian of the Miraculous in secret, and the person that was "Master Fu, Guardian of the Miraculous" was no more after he lost all of his memories.

There was one final "gift" that Master Fu had left Ladybug before his memories were erased. Fu had given her his blessing to use him as a decoy. Better to have Hawkmoth track down and find a dead end in a broken old man than wreak more havoc with more Miraculous under his command.

The knowledge of whoever Chat Noir was underneath the mask got lost along with Fu's memories. But that was fine to Ladybug. Chat Noir was simply her partner, and that was enough.

Though losing Master Fu as her mentor and confidante had been such a huge blow to Marinette. She had spent a week crying in secret until Luka had surprised her one day, visiting her in her room. "Thought I'd join you here if that's alright," Luka had said, and Marinette let him stay with her. He'd just smiled and held out his hands to her. He hadn't even asked what was wrong. He was just present, letting her cry in his arms until she couldn't anymore. "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

It had been a good long time until she was able to speak again. "You're already helping me," Marinette had said quietly, pressing herself into the hug. "This is all that I need."

Ladybug shook her head to get back to the present. She stuck her head out of the water and took a quick scan of her surroundings, making sure she wasn't spotted by anything. She got out of the river, drying out the Lucky Charm scarf as best she could. "Tikki, Mullo, Unify!" This was another Big Secret Marinette kept to herself: that she'd been keeping Mullo's Miraculous on her. It had changed a bit recently, now representing itself as a necklace with a pendant shaped like a guitar pick that she hid under her shirt. Marinette was paranoid enough that she couldn't let anyone see her wear the necklace. Multimouse had detransformed in front of Chat Noir, after all.

Sometimes she transformed into Multimouse without any akumas to deal with - breaking her own rule of not using the Miraculous for personal reasons - to be as small as she felt sometimes and hide away from the world. She and Tikki had a lot of heart to heart conversations tucked into a hatbox in one corner of her room.

This time, she was using it to just be stealthy. She used Multitude to split into several smaller versions of herself, fanning across a large area and running down different streets and alleyways toward the Trocadero.

"She's calling herself Miracle Queen," Dragon Noir mused. "The… the others are surrounding her to defend her. I'd say we're in quite a pickle, my Lady."

Multibug didn't stop running. "How do you feel about trying to draw the honor guard away?" one of her asked.

Dragon Noir snorted. "On it. Easy as pie." Over the comms Ladybug heard her partner shout "Hey there demons, it's me, ya boi Chat Noir! I'm standing right here. You brain-dead zombies want my miraculous? Come and get it!"

…

Okay…

One of the Multibugs pulled out her yoyo and took a look at the screen. Dragon Noir's spot on her map kept jumping around, pulling the group of the other heroes away as they all chased after him. Pegasus was using Voyage to keep trying to intercept but Dragon Noir bounced off in a different direction as fast as lightning. She had to give props to Chat, he sure knew how to play that cat-and-mouse game well.

But Dragon Noir wouldn't be able to keep this up forever if Viperion was working against them. She needed to take down Viperion and this Miracle Queen, and she needed to do that as soon as possible. She kept moving forward, scurrying across as fast as she could to get to cover or hide behind or underneath things, trying to close in and surround Miracle Queen from as many angles as she could get at the Trocadero.

One of her got close, so close. Miracle Queen was standing in front of a line of golden statues, and a Multibug was hiding behind one of the statue plinths when she got grabbed from behind. "Aahhh!" she squeaked out loud.

"Not ssso fassst, little moussse," Viperion said as he turned her toward his face, stressing his s's in what was probably a mockery of Sass. "You'll never get the drop on me, can't you see?" He turned toward Miracle Queen and bowed to her with Multibug firm in his grip. "I've found a pest, My Queen."

Multibug held back another squeak. "Lu--Viperion! Viperion, don't do this, don't listen to her! Don't let her control you!" She had been so sure that Dragon Noir had led them all away, how did Viperion surprise her?! She realized he must have used Second Chance and timed it so he knew just when to turn back and stop her. The other heroes must have coordinated to trick Dragon Noir!

Miracle Queen turned her head lazily, examining her nails with a sour look after giving a quick glance at Viperion presenting her the Multibug in his left hand. "Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. A rat? That's the best you could do, Ladybug?" Miracle Queen leaned in and looked closer at Multibug. "Hmm. Although you do have your Miraculous, but they're so tiny. I don't know how much more useless you could possibly be, but…" A wasp manifested above the Queen's hand, hovering and ready to strike.

There was a lightning fast zzzip and a yoyo snatched up the wasp from right in front of Miracle Queen before she realized what happened. Miracle Queen cried out, looking up only to have a pair of Multibugs drop down from above and wrap the scarf tight around her face, blocking her vision entirely. "What the-- Aaaah!" Miracle Queen screamed as she stumbled backward.

Viperion started reaching for his bracelet but the Multibug in his hand reached out as fast as she could and held back the serpent's head to prevent the reset. The two Multibugs that dropped merged together, and another larger Multibug emerged from the shadows. The 2 larger Multibugs lassoed Viperion's left and right wrists with their jump ropes and pulled away from each other, forcing Viperion's arms apart. They coordinated and pulled their ropes backward, unbalancing Viperion and dragging him off his feet to slam his back up against a statue plinth, knocking the breath out of him. This allowed the Multibug in his hand to wriggle free and pull off his bracelet as he struggled against his bindings.

Miracle Queen pulled off the scarf and threw it on the ground just as a detransformed Luka fell to his knees, the jump ropes untying smoothly from his wrists as the Multibugs pulled away and sprinted off in different directions. "DISGUSTING! Ugh!" She stomped toward Luka and grabbed the collar of his shirt and forced him to look up at her. "You're so useless!"

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

Miracle Queen looked to her side, where a fully sized Multibug was glaring at her. "What, this piece of trash?" Miracle Queen mocked, picking a struggling Luka up by the throat until he was hanging a few inches off the ground. "He belongs with the rest of the filthy garbage!" She threw him at Multibug.

"Luka! No!" Multibug rushed in to catch him and they collided, sending them both tumbling to the ground. She sat up with Luka cradled in her arms, he was still dazed from the impact and mind control but it seemed like he was slowly recovering. Her face was set in rage when she looked up at Miracle Queen. "How could you?!"

Instead of responding Miracle Queen summoned a new swarm of wasps. Miracle Queen commanded her wasps to "Get her!" just as Multibug's earrings beeped, starting the countdown to her powers running out.

Multibug growled, trying to decide between letting Luka down to deal with the threat or getting them both out of there as fast as possible. She made her decision, throwing out her yoyo and hooking it onto a railing, pulling her and Luka away from the Trocadero as fast as she could manage trying to outpace the wasps. But even after a few swings the wasps were still pursuing and inching in closer, much too close for comfort. Multibug wasn't sure where she could go that would be safe so she gritted her teeth and dove both her and Luka into the Seine.

⁂

Luka's head was swimming in black and white static. It felt like he was floating in a sea of quicksand, getting swallowed up and drowning in grainy noise. He couldn't have any thoughts of his own last longer than a second, they'd all been drowned out by this stupid buzzing. He must have gone crazy.

"--bzzzkrrzzzzkstshshhbzzzshzzzLuka!bzzzsrrkzstzz--" Wait, that was… that sounded like-- "--rrrbkzzzzshshkstbzzzssskchssshbrLuka!rssshkzzzbzkrrrrbzzz--" Marinette! For one split second he saw her. She'd been panicked, looking up at him with worry. He hated that he made her feel this way.

He felt his legs being forced to move. Something was tugging at his hand, something warm, something small, but the sensation of it kept slipping away unless he fought hard to concentrate on it. Then it let go, letting him fully sink back into the static. He could sense that he'd been walking for some time, and then he stopped. There was this… grating noise on top of the static that must have been someone's voice tell him something… something about… the Miraculous?

Hissing sounds started overlying the buzzing in the background. He felt something tightly coil at his wrist, and when he could stop and focus against the pressure wave of sound that pressed into him from all sides, he noticed that a lot of that hissing came from… that coil? It was shapeless, the definition of its boundaries lost in the black and white grainy spots that covered his vision.

He felt that thing that was hissing bite into his wrist, and man, ouch, what the heck was that-- He started seeing distinct outlines and colors, forms and shapes, could hear silence beyond the buzzing… He could faintly see Sass? That little guy was sinking his fangs into Luka's wrist… He almost got back in control of his senses with the pain from Sass' bite when it felt like his head got yanked back by an invisible hand and it slammed his head forward into the static, sending him back into confusion.

Wait, could he… he couldn't tell if he was breathing, but he could still feel his heartbeat. He needed to focus on that, maybe try to feel the pattern, feel the pulse, meditate on that constant rhythm like a metronome. Could he break free from the static with that?

Sass bit him again. Luka was hoping it was the kwami trying to help more than hurt Luka. He trusted Sass, didn't he? Yeah. Yeah, why did he question that? There was a blinding flash that forced Luka to blink and he forgot about both his meditation and Sass trying to get his attention. What might have been an eternity or a few seconds later, there was another flash, but Luka tried to keep his eyes open. He could swear he saw Sass more clearly in that flash, but what did that mean?

There was another flash. Followed by two more. He'd grabbed something in his left hand. Mouse, he suddenly thought. "--zzzzzzbzzzzhssssssssshshshchtchssszzzzViperion!brrsssszzzzzrrzzz--" Viperion? Was that who he was? Were the blinding flashes his use of Second Chance? Wait… who was calling him? He had the faintest impression of red, or pink maybe, or blue-- Marinette's eyes were staring back up in fear, in pleading -- why couldn't he help her? He wanted to make her happy but he'd just been so--

"You're so useless!"

Yeah. He knew that.

The static noise abruptly stopped and he was looking up at yellow and black, the masked face of Miracle Queen. Her magenta eyes were narrowed and mocking and full of derision. She lifted him by the throat and he was struggling against her, but then he got flung aside. Marinette's voice cut through the lingering thick fog in his mind. "Luka! No!" He landed on something softer than the concrete ground. "How could you?!" Marinette yelled at Miracle Queen, sounding the most angry he'd ever heard her.

Wait, this wasn't Marinette… was it? Luka had tried to get a better look at the girl who was holding him up but then she sent them both soaring through the sky, pulled along by her… magic yoyo. Ladybug? She didn't look like Ladybug… or no he saw some red and black along with the pink and gray of the rest of her suit.

His face was right next to hers. He heard the beeping of her earrings get faster. He also heard Chat Noir's voice coming through Ladybug(?)'s earrings. "Sorry 'Bug, I'm out -- I gotta recharge!"

"Me too!" Ladybug replied, yelling over the wind. "Sorry Luka, we're going in," she said more quietly, pulling him in closer and cradling his head against her chest. Then they both plunged into the Seine.

⁂

To be continued...

Oh boy what a pickle >_>