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Uh... I’ll get to posting more writing soon! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So it’s about time I made a proper one of these ‘cause I’m struggling to find new blogs to follow. I don’t have a huge list of criteria, so pretty much if you’re a writeblr who posts at least 90-95% about writing/your wips, please reblog this post so I can go on a following spree! 

(and if I already follow you, I’d really appreciate a signal boost!)

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“You’re allowed to like villains, as long as you acknowl-“ gee, thanks for the permission, total stranger.

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WriterofthePrompts Ultimate Ask Masterlist 2

Wow, first of all I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the support on the First Ask Masterlist! Obviously I had to make a second one with all the asks I’ve answered since then so here you go. As last time, some of these posts have notes from lovely people who have added onto my answers with their advice and you can also help out fellow writers by adding your tips or ideas to the posts in the replies or by reblogging. Hope you enjoy! 😊

Writing Tips

Writing unnecessary scenes with your characters just for fun

The “organized chaos” form of outlining

Resources for writing a story synopsis

Can a comedy also have a good message?

Writing a fantasy fit for most ages (also under Fantasy)

When you’ve got an idea but don’t know how to expand it

Building on your story yourself  

Will posting writing online hurt publishing chances?

Using a prompt for a series

Story Structure Tips

Travelling scenes: when to skip and how to make them impactful

Moving back and forth in time in the story

difference between inciting incident and plot point 1

Blending backstory with present to further the plot

Writing scenes with a lot of characters

Writing a story as a journal or video log style

Third or first person?

Motivation and Positivity

Worrying about “originality” with your writing

Staying focused on writing

Turning off the editor voice

starting to write and keeping motivation

quick tip on writing down inspiration in the moment

Character Development

Tips for writing a fully-fledged peppy girl

Teen raised by twenty-year-old family member

Mentor/Mentee relationship

Describing nature the way a nature-lover would

Showing a dead family member’s impact on the MC

Writing about a character losing loved one

Ways to give information to a character

Why the “White Saviour” thing is a cliche and sucks

Villains who do things like “killing the dog”

Good and bad reasons to kill off a character

Writing Types of Characters

Writing a good guy MC who turns out to be the villain

Bad guy turning good and making them sympathetic

Dr. Doof: how to write a great villain

A character raised by a computer

Bilingual character tip

Interracial couples

Some negative traits for someone in a zombie apocalypse

a character trying to learn the language on a new world (also under World Building)

Good guy vs bad guy stories aren’t a cliche

Writing a CIA/FBI/Military character (also under Thriller)

writing a drunk character with some heartfelt moments and humour

World Building

Creating a creation myth

History research post

Making an acronym from an organization

strange weather ideas

ideas for ridiculous rules to join an excuse club

Why someone would put on a massive tournament

a character trying to learn the language on a new world (also under Types of Characters)

Fantasy/Paranormal

Why gods would abandon their world

Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Ares: the original love triangle

basing gods on multiple gods

Why someone would control dreams

Dark fantasy with a dream shop

Writing a fantasy fit for most ages (also under Writing Tips)

Vampire and human couple meeting

Angel and ex-demon hanging out together

Ways to break the curse to get the Prince out of the tower

Prince/ss of one kingdom raised by another king

why a princess would run away

which fairytales deserve retellings

mythical kids meeting humans

Sword fight resources

demons that feed on love and joy?

Haunted house story from ghost’s perspective

Does the afterlife have to include religious aspects?

Thriller/Crime (aka I-swear-I’m-not-a-criminal-just-a-writer asks):

writing assassins

Clues that would make a character suspect another for murder

Writing a CIA/FBI/Military character (also under Types of Characters)

Serial/mass murder…causes?

Quick reasons why genocide doesn’t just happen

tests to get into secret organization

Superheroes

Sidekick wanting to be a superhero

Super villain cause ideas

Sidekick and villain falling in love (also under Romance)

Superhero story originality

Romance

How a princess and a pirate fall in love

two exes who end up working together

How two random kids could meet at school

Sidekick and villain falling in love (also under Superheroes)

Miscellaneous

Prompts about being abandoned

Character who has never danced in pressured into it

Futuristic space pirates

The best ask ever

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writeblr?

if you are a writer or have a writing blog. can you reblog/like/comment this?

i want to find the cool writing community.

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(source)

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There was a weird, quiet tension in the air as I sat across the cafe table from him. He was there, dressed in a clean perfectly pressed black suit that was entirely too formal for the occasion, his white hair slicked back off his pale, slightly gaunt face. He really was quite handsome.

As handsome as Death could be, anyway.

I took an awkward sip of my coffee, glancing up at him over the rim of my cup only to see his dark eyes boring into me. I glanced down again, feeling my face burn, and knew that I should probably say something.

“So...” I ventured carefully. “How’ve you been?”

“Rather busy, I must say,” he said, shifting slightly in his seat. I learned quickly that he didn’t really need to do that; he was just doing it for my benefit so I wouldn’t be too freaked out by how STILL he could be. “But quite well, otherwise. Better than you, I’d wager.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked, setting my coffee cup down on the table.

“Well, this is the third time this month that you’ve nearly had an accident—“

“Okay,” I said quickly, holding up a hand to stop him. “I can’t help it that I’m a klutz! Or that I have bad luck! I like to do exciting things, but they just always... y’know... don’t go exactly as planned.”

He actually smirked. “I’m well aware of that.”

I shot him a frustrated glance. He could be such a little shit sometimes... despite what most people said about him, Death actually did have a sense of humour, even if it wasn’t always timed the best.

“So, why do you keep insisting on these dates?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“You know what our arrangement is.” He answered in a rather business-like tone.

“Yes, but... why do you keep agreeing then?” I pressed, knowing there was no way around the elephant in the room now that I’d pointed it out. “I mean... you’re Death. You could do really do whatever you want, but you keep letting me live, even after all those times—“

“Because you ask me to,” he blurts out.

If it was possible for the embodiment of Death to blush, he did just that.

I blinked at him, trying to work out what he was trying to say. I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off.

“Why do you keep getting yourselves into all these crazy situations?” He pressed, leaning his elbows on the table.

“I told you, I can’t help that I’m a klutz or that I have bad—“

“But you look for those situations.” He said.

“Excuse me?”

“The skydiving incident?”

“That was completely—“

“The scuba diving incident?”

“Okay, that one was—“

“The time you ran into that robber with the gun?”

I spluttered for a moment before I could form a coherent sentence. “I was trying to save people!”

“You picked up a rattlesnake during your vacation to Australia when you knew full well that they were incredibly venomous.” He deadpanned.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, my face burning. I didn’t want to admit what I knew was true, but he... definitely had my number. We stared each other down, neither of us willing to break eye contact, but I couldn’t take it anymore and was the first to break my gaze. I absently thumbed the handle of my coffee cup, staring into it.

“I just...” I started. “I guess... I just... I dunno. The first few times were legitimate accidents and I actually trying to just get more time but after our fourth date, I... realized that I... um...”

I nervously spun the coffee cup around on the table with my finger, still avoiding his gaze. My face was burning, and I was sure that it would melt off. I glanced back up at him briefly, and finally noticed his face; jaw slightly slack, his eyes wide and a strange grey tinge on his ghostly pale cheeks that I was sure was him blushing again. I looked back down at my coffee cup, knowing he understood what I was trying to say. We sat in silence for a moment before he finally reached out and stopped me from moving my cup around, and it made me look back up at him again.

“You know...” he ventured slowly. “If you... actually let me take you to the afterlife, we could see each other more often.”

“That feels too much like a marriage proposal,” I said.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“We’re just confession feelings now, and you already want to do the marriage thing?!”

He chuckled. “I’m old-fashioned. Besides, this is partly the reason I made the arrangement of the dates; I already had my eye on y—“

He cut himself off in horror as he realized what he was saying, and it was my turn to gape wordlessly. He was the first to break eye contact this time, meekly pulling his hand away as he stared at the table insistently. I thought about the predicament I was in; Death, the Grim Reaper, Patron of the Underworld, had taken a liking to me from afar, took my klutziness and bad luck into his own hands, and asked me on dates in exchange for my life. It was absurd; most people would consider this bad luck, but to me, it was just incredibly ironic.

I started to laugh.

Death glanced up at me, a look of confusion in his eyes, and I waved away his silent question as I tried to contain my giggles. I wiped at my eyes as I continued to chuckle through breaths and fixed him with a big smile.

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “Let’s keep dating. I won’t seek out near-Death experiences on purpose anymore, but we can still see each other. And when I’m ready to leave life and all of my worldly possessions behind, I’ll let you take me to the underworld.”

He thought about that for a moment, but the smile that had broken out over his face that he tried to hind behind his hand was a give away that he liked this idea.

“I accept your deal,” he said, leaning forward in his chair again. “We’ll continue to date. And... if you’re ready for that... ‘marriage proposal’,” - he made air quotes with his fingers - “I’ll make you my second in command.”

“Can you do that?” I asked wryly.

He grinned.

“I’m Death,” he said simply. “I can do whatever I want, right?”

- fin -

————————

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When you have a near-death experience, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Death comes to your deathbed to take you to the afterlife, but you beg the immortal being to let you live. Reluctantly, Death agrees, but it comes at a price. Every time you reach a moment where you should have died, you officially owe Death one date. This is your 18th date, explain how the conversation goes.

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i just got it

THEY GOT OFF TO A ROCKY START

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*turns on the tv* *sees skater boy rockin up mtv*

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ladybug: man I wish I was dating adrien agreste

cat noir: wow I wish *I* was adrien agreste

cat noir: wait

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look me in the eyes and tell me im wrong

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Hold up!

I might have noticed something really clever from the Miraculous Ladybug creators. MARINETTE AND ADRIEN’S COLOR SCHEMES ARE THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

I AM NOT OKAY. This is really thought out!!!!1!1!1!!1 I was okay with the thought of creation/destruction powers manifested in Ladybug and Chat Noir but it even shows on Marinette and Adrien!

They are really meant to be!!

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Inarrêtable - XXII

He touched down on the roof of Notre Dame at ten o’clock that evening. She was there, as she said she would be, her back facing him as she leaned against a spire to gaze out over the city. He knew this was going to be a painful conversation and opted to keep a distance away from her so she wouldn’t feel like he was invading her personal space.

She didn’t react when he touched down. He wasn’t even sure if she’d heard him. After a few moments of standing there, gazing at her, his heart thundering in his ears, he finally found the will to speak.

“Ladybu—” he started, and noticed how her shoulders suddenly tensed. No. He was going to call her by her name. He took a deep breath and started again. “Marinette.”

She didn’t answer him. She just stood there, tense, and he sighed.

“I know… you’re probably disappointed it’s me,” he said slowly, gripping his staff tightly at his side. “Especially after the way I’ve been acting the last few months… I haven’t been a very good friend, or even a good partner, for that matter.

“I just…” he swallowed thickly over a lump that started to form in his throat. “I don’t know why I was chosen to be Chat Noir. I’m not even fully convinced that I’m the best person for the job. All I know is… I’m grateful for an opportunity to be by your side. Everything else in my life… it all just seems so pointless to me sometimes… but when I’m with you, it’s different. Being with you, in any capacity… whether it be by your side as Ladybug or… hanging out on your balcony with you as Marinette… nothing else has made me happier for a long time. I just know… I want to be with you. In whatever way you’ll have me, I just want to be with you.”

He waited for her to say something, suddenly feeling very winded. The words had spilt out of him without much thought, but they were raw and honest; he would definitely be taking Plagg’s advice to heart. He stood there in silence, her back still to him, for what seemed like forever. She still had yet to say anything. Dread began to fill Adrien’s stomach like a lead weight, and he swallowed thickly again, breathing hard through his nose as he fought off the stinging feeling that began to burn behind his eyes.

“But…” he started slowly, his voice tight. “I would understand… if you didn’t want me as a partner anymore. If you wanted to find a new partner, I’ll… give up my Miraculous and—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. While he was speaking, Ladybug had whirled around and marched right over to him. He only got to see a glimpse of her face before she suddenly threw her arms around his waist and buried her face into his shoulder in a tight hug. He felt her shoulders shaking and he realized with a pang that she was crying.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice thick and muffled against his shoulder. “I’m sorry I ever made you feel that I didn’t want you as a partner… I’m sorry for pushing you away, I’m sorry for being angry, I’m sorry for never telling you how much I love you. I’m so sorry.”

Adrien could only blink and he was sure his heart had stopped. He was finding it very difficult to breathe and process her words; he kept repeating them in his mind before they clicked.

“What did you say?” He said softly, hardly daring to hope. Ladybug pulled away from him, resting her hands on his arms as she stared between them at their feet, scuffing her toe into the roof.

“I’ve been… so confused these past few months,” she said finally. “Starting to fall for you as Chat Noir, never really getting over you as Adrien… I took the coward’s way out and ran from it, and I… I shut you out in the process. I was… so frustrated with myself and not understanding why I wasn’t happy, and I took that out on you, and I—”

“Did you say you love me?” Adrien interrupted her.

She finally met his gaze, her blue eyes shining with tears. Despite them being slightly bloodshot, they were still dazzling, and he had to remind himself to keep taking breaths.

“I do,” Ladybug said, a small and hopeful smile ghosting on her lips. Then she frowned again. “I understand if… I was so awful to you… and that night at the dance, I—”

“What about you and—” Adrien started, but as if she read his thought, Ladybug answered before he could finish his question.

“I broke up with Luka,” she said softly. He blinked, taken aback. “I… told him that I just needed something a little more… familiar. He’s a wonderful guy, but…”

She trailed off, sliding her hands down his arms until they found his, and she gave them a gentle squeeze. She looked at their hands for a moment before she took a deep breath and finally lifted her head to meet his eyes.

“He isn’t you.” Ladybug finally said.

His heart squeezed tightly in his chest as he took a deep, shuddering breath before it started to beat a mile a minute. He suddenly felt warm all over, his fingers and toes tingling, and he squeezed her hands a little tighter just to make sure that she was actually there and that he wasn’t dreaming.

“You love me?” He asked again, his voice soft. He didn’t even care that it trembled when he spoke.

Ladybug nodded and gave him a tearful smile.

“I love you,” she said earnestly. Then she suddenly looked a little insecure, a small frown marring her features as she asked, “Do… you love me?”

He had practised just what he would say to her if a moment like this ever presented itself. He had written songs, poems, letters, sonnets about all the ways he would have told her how much he loved her. He thought about all the ways he had imagined telling her, how he would say it with just the right intention, the setting they would be in, the gifts he would bring, and they all suddenly seemed meaningless to him. Everything he had planned and practised was nothing compared to the moment that was happening around him now, and he knew there was only one way to convey all the emotion, all the love he had bottled up for her all this time.

He kissed her.

It was soft and gentle, but he poured every ounce of love and adoration he had for her into it, pulled her closer and held her fast so that she would know just how much he cared. It was more than he could put into words. He finally broke away just enough to look at her face, hardly believing that she was there, that this was real, and she seemed to be looking at him the same way. Her eyes searched his for any sign of… something. Like she was looking for his regret or embarrassment. He finally allowed himself to smile and give a small laugh as he brought a gloved hand up to cup her cheek, and she absently brought her hand up to cover his.

“Marinette,” he said it like it was an epiphany. Like saying her name confirmed who she was behind the mask, and though he already knew it, the fact that she was still here with him made his heart soar.

“Chat,” she said in response. Her breath hitched for a moment before she finally managed to breathe out, “Adrien.”

He kissed her again, this time with reckless abandon. He couldn’t seem to get her close enough, and she seemed to agree. She clung to him, hands grasping at his shoulders, his arms, fingers in his hair as if she was afraid he would disappear if she didn’t keep touching him. As they kissed, their transformations released around them, and Adrien gratefully brought his hands up to cup Marinette’s face, enjoying the feel of her skin against his hand before he ran his fingers through her hair. He pulled away for just a moment, resting his forehead against hers, the realization of what was happening dawning on him for what seemed like the fifth time.

“My Lady,” he breathed. Then he laughed breathlessly before pressing another kiss to her lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her, spinning her around. “Princess. I love you.”

“I love you, Adrien,” Marinette said through happy tears, wrapping her arms around his neck in a warm embrace. “Mon minou.”

Eventually, they found themselves sitting on the Notre Dame, Adrien leaning against a spire and Marinette nestled into his side as they gazed out over the city, admiring the lights of the Eiffel Tower. The kwamis were busy flitting around, chasing each other as the couple talked, Marinette absently playing the fingers on Adrien’s right hand, turning his ring around on his finger.

“I can’t believe you were right in front of me this whole time,” she said.

“Believe me,” Adrien said, rolling his eyes. “I’ve never felt like a bigger idiot than I do now.”

Marinette chuckled. “You know… I thought once that if Adrien weren’t in the picture, I might give Chat Noir a chance.”

“Really?” Adrien said, his eyes wide. Then he groaned. “You mean I was preventing myself from being with you all this time?!”

“I’m afraid so, Minou,” she said lightly, resting her head on his shoulder. “We really had ourselves in quite the star-crossed story, didn’t we?”

“We did,” he hummed in agreement. After a brief pause, he chuckled and said, “You know, even though I hadn’t really figured it out yet, I would actually get super upset whenever anything got in the way of spending time together. That time when we were at the park after playing video games in your room? I was pretty mad when the Akuma attacked.”

“When did you… figure it out?” Marinette asked.

“Well…” Adrien blushed slightly. “It was actually… after Luka. When I saw him talking to you after your date, I got this weird feeling in my stomach, but it took me a little while after to realize how bad I had it.”

“Wait…” Marinette said slowly. “You mean—?”

“The night I went to see you as Chat Noir,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “And pretty much… uh…”

“Pinned me against the railing?” Marinette offered idly.

“Okay, you make it sound worse when you say it like that,” he grumbled. He heard Marinette giggle before she reached up and kissed his cheek and he flushed.

“It’s okay,” she said brightly. “That’s… kind of when I started to question things, myself.”

“I’m just… glad it all worked out in the end,” he said, resting his cheek against the top of her head.

“Me, too,” she nestled into his side even more.

They settled into a comfortable silence for a little while longer, simply enjoying being with each other and finally having no secrets between them. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, but now that it was out in the open, Adrien knew that they would be able to coordinate whenever Akumas were about to attack, and —

That reminded him.

“Hey…” he said slowly, lifting his cheek from the top of Marinette’s head, and glancing down at her. He frowned slightly. He didn’t know why he was suddenly anxious about it, but he had to make sure. “As far as our partnership goes… we’re going to be okay, right?”

Marinette blinked at him a few times before she smiled and raised her hand for a fist bump, a very Ladybug-like look in her eyes that he knew only too well.

“We are a team, aren’t we?”

Any lingering doubts suddenly vanished with that one simple gesture, and he felt more at peace that he thought he ever had in his whole life. He responded with what he knew was a very Chat Noir-esque grin, chuckling as he connected his first to hers before nuzzling into her cheek.

“Unstoppable.”

fin

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[proseasmic]

Inarrêtable - XXI

Adrien finally reached the bottom of the stairs and was immediately surrounded by his friends by the time he stepped out of the building. Nino pulled him into a spine-crushing hug that he carefully returned and even Alya, who had been frosty with him at best over the last couple of weeks, leapt into his arms at seeing him safe.

“We were so worried,” Alya said as she released him.

“Yeah, dude,” Nino said, his brows knitted together nervously. “You and Marinette were the only people we couldn’t find when the Akuma started going crazy; I didn’t even know you’d gone off on your own.”

“I… hid in a closet on one of the upper floors,” Adrien lied. “I managed to get out unscathed, but the… elevators and stairs were destroyed, so… I couldn’t come down.”

“Marinette said the same thing happened to her,” Alya said, gesturing behind her, and he saw the girl in question get pulled into a tight embrace by Luka. “Did you see her while you were up there?”

Adrien watched as Marinette returned Luka’s hug, eyes closed briefly as he simply held her. She looked so at peace at first glance, as if she were relieved to be back in his arms, but even from the distance, he could see the way her brows were knitted together. She suddenly opened her eyes, as if she could feel him looking at her, and their gazes met over his shoulder. A silent conversation seemed to happen between them, one that he wasn’t sure he was understanding. Her brows were still knitted together in an expression of inner conflict before she finally averted her eyes, allowing Luka to lead her away with his arm around her shoulders, her arm gripping around his waist as she tucked into his side.

“No,” Adrien said finally. “No, I didn’t see her up there.”

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Hours later, he was pacing his room, anxiety filling his chest as each minute ticked by. He kept replaying things in his head over and over again; every interaction he’d had with Ladybug, every moment he spent with Marinette, how he was suddenly painfully aware of the similarities, and again, he couldn’t fathom how he’d missed it.

It was so obvious.

It had always been obvious.

“I’m so stupid!” He agonized, dropping onto his bed.

“No kidding,” Plagg said absently. “Still though; it was about time. Took you two long enough.”

Adrien sighed loudly, rolling over onto his back and staring miserably up at his ceiling. “She probably hates me, Plagg…”

Plagg hesitated before answering, something that didn’t escape his notice. “Well… I don’t think she hates you…”

“But?” Adrien pressed.

“But… you haven’t exactly been…” Plagg struggled to find the words to explain what he wanted to say.

Adrien huffed. “I get it, Plagg. I’ve been an ass.”

He sat up, cover his face with his hands with another deep sigh before running them through his hair.

“I don’t even know what to say to her,” he said.

“I think, at a time like this,” Plagg said, hovering in front of Adrien’s face. “It’s best to be honest… and speak from the heart.”

Adrien was a little surprised, but his eyes softened as he fixed his kwami with a grateful look. “Thanks, Plagg.”

His phone beeped, altering him to the time he’d set to start heading out to go see Ladybug (Marinette, he reminded himself again) and his breath caught, nerves suddenly getting to him again. Reluctantly, he got to his feet.

“Guess it’s time,” he said.

“Good luck, Adrien,” Plagg said.

“Thanks, buddy,” he said, shooting his kwami a smile. “Plagg, claws out.”

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Inarrêtable - XX

Marinette was Ladybug.

Ladybug was Marinette.

He was sure his brain was going to short circuit with this information and he would die from trying to process it. This whole time, his Lady, his partner, the person he trusted with his life had been his Princess the whole time? Sweet, kind, thoughtful Marinette who sat behind him in class? He didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at the painful irony of it all. Both girls he had been pining after at one point or another had been all wrapped up in the same person all along, and he’d managed to screw things up with her on both sides of the coin.

The click of the Not-Extinguisher caught their attention, and they both leapt into action, leaping out of the way of the blast of fire just in time and managing to grasp onto parts of the elevator shaft. Adrien dug his claws into the metalwork, his fingers managing to find a ledge for him to cling to, his boots scrambling for purchase.

“You’ve been Chat Noir this entire time?” Ladybug - no, Marinette - yelled from the other side of the shaft.

“I know this is a lot, but we can talk about this later?” He yelled back, dodging out of the way as Fire Marshal sent another blast of fire in his direction.

Half the building had been destroyed, it seemed, and the two managed to lead Fire Marshal to the roof. They had a bit of a rough start getting in sync after their identities had been revealed to each other, but always, they found a way to work together, allowing old patterns to simply fall into place, and they managed to conquer the Akuma in about half an hour. After Ladybug (Marinette, he had to keep reminding himself) threw her lucky charm up into the air, repairing the damage done to the building, they both made sure the akumatized victim was okay before tentatively turning to face each other. The tension between them was so palpable, he could have slashed at it with his claws.

Even with her mask, Adrien could see the conflicted look in her eyes, the way her brows were knitted together, her lips pursed in a way that was now even more familiar since it was the same look Marinette made at school. He still couldn’t figure out how he hadn’t seen it before? It was so obvious. Eventually, he brought his hand up to awkwardly scratch the back of his head, trying to figure out what he should say.

“Listen,” he said tentatively. “Ladybug… I mean, Marine—”

She held up a hand in response, silencing him. He blinked for a moment, waiting for her to say something, and when she didn’t, he tried again.

“We can talk about thi—”

“Not here.” She said firmly.

He felt like the wind got knocked out of him like he’d been punched very hard in the solar plexus. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out, and she kept going.

“Notre Dame. Ten o’clock.” She said, clearly trying to keep her voice calm and even, but he could hear the tension her words. “We’re going to talk about this. But not here. Not now.”

“O-okay,” Adrien said weakly. He sighed. “Should we go down together to see if everyone else is okay, or…?”

“I think… we should go separately,” she said evenly. “To avoid suspicion.”

“Right,” Adrien said, a feeling of dread settling in his chest. “Well… ladies first.”

She nodded, giving him one last conflicted look before she hurried to the stairwell. As she ran, he caught the beginning stages of her transformation beginning to lift before the door closed behind her, and as soon as he was alone, he let out a shaky breath as his own transformation released around him.

“Wow,” Plagg said slowly, settling on Adrien’s shoulder. “That was…”

“Not the way I wanted that to go,” Adrien finished. “At all.”

Plagg was quiet for a while before he felt the tiny swami gently touch his cheek with his little paw. “I’m sorry, Adrien.”

“Me, too, Plagg,” Adrien sighed as he started to make his way down the stairs.

He’d had enough of elevators for the day.

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[proseasmic]

Inarrêtable - XIX

As sour as Adrien was about having to be around Luka and Marinette, he knew he couldn’t let Nino down. Besides, seeing Luka obtain a swift defeat by his best friend’s mad DJ skills would sweeten the situation a little more, and he didn’t want to miss that. Even so, he felt like a third wheel hanging out with both Nina and Alya, who was of course there to support her boyfriend and to film it for her blog. The two rattled on about this, that and the other thing as Adrien led them through the TV studio to the stage. His heart squeezed in his chest a little harder when she saw Marinette adjusting the collar of Luka’s shirt as they had an easy conversation with each other.

Man, that was never not difficult…

The month after the dance had been the longest of Adrien’s life. He and Marinette hadn’t been on speaking terms at school, and despite his efforts to try and make up with her, she was conveniently busy every time he made a move to apologize. He visited her as Chat Noir once or twice, but since his behaviour the last time he saw her where he’d kissed her hand, he felt like he’d burned that bridge, too. The only solace he had, for the most part, was his patrols with Ladybug, but even those felt stilted as he knew he needed to give her respectful distance, and she seemed to be preoccupied with something anyway. Ladybug had even seemed a little off with his civilian self, as well; the one time she happened to be around during an Akuma attack before he had a chance to transform, she just told him to get to safety, not sparing him much more than a glance when he was used to so much more from her.

Nino had forgiven him right away for the events at the dance after he explained what happened, but Alya had taken a little longer. Once he was able to sit her down and explain exactly how everything happened, she was tentative but promised not to hold it against him. He supposed her reason for being so stern about it was because of Marinette. Adrien didn’t need telling twice; he knew that he’d hurt her, and he knew he’d be paying for it for a long time.

Adrien found his way to the elevator, pressing the button for the highest floor he could go to get to the roof and he stepped onto it, enjoy the silence surrounding him. He leaned against the cool steel wall, closing his eyes, but before the elevator could close all the way, he heard someone call, “Hold the door!”

He looked up and saw Marinette, managing to worm her way through the closing doors, and he froze for a second as she caught her breath before she baulked at the sight of him. It was the first time they were face to face since their fight at the dance.

“Oh,” she said awkwardly, glancing down at her feet. “Sorry… um, I’ll just—”

She turned around to walk through the doors, but they’d already closed. He heard her sigh.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “I’ll leave you alone. I’m just going up to the roof to get some air.”

“Me, too,” Marinette said softly, leaning against the opposite wall from Adrien.

“I can get off at the next floor if you want,” Adrien said. “I don’t want to bother you or anything—”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Marinette said quickly. “Don’t let me stop you.”

The pair of them stood in silence as they made their (agonizingly) slow ascent. Adrien fiddled anxiously with the ring on his right hand and Marinette was doing the same with her earrings, nervously turning the studs in her ears. They glanced at each other and ceased their fiddling with an awkward start, suddenly realizing they were in such close quarters.

“So,” Adrien ventured slowly, not liking the way the silence was pressing in on them. “Uh… how’s Luka?”

“What?” Marinette said distractedly. “Oh. Um. Good! Yeah, he’s good.”

“That’s good,” Adrien supplied casually.

“How’s Kagami?” Marinette asked.

“Huh?”

“You two are dating, aren’t you?”

“What?” Adrien’s eyes went wide. “N-no, we’re not dating… where did you hear that?”

“You took her to the dance,” Marinette said pointedly.

“As a friend,” Adrien clarified.

Marinette nodded slowly. “Right; sorry, I’m sure you mentioned it that night, I just… assumed.”

The silence stretched on for a long time again. Adrien wanted to say something, anything at all, to let her know how sorry he was for the way he’d behaved at the dance, but he didn’t know what else he could say. Eventually, he sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

“Look, Marinette, about the dance—”

“Adrien, about that night—”

They both started talked at the same time, cutting each other off, and they chuckled a little awkwardly, not looking at each other.

“You go ahead,” Adrien said.

“No, no, please,” Marinette replied. “You go.”

“Okay,” He took a deep breath. “About the dance? I just wanted to say how so—“

A sudden lurch of the elevator car accompanied by a loud groan cut off Adrien’s words and effectively caused Marinette to tumble into him. He caught her before she face planted, Adrien shielding her head with his arms as they toppled to the ground. She was pressed against his chest as the elevator ground to a halt, ceasing its rocking movement and they both noticed with flushed faces how close they were. They only had a second to register this before the lights in the lift suddenly shut off, keeping them in complete darkness for a moment until the emergency lights along the bottom panels of the elevator turned on, giving them just enough lighting to see. As soon as it was still, Adrien quickly let go of Marinette and she pulled back, instantly running for the control panel and pressing a few buttons.

“It’s not working,” she said urgently.

“Dammit…” Adrien grumbled.

“Maybe we can try and pry the door open,” Marinette suggested, and Adrien moved to try and pull the doors apart with his fingers.

He managed to get it open just enough to wedge his shoulder in between, but saw there was only a sliver of the next floor up that was visible, and it was too small for them to crawl out. If only he could transform and use his staff, he’d be able to pry it up… but he couldn’t in front of Marinette.

“We’re stuck,” Adrien said, looking around for another way to get out.

“Do you think it’s an akuma?” Marinette asked.

“Most likely,” Adrien said. “That, or a really bad electrical failure. Don’t worry, I’m sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will be here soon.”

They heard a scraping sound on the next floor up and Adrien immediately pressed himself against the doors of the elevator, Marinette doing the same, so they couldn’t be seen. He looked up to see what it was, and he saw a man dressed in a very stylized firefighter uniform, dragging around a fire extinguisher.

“So, you like to have fun with too many people and too much electrical equipment, huh?” The Akuma said.

Without warning, the Akuma took its extinguisher and pointed it at the elevator, pulling the nozzle and letting a large blast of fire hit the wall and blasting off the top of the elevator car, causing burning debris to fall around them.

“Well… Fire Marshal will show you the detriment of not keeping things… up to code!”

‘I need to transform!’ Adrien thought frantically. But he couldn’t… not in front of Marinette. He weighed his options, looking from the girl huddled in the corner but glancing around with a determined look in her eyes to the now non-existent roof of the elevator. There was no way to get out of this without being Chat Noir… and the Akuma was already looking like it was gearing up for another attack.

‘I may not have a choice… Marinette will know who I am…’

He heard the Akuma cackle as it chose to a new spot to aim the Fire Non-extinguisher (right at the cables holding the car up along the sides) and his mind was made up, knowing there was going to be no going back from this.

‘No sense getting toasted…’ he thought. He took a deep breath, his face burning as he brought up his right hand.

“Plagg, claws out!” He called.

“Tikki, spots on!”

It all happened with a matter of seconds.

The words left her mouth the same time as his, and he whipped his head around to fix her with a look of shock and awe. Marinette was fixing him with the same look, their mouths hanging open as their transformations crackled down their bodies and it took his brain an extra minute to catch up with what was happening before everything clicked. Their transformations complete, they gaped at each other wordlessly before they could find their voices.

“IT’S YOU?” They yelled in unison, pointing at each other.

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[proseasmic]

Inarrêtable - XVIII

“Adrien,” a voice called as he was making his way down the sidewalk of Le Grand Paris, and his heart leapt into his throat at the sound of it. He turned to see Marinette, standing alone a short distance away, looking at him like he was a stranger.

“What was that?” She finally asked, letting her arms flop to her sides.

“Just a… disagreement,” Adrien said, adjusting the icepack on his face.

Marinette sighed. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“What did Luka tell you?” He said bitterly.

“He told me you punched him,” Marinette said, taking a step forward. “Which I never thought was possible from you. Now I’m waiting for you to tell me your side.”

“He just… said some stuff that got to me, okay?” Adrien said.

“Adrien, what’s going on with you?” Marinette took another step closed to tentatively touch his arm. “This… this isn’t you.”

“Well maybe I’ve just kept things bottled up too long, Marinette, and it’s finally starting to come out,” he snapped. Marinette recoiled from him as if his words burned her, and he regretted them instantly. He sighed, removing the ice pack from his face, and gave her an apologetic look. “Marinette, I’m sorry—”

“Go home, Adrien,” Marinette said, shaking her head as she moved to go back towards the hotel.

“Marinette, wait,” Adrien pleaded. “I’m sorry. I… don’t know what came over me.”

“You know,” Marinette said softly, her voice sounding a little thick. “I was just coming around to the idea of us being friends.”

“We’re still friends, aren’t we?” Adrien asked quietly, almost pleadingly. Marinette sniffed, looking like she was holding in tears as she shook her head and back away from him.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know because I don’t know who this” - she gestured to him - “even is. This isn’t the boy who handed me his umbrella.”

That was the last thing Marinette said to him for the next month.

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[proseasmic]

Inarrêtable - XVII

Adrien was left dumbstruck with the news that she had just dropped on him. She had liked him. For months. He felt the frustration and the sorrow and all sorts of emotions he wasn’t familiar with well up inside him, and he clenched his fist, taking a deep breath. He had to calm down. He wouldn’t be any help to anyone if he got akumatized. He was just making his way off the dance floor, fully intending on telling Kagami he was ready to go home when someone suddenly grabbed his shoulder and turned him roughly.

“Hey,” a slightly angry voice met his ears, and he turned to see Luka giving him a hard look.

“Luka,” Adrien said, surprised. He cleared his throat. “Nice set—”

“What was that?” Luka asked, gesturing to the dance floor.

“What was what?”

“With Marinette?” Luka pressed. “I saw you guys on the dance floor.”

“It was just a dance, Luka,” Adrien sighed. He really didn’t want to be dealing with this right now. “My date didn’t want to dance and you were busy, so… I asked my friend.”

“That didn’t look very friendly to me, Adrien,” Luka said a little darkly.

“Look,” Adrien said, holding up hands in what he hoped was a peaceful gesture as he turned to leave. “I don’t know what you thought you saw, but Marinette is… just a friend, okay? You don’t need to worry.”

“You know,” Luka suddenly said, catching Adrien’s attention and causing him to stop. “I always thought the fact she was with me bothered you. Why is that, Adrien? Couldn’t stand that someone else could possibly please her?”

At his side, Adrien’s right hand slowly balled up into a fist.

“I mean, I don’t blame you; she’s pretty cute,” Luka kept going. He was being uncharacteristically mean and possibly speaking out of fear or anger, but Adrien couldn’t find it in himself to care. “Too bad for you, though, she belongs to me.”

Adrien snapped.

In one fluid movement, he was suddenly turning around and delivering a right hook straight at Luka’s jaw, effectively knocking him back into a table and causing glasses to crash to the ground. In the next moment, Luka retaliated, aiming a punch that Adrien easily dodged, but he failed to notice that Luka was using his other hand and Adrien was quickly caught in the cheekbone with his fist.

Their fight had definitely caused a scene. A small crowd was starting to form around them, and Adrien was distantly aware of people telling them to stop, but he was too angry. It wasn’t until Luka delivered a cheap shot to Adrien’s ribs, causing him to double over before he delivered an uppercut to Luka’s jaw that someone’s voice finally managed to reach Adrien’s ears.

“Adrien, Luka, that’s enough!” The voice sounded an awful lot like Marinette.

The boys ignored her, continuing to wrestle and throw punches, and Adrien was vaguely aware of Marinette running forward to try and get between them.

“You guys, stop it!” Marinette tried to yank Adrien away from Luka, but at the same time, Luka shoved Adrien back into Marinette, knocking her back slightly, and once she regained her balance, she took a deep breath.

“STOP IT!” She screamed.

Luka and Adrien finally stopped throwing punches, but they were still glowering at each other, chests heaving from exertion, still within punching distance from each other. Marinette looked between the two of them, completely furious.

“What is the matter with you two?! Do you want there to be an akuma?!” She was yelling. Adrien didn’t think he’d ever seen Marinette so angry.

“He just turned around and punched me,” Luka said defensively to Marinette, glaring at Adrien. That set Adrien off into another fury and he made a lunge at Luka again, but Nino quickly sprung into action and began trying to wrestle Adrien back.

“Why don’t you tell her why, huh?” Adrien growled, fighting against Nino. “Tell her what you said that made you deserve getting decked, you so—”

“Dude, enough!” Nino said, giving Adrien a good shove back and getting between him and Luka. “Chill out, man; he’s not worth it.”

Adrien glowered at Luka, who wiped some blood from the corner of his mouth, and he didn’t miss Marinette moving over to him to check his face. He glanced at the pair briefly before shaking his head, pushing Nino off of him and stalking off through the crowd without another word, whispers and murmurs following him.

“Adrien,” Nino called after him, grabbing his arm. “What happened, dude? I’ve never seen you go off like that.”

“Just leave it, Nino,” Adrien said, bringing his hand up to the stinging skin around his eye and wincing. “Just… forget it. I’m going home. I’ll send Gorilla to come pick you guys up later.”

He briefly ran into Chloe, who was about to fuss over him, but Adrien was profoundly grateful when she noticed his expression and knew better to leave him be. He managed to secure some ice wrapped in a tea towel from one of the waitstaff as he left and gingerly pressed the ice to his bruising eye as he pulled out his phone to text Gorilla. He thought about what just happened and felt the feeling of shame begin to take over. He knew he was prone to emotional outbursts, but he knew that was unlike him.

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