#I think she needs to build a bridge across the Seine and get over it

[jadesage]

The devil works hard,

but apparently Lila Rossi works harder.

[gingyboo]

Mirror Mirror

A/N: Again many thanks to @booglebug

Description- Soulmates existed. People knew that much. Soulmates were rare, a handful in each generation, an unexplainable phenomenon that formed a bond closer than blood and more sacred than marriage.

Bucky finds his soulmate when he needs her most. Little does he know how much she needs him too.

(Soulmate au that slots pretty much in to the MCU but with soulmates. Set after TFATWS.)

Pairing- Bucky Barnes x OFC

Warnings- Mentions of violence and guns, but its mostly fluff, drama and angst.

This is a multi chaptered fic.

Please like, comment, reblog!

prologue Chapter 1

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Chapter 2

Bucky stared into the mirror as the reflection changed back to himself. ‘Don’t be a coward’ he said to himself. Nancy knew who he was, Nancy knew what he’d done and where he was. Maybe most importantly, Nancy was made for him, and him for her. He had to meet her, but he also had to protect her. The conflict in his mind, how could he keep her safe, war followed him everywhere he went. But to not be with her, to know her and not be together, that was unbearable.

‘’Come on ice man, we got a job to do,’’ Sam shouted outside the door to Bucky’s hotel room.

‘’I’ll be right out.’’

They were staying in Paris, following up a lead on an arms dealing ring when he’d got the message, ‘Wakanda needs you white wolf’ then an address.

The journey there was simple enough, Sam was on the phone to Torres for a long time, organising a jet to their location if required. The address as it turned out was the Wakandan outreach centre in Paris. It was a modest sized town house overlooking the Seine. They were led inside by a stoic faced man, looking to be in his late 60s, white hair stark against his dark skin. He silently brought them to a small office. Children’s faces were pressed against the banisters opposite pointing at them laughing and waving. Bucky couldn’t help but smile, waving two fingers in a salute of greeting. Their guide turned to usher them away. When they entered the room, the door closed behind.

‘’White Wolf.’’ Bucky didn’t recognise the woman behind the desk. She was tall, had long braids pulled back off her face and wore an immaculate black suit. Her face was striking yet kind, there was a deep worry line on her forehead. Bucky nodded at her and Sam introduced himself. Kitama was her name.

‘’We have a job for you, a rescue of sorts.’’

Bucky and Sam shared a quick glance between them.

Kitama continued,

‘’There is to be a kidnapping attempt on a British socialite, we need you to stop it.’’ She spun the screen in front of her round and Bucky’s heart stopped.

Nancy’s face was plastered across the screen. If anyone in the room noticed his shock, they didn’t show it.

"Nancy Cartwright is the daughter of England’s ambassador in Wakanda, she’s attending a dinner representing her father tonight, then her and some other select officials will attend the royal opera house for a ballet. Our intel tells us that is when the terrorists will take her.’’ Bucky still couldn’t speak. He couldn’t take his eyes off her picture. She wasn’t smiling, she didn’t even know the picture was being taken, her getting into the back of a black car, red dress hitched up showing her black heels, gazing back at the building she must’ve just left. Her home. ‘Go back’ he wanted to shout at the picture.

‘’What do they want with her?’’ Sam asked, Bucky was grateful he was dealing with the conversation.

"Ransom."

"Money?" Sam asked

"Not exactly, we believe they wish to force the hand of her father, to work on their behalf."

‘’Where is she, we’ll go now, we’ll get her safe.’’ Bucky thought he saw Sam’s jaw drop at his statement, but it didn’t matter, he had to find her, get her safe, and the safest place for her was right by his side.

The details were passed on in a blur, Bucky’s attention was fixed on Nancy, the royal opera house in London, Torres would get them there, Sam could survey the outside, he could get in grab her and get out, quicker the better, the rest could be sorted later.

Before he knew it he was sat opposite Sam in a stealth plane, quiet as they took off over Paris.

‘’What going on blue eyes?’’ Sam asked and was met by a stony glare. ‘’Come on, I saw your face in there, you know this kid, knew her back in Wakanda?’’

‘’She’s no kid and she’s never lived in Wakanda.’’ Bucky said without thinking.

‘’But you do know her?’’ Sam pushed.

‘’Complicated.’’

‘’Look I know you’ve got this while silent and deadly thing going on, but if there’s something I should know, you probably best to tell me, so there’s no surprises.’’

Bucky shook his head and Sam stood up to adjust his suit, stalking over to Torres. Soulmates were sacred and Bucky wasn’t ready to share that truth with anyone but Nancy right now. Sam knew something was up, he wasn’t stupid. However, he also knew when not to push Bucky.

The trip across the channel was short and Torres came over with Sam. They had to fly low and quiet, small jump to the adjacent roof and get down to the third story window. Take the bridge between the two buildings. From then Bucky would need to memorise the layout, find his way to the box and get her. Then down to the streets and blend into the busy city. Sam would find them, monitor anyone following and then Torres would pick them up for extraction. Simple. Simple up to a point.

The grandeur of the opera house surprised Bucky, the patterned carpet and large stairwells reminded him of a time long ago. Sam stayed pitched on adjacent roof, shield in hand, monitoring the CCTV footage whilst redwing scanned the surroundings.

‘’Next right Buck, should be a stairwell, you are looking for box 5, she should be there, the corridors unguarded,’’

‘’On it,’’ he took the stairs 2 at a time,

‘’ you gonna tell me what’s so special about this girl yet?’’

‘’No.’’

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Nancy lent forward in her chair as Tchaikovsky’s music swirled around her. She was enjoying this, if only because feigning great interest stopped the foreign secretary from attempting more conversation. No, she didn’t know what her father’s position was on an exclusive trade deal with Wakanda, and no she wasn’t sure when he’d be back in the country. She also didn’t need him to get her an ice cream in the interval though a strong drink might be appreciated. He swapped from treating her like his 13-year-old daughter to trying to catch a glimpse down the front of her dress. More than once she thought of Bucky, off on a mission, out their doing something for the greater good. Nancy liked helping her father, reporting back to him on the goings on at such events, feeding him information on the British perception of Wakanda. These were turbulent times, and yet she still felt nothing more than shiny ornament brought out for parties.

She felt the door opening before she heard it, a slight change in pressure within the top box. The minister didn’t notice, in fact she thought he might have dropped into sleep. She felt someone behind her, silently approaching, the hair standing straight on her neck. No one else should be in there. She swung round quickly arm raised. A metal hand caught it as a palm of flesh covered her mouth, she bit into it on instinct before seeing who it was. Bucky. Her face of fear relaxed at once and Bucky gently knelt behind her chair, the minister hadn’t so much as stirred. His breath was at her ear as he wound his right hand into hers, holding it tightly.

‘’In ten minutes, the interval starts, get up and leave the box, we have to get you out of here.’’

His voice was barely a whisper, she responded in the same tone.

‘’What’s happening?’’

‘’Shhh,’’ he breathed stroking his thumb overs hers soothingly, ‘’later.’’

And so, the sat in silence, him holding her hand and her watching the ballet. As the curtain closed and the audience clapped Bucky drew her silently to her feet and out the door.

He looped her hand through his arm and steered her down the stair well.

‘’What’s happening?’’ Nancy tried not to shout as she struggled to keep up with his long strides.

‘’The Wakandans sent us, someone’s planning to take you,’’ he pulled her close to him stroking a thumb along her cheek. She shivered gently, his eyes darted around her face ‘’I won’t let them.’’ He turned on his heel and pulled her after him.

‘’Slow down Buck... Bucky- ‘’she stood firm, ‘’James!’’ There were people milling around them now, coming out from the lower circle.

‘’ I’m prepared for this, my whole childhood, we had like practice runs, what’s the plan?’’ She held his gaze sternly. Bucky felt pain in his chest, who has to prepare to be kidnapped, what child should have to worry like that. He stalled for a moment.

‘’We go out, down to the streets, find a safe place to wait for an extraction.’’ He looked her in the eye, trying to read her feelings, she rolled her eyes.

‘’We’ll go to my house, it’s safe there.’’ She made to walk off, but Bucky’s grip on her arm stopped her.

‘’We are getting you out of the city, tonight.’’ He said firmly.

‘’Not gonna happen, there’s things I need.’’ Nancy kept trying to walk away but Bucky wouldn’t move.

‘’Nancy- ‘’

‘’No Bucky- ‘’

‘’No Nancy stop! Look at me, pretend we’re talking, laugh at something I said.’’ He pulled her easily back him. She laughed cheerfully, a sound like Christmas bells.

"Too men against the wall back there," he breathed just loud enough for her to hear. "don’t look, they’re watching you, we need to find another way, walk with me." He linked his fingers with hers and they walked slowly back towards the box, they could’ve been just another couple out to see the ballet. He was even dressed the part, black suit and shirt, he hid the metal had in his pocket.

‘’Are they following?’’ Nancy whispered. Bucky nodded his jaw clenching. ‘’I got a plan, meet me on the roof’’ she said as she pushed off him with surprising force and her hand slipped from his. She darted into the woman’s bathroom.

The queue inside was thick, woman everywhere touching up makeup, waiting for a stall, drying hands, noise and people, a good place to hide. She shimmied through the crowd, muttering apologies as she went, and found the window she was looking for. Pushing in wide It locked in its stays, shit, she thought glimpsing the fire escape she was looking for, the gap was too tight for any adult to fit through. Nancy took a moment, breathed in and out. She jumped up on the windowsill and amongst shouts from the other ladies, kicked on the window stays. Property damage, great they might not let her come back now. She slid out the window, landing on the fire escape just as the window above smashed and Bucky’s arm appeared. He soon followed, shouts following him. Nancy ran up the stairs to join him as they continued up to the roof. No easy feat in stilettos.

‘’What’s this plan then doll?’’ Bucky said turning to her as side of the building turned into the deep London sky. Nancy looked around finding her bearings.

‘’Over there, there’s a way down, comes out the other side of the stage, go down take the side door out. Hit the streets, get back to my house.’’

‘’We can’t go to your house- ‘’ Bucky’s protests were stopped short by the roof door bursting open. ‘’Ever used a gun before?’’

‘’Give us the girl!’’ A masked man shouted, he was followed by three others, behind them Bucky could hear feet pounding on the metal fire escape.

‘’No of course not.’’ Nancy replied not taking her eyes off their assailants. Bucky had his handgun drawn, Nancy hadn’t seen where it had come from, he’d been too quick.

‘’How about a knife?’’

‘’No not that either.’’

Bucky pushed her down and drew another gun, seemingly from nowhere, one pointed towards the masked men and the other back towards the fire escape where more men now emerged.

He shot first, the masked men had drawn guns as well, but they were no match for his superhuman reflexes. He aimed for hands and feet, to disarm not kill, this gave Bucky time to move Nancy towards the buildings edge. One escaped the fire though, dashing round and grabbing Nancy round the middle. Before Bucky could respond Nancy had landed a sharp elbow to his nose, stepped back, digging a heel into the top of his foot. The attackers grip loosened enough for her to break free. She grabbed his arm bending it around his back until she heard the tell-tale crunch of dislocation, then forced him into the floor with a kick to the back of the knee.

‘‘Where’d you learn that?’’ Bucky called over his shoulder as another figure approached him.

‘’I told you, I’ve done a lot of preparing.’’ She shuffled back then realised she was at the roofs edge, there were still 3 men coming toward them.

‘’Do you trust me?’’ Bucky said turning briefly towards her.

‘’Of course, I do.’’ For she did, since the moment he first spoken to him, the first time she knew what he was to her, she’d known, he will protect me, he will never let me down. I am his and he is mine. There was no thought of doubt. Although she was surprised when he pushed her. Hard in the chest and she toppled. Next she was falling and falling fast.

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 81

~*~Emma~*~

I loved everything about the calendar Claire had laid out. She was attentive to Sebastian’s schedule and had taken what we wanted to do and made suggestions. On days we stayed in the city there was a combination of guided and free time. We were set up to avoid lines, with Claire assuring us our guide would provide direction and disappear. I literally wanted to get lost. I think that is the only way to find local treasures. I liked to get away from tourist areas. Paris had a good metro system. Picking a direction and hopping off when we saw something interesting would be fun.

We took the elevator down with Claire. She would make our requested changes and arrange everything. We'd have our finalized itinerary when we returned tonight. At her suggestion we reserved a table for seven at a small brasserie. Directions were simple: head south to cross the Seine then west, and the place was a block past the Port Alexandre III bridge. It was half hour walk and took us along the Tuileries Gardens. It also took us by Chanel, Fendi, Louboutin, Atelier, and Valentino. The last being the only place we did more than window shop. Valentino was the show Sebastian was invited to attend. I suspected invited really meant paid to attend. I wasn't going to the show, but I would meet him after for the party. Sebastian would be dressed for the event and looked around to see what he might wear.

Sebastian kept his eye on the time as we strolled hand in hand along the Seine. There were several dinner boats docked along the shore. We found the one we’d be on tomorrow. A dinner cruise at sunset sounded very romantic. Honestly, there wasn't much in Paris that didn't sound romantic. I’m sure some is subconscious with the stereotype of Paris as the City of Love. However, walking over the Port Alexandre III bridge, along the Seine, and sitting down at a table on a cobblestone sidewalk is unarguably romantic.

Looking at his empty wine glass, Sebastian mussed, "French wine tastes better in France."

"It does." I swirled the last bit in my glass, watching the motion of the deep red liquid. "I imagine it’s the combination of food, smell, and ambiance."

Sebastian leaned across the table for a kiss, "And the company."

"Thank you for bringing me along."

"No one I'd rather be with. Anywhere." He took my hand, "If we weren't here, we'd be together in New York."

"It's better to be here."

"Yes," his eyes sparkled with laughter, "it's better to be here." He paid our check and put his arm around me as we walked in the opposite direction from the hotel. I really needed a map, but Sebastian seemed to know where he was going. I was fine to follow along.

A few blocks Later Sebastian squeezed me a little tighter, "Curious?"

"Enjoying the journey." I stroked his side, "Where are you taking me?'

"Someplace I'm told has a beautiful view. I wouldn't know personally, but I have faith."

We came out from buildings to the edge of a greenspace. To the north was a clear view. "La Tour Eiffel." I knew maybe two dozen French words and just used three of them. We walked to the center of the park where a path led to and set up the perfect view. I stopped, turning in to hold onto him. "A very romantic view of the Eiffel Tower at sunset. People will talk."

Sebastian kissed me, our lips parting just enough for a taste. "They're really going to have something to talk about then. Because we'll be enjoying a very romantic sunset view from the second level of La tour Eiffel."

My eyes widened.

"Sunsets are magic. Where else would you and I spend our first sunset in Paris?"

"Good point. You've been plotting." I wrapped my arms around his as we walked.

"Oh Emma, I am always plotting ways to make you smile."

We climbed the stairs to the second level. I was never more thankful for my trips to the gym and running. Claire had told Sebastian the view was better here. The summit was gorgeous, but it was too high to make out the landmarks. We wandered around looking at the view of the city, pointing out where we'd walked, and places we wanted to go. We hung out on the west side of the tower until some people left the railing to head to the top. The view as the sun started to sink was incredible. Clouds had moved in and were giving the pink purple sky texture. Sebastian was pressed against me with his arms wrapped around mine. He kissed the side of my neck, “Feels a little familiar.”

Indeed, it did. Our first kiss started like this. I turned my head enough for him to kiss me, “Almost as perfect.”

Sebastian laid his cheek against mine where we were sharing the same view. “I was so nervous that night.”

“Nervous now?”

“Nope.” He gave me a tight squeeze and kissed by my ear. “I knew you were important, but I never imagined you’d mean as much to me as you do.”

I turned to the side and pulled him around where the sunset was beside us. I smiled, laying my hand over his heart.

Sebastian pulled his head back, “You look like you’re about to cry.”

I shrugged, “Could happen. I’m in Paris, on the Eiffel Tower at sunset, with you telling me how much you love me.”

“I never said those words.”

“You didn’t have to.” I pressed my lips to his, keeping one hand on his chest, the other holding on around his neck. “Te ador, Sebasti-an. Însemni atat de mult pentru mine.” <I adore you. You mean everything to me>.  My vocabulary was limited, but the words didn’t matter as much as him feeling them.

“Ești ca soarele. Mă țineți cald, luminați-mi lumea și aduceți bucurie.Nu vreau să-mi imaginez viața fără tine în ea. Te iubesc din toată inima, Emiliana.”

See, I didn’t understand all those words, but I sure as hell felt them all the way to my toes. Translation would have to wait. I wanted to kiss him in a way that wasn’t approriate for standing on a balcony with other people around. I kept myself in check, while still getting the contact I wanted.

Sebastian put his mouth close to my ear and whispered, “You are like sunshine. You keep me warm, brighten my world, and bring me joy. I dont want to imagine my life without you. I love you with all my heart, Emiliana.”

We kissed again. A little longer. A little deeper. I laid my head on his chest. I don't even know if I have the words to explain how I was feeling. Words didn't come close to covering it. Happy, cherished, safe, loved. None were enough. I felt everything.

"Hey, we need a picture." Sebastian's voice had brought my attention to him, but done nothing to break what I was feeling. He had his phone out and we turned our backs to the sunset.

There was an older couple behind, now in front, of us. The man held out his hand and spoke with a French accent. "I would be happy to take the picture for you."

"Merci." Sebastian handed over his phone.

The woman looked at me after her partner gave Sebastian his phone back. "What language where you speaking?"

"Romanian."

"Ah." She smiled, "I do not know what you were saying, but the moment felt romantic."

Sebastian and I laughed, saying "Sorry" at the same time.

"Non, never apologize for others feeling your love. It's a wonderful thing."

We thanked them again and seeing how short the line for the elevator was we went up. It seemed a shame to not make out in the dark at the top of the Eiffel Tower. We weren't the only ones with that idea.

Finding a cab was as easy as in New York and we were back at the hotel in twenty minutes. We picked up our itinerary before heading to our room. A few steps into the room I smelled roses. They were for Sebastian. Valentino had sent them, a bottle of champagne, and fresh strawberries as a welcome.

Sebastian popped a strawberry in his mouth, "Terrace?"

I nodded and pointed to the bedroom, "I'll meet you out there." I quickly washed my face, brushed my hair, and changed into a simple sea green silk chemise with a drape front.

There were two doors leading to the terrace. Sebastian would be on the sitting room side, so I went out the bedroom door. Sebastian had set the champagne and strawberries on the table. He was at the railing, leaning onto his elbows. He looked relaxed with his hands held in front of him and one of his long legs bent. He made my mouth water.

I don't know if he was deep in thought or chose not to look over, but he didn't until I ran my hand down his back, leaving it to rest at the base of his spine.

Sebastian's eyebrows shot up when he looked over, "Ooof. Wow." I saw him swallow hard as he stood up. "You are sexy." He stepped closer, sliding his hand around from my waist to bring us together. The way he looked at me was full of desire.

"I'm sorry you had to bring me all the way to Paris for you to get lingerie." He undoubtedly appreciated the effort.

He shook his head, "I have no complaints about how you come to me."

My knees nearly buckled. How I come to him. Jesus. I looked up, mouth open with a slight smile, "I love you."

He just grinned. "I love you."

I felt the touch of his hand on my face before I felt his mouth against mine. His open mouth matched mine, our tongues meeting immediately with restrained hunger.

Sebastian's thumb ran over my lip. He tilted his head toward the table, "Champagne?"

"Yes, please."

His eyes moved down my body again before turning away to pour. He brought the glasses to me at the railing, "What shall we drink to?"

I looked up, licking my lips, teasing him. "A perfect first day in Paris with my love."

"And a perfect night to come."

We touched glasses and drank. There were lights along the center path of the gardens and accent lights shining up into flowering bushes.

"It's beautiful down there."

Sebastian brought my hand to his mouth. Soft lips and the briefest touch of tongue. "It's beautiful up here too."

He led me to the table, sitting on the nearest chair and pulling me onto his lap. His patience lasted as long as it took him to finish his champagne. Setting his glass on the table he took my glass and put it next to his. His hand went to my neck to pull me closer. Instead of kissing my lips he went for my neck.

I sighed contentedly with the feel of his warm mouth on my neck. Soft kisses were interspersed with licks and gentle pulls at my skin. The hand around my waist held on loosely while his other hand supported my head. His hair was shorter, but still long enough to run my fingers through. I felt him react to my nails against his scalp. That brought his attention from my neck to my mouth. Touch changed from static to freely roaming over the clothes. I'd never tire of touching him. Or being touched by him.

Sebastian came up for air. I mapped his neck with my mouth. He smoothed up the silk to cup my breast, his thumb rubbing back and forth over my nipple. I sucked his earlobe into my mouth, grazing it with my teeth as I let him go. "Je veux te faire l'amour."

He mumbled, "I something something love."

"I want to make love with you."

"You learned this where?"

I gave him a half smile, "There are literally French people everywhere."

"Meaning you asked the nice lady at the Eiffel Tower."

"She was in the bathroom. She thought you were tres bon and suggested "je veux te baiser", I want to fuck you."

He grimaced and shook his head.

"I also know kiss me, I just want to suck your cook, and please, lick me."

"You've got us covered." He dipped his head to leave a wet spot from him sucking my nipple. "You pick up languages easily."

"I have a good memory"

"Say the first thing again."

"Je veux te faire l'amour." I scraped my nails along his beard.

"Me too."

I stood up, taking the hand that was on my breast, and led him into the bedroom.

This was a quiet night. I did get to use a few of my new words. Whispered in the dark. Caresses and kisses stayed light. Tender. We knew how to touch, how to taste, and how bring pleasure with both. We didn't need words. Sighs and quiet moans were enough to encourage and appreciate. After our bodies were sated, we laid in each other’s arms with more soft kisses and quiet words. I lost track of how many times we said I love you, or maybe it was all feeling and my mind heard the unspoken words.

I laid with my head on his shoulder, my hand on his chest with one of his covering it. His fingers played over the skin on my arm. My breathing synchronized with the rise and fall of his chest. I was almost asleep. When Sebastian's lips touched my forehead, "I want to feel like this always."

"Mmm, Ok, we'll do that."

"You gonna put it on our to do list?"

I looked up and stretched to reach his lips, "I've got it covered."

"That's my girl." The emotion in his face told me he'd felt his words.

I put my hand on his face, "Always."

[blvejeanbaby]

Pairing: Johnny x Y/N Word count: 2395 Part: 1 | 2

warning: slightly minutely suggestive at the end but nothing major

The air was hot with summer and expectations. Johnny felt it as he halted halfway across the Pont d’Arcole, placing his hands on the bridge railing. The sun was setting in the distance, the lights around him already having come to life. The purple and pinks of the sky were reflected in the river Seine, a dinner boat filled with tourists floating by slowly. Johnny could faintly hear the accordeon players on the other side of the bridge, their playing drowned out by the sounds of rush hour - as in this busy spot in Paris, it was always rush hour. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he heard a voice to his right side. As he looked up, away from the water, the hospital that resembled a castle, the top of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, his eyes met those of a stranger, a girl. Her hair a dark brown, almost black, a sundress that reminded Johnny of places he had imagined often before, like the hills of Italy and cities of Spain. “Yes, it is,” Johnny said.

He turned back to the view. It wasn’t often he found himself speaking to strangers. Everyone almost promised that a solo traveller would easily make friends with other travellers when abroad. Johnny had become quite accustomed to the thought that he wasn’t going to be that type of solo traveller. He sometimes liked solitude, for it was not loneliness. Not if you didn’t let it be. “Are you from Paris?” the stranger asked. Without taking his eyes off the fading sunset, the world around him slowly turning a deep shade of blue, only to later fade to black, Johnny answered: “No. Are you?” Another question. He was surprised to find himself speaking so much. Perhaps it was the comfort he found in your voice, as if you also weren’t used to addressing strangers like this. “No. I don’t speak a word of French.” “Quel dommage!” Johnny said, finally turning to look at you again. The wind picked up now the sun had disappeared fully beyond the horizon, and it blew the girl’s dress around her bare legs. Surely she must be cold. “Did you just curse?” she said. He chuckled. “No. I said it was a pity. French is a beautiful language.” The girl nodded. “The language of love. I was hoping to find a Parisian to show me around the city. Not just the tourist gems.” She gestured in the distance towards where the Notre Dame was located. “I haven’t seen it yet but I know it will disappoint me. Like all the touristy things do. They’re fun for a moment, until you notice the crowd and you realize that all that was beautiful about the sight is taken away by the tourists.” “I disagree,” Johnny said. He looked at the girl thoughtfully before extending his hand toward her. “Johnny.” She shook it. “Y/N.” When she let go of his hand, she said, with a smile playing around her lips: “You should show me why you disagree. Take the Notre Dame as a case study.” Johnny knew he ought to say no, knew he ought to take the closest mode of transportation back to the hotel, for it was… He estimated it would be about a 45 minute walk, judging by the sunset. Johnny knew he ought to return, that tomorrow would be a busy day, but looking at Y/N, he knew he couldn’t. “Okay, I’ll tell you everything I know.” He began walking, Y/N following close behind, as he recounted the little amount of information he had retained from the tour guide that afternoon, showing him and the rest of the NCT 127 members and their staff around the city in a double decker tourbus, one of those silly touristy things that Y/N would probably have some comment about. After Y/N had agreed to give a pass on the Notre Dame, for it was beautiful enough from the front and the sides they saw to ‘tolerate it’, as she put it, with a wink added to Johnny, she exclaimed she was famished. “I know just the thing,” Johnny said, feeling the overwhelming need to impress Y/N with whatever knowledge of Paris he had. Which was, admittedly, slim to none. He at least knew from the little research he had done that the Quartier Latin, the Latin Quarter, was only steps away from the Notre Dame and served great food. Johnny let Y/N pick the restaurant, a place that proclaimed itself to serve authentic Italian food. The main room of the restaurant was brightly lit by white fluorescent lighting, making the assembly of black-and-white pictures on the walls stand out like ghosts among the living. The place was owned by two very clearly non-Italian men, who chatted excitedly as they recommended Y/N all sorts of dishes in their native language, which they appeared to think she spoke as well. Johnny had to admit Y/N looked to be of many places and he was curious to find out where she was really from. Eventually, Y/N ordered a steak and frites while Johnny stuck to a margherita pizza. He wasn’t particularly hungry but he wanted to stay and listen to Y/N as she recounted her first day in Paris. How she had spent it mostly travelling down from Amsterdam, only to end up at Galeries La Fayette by accident. Johnny knew of the place, a large mall-like setting where one could buy from luxury brands. Taeyong and Haechan had went there straight after dinner. “I don’t know what I was doing there,” Y/N said, taking a hair tie from around her wrist and tying her hair back. “I’m honestly too broke to even be on this trip.” “Where are you from?” Johnny asked her, but Y/N didn’t get to answer because their plates were put in front of them. The pizza made his mouth water and Y/N, as famished as she had claimed she had been, started attacking her steak. It was odd, Johnny thought as he watched her eat, that he felt so utterly comfortable around her. It was clear she had no idea who Johnny of NCT was, and he felt pleasant enough in her presence, almost as if Johnny of NCT was no longer even part of him, as if he was only Johnny in Paris, worthy of being in Y/N’s radiant company. When they had paid the restaurant owners, who wished them well in three different languages - they still hadn’t figured out which one Y/N spoke, but Johnny guessed perhaps they could only speak French, Arabic and German and learning English had never occurred to them despite the large amount of English speaking tourists from all over the world flocking to visit their restaurant - Y/N claimed she wanted to see the Louvre. “They’re not open,” Johnny reminded her. “I don’t care, I just want to see the building and the pyramids and the Jardin des Tuileries.” “So you do speak French.” “Un petit peu.” A little bit. She stuck out her tongue at him and took off down the cobblestoned street, leaving Johnny to bite his own tongue and follow her. There was nothing in the world that could get him back to his hotel now that Y/N had compelled him to follow her to the Louvre. To get there, they crossed the Pont des Arts, the bridge that had previously held all the love lockets. “I never understood why people do that,” Y/N said as she looked out at Paris stretching out on all sides around her. “Do what?” Johnny asked, oblivious to the bridge’s previous purpose, aside from allowing passage across the Seine. His full attention was on Y/N in a way he could not describe. He started thinking maybe it was Paris making him think that he was forming a rarely occuring, deeply consuming bond with Y/N over their shared (in)competence in French, over their deep hatred for the sour type of mayonaise French people used on their sandwiches, over their love for all types of music, whether genuinely good or genuinely guilty pleasures. Perhaps he was turning into the main character of a cheesy romcom, in which they meet in Paris, fall in love in Paris and do everything in Paris, together, until they part ways. “Hang lockets on bridges to say they love each other. There’s nothing as unromantic as purchasing a locket and a key and pretending it’s your hearts forever locked together.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “Now that I put it like that, it actually sounds like something I would do. Just to prove that love is not dead. How about you?” “Me? I’m entirely living.” Y/N laughed, the sweet laugh that sounded like bells chiming on the wind. It occurred to Johnny that perhaps the fluorescent lights of the faux Italian restaurant had made him delirious. “You’re adorable,” she said, twinkling stars shining in Y/N’s eyes as she looked up at Johnny, towering over her. They had reached the other side of the bridge and now passed underneath an archway, out onto the square of the pyramids. It was still warm, no longer suffocatingly hot, and this caused there to still be a group of people at the square. As Y/N took out an analogue camera - what else had Johnny expected of her? - and snapped some pictures of the pyramids and the Louvre building, Johnny stood to the side, leaning against a wall as he watched her. The way she moved, the way the tip of her tongue poked out in her efforts to get the right shot… Johnny had to slap himself to wake him up. What was happening to him? He had never really thought of himself as a romantic person. Of course he had liked girls in the past, had thought he loved them, even. There were girls he hadn’t loved at all, girls he had only used for his own pleasure. He didn’t feel guilty about it, since the girls had only had shallow feelings for him as well. It was the life of a rockstar, his friends had told him. They thought he was living the dream. But perhaps it was all more of a nightmare, if the only people that you could ever lovingly caress, were people that only pleasured themselves with superficiality. Y/N was different. Whether that was because Johnny wanted her to be or because she truly was, he didn’t know, but for now, at least, he wanted her - in ways he could not explain. Perhaps it was not just the girl but also the city, Johnny thought as he followed Y/N across the square and to the park. Truly, it was the perfect night to visit a park like this, so far away from the busy streets of Paris but so in the middle of it. The city breathed ancientry and what Johnny had always thought was a particular movie romance idea, which he assumed would never be real. But following Y/N across the park until they reached an octogonal pond, surrounded by grass and chairs, he realized that perhaps he had been most pessimistic about love and movies and how movies depicted love. And truly, with all the people around… He wished they would all disappear except for her. “Let’s sit,” she said then, settling on the grass, not bothering with the nearby chairs. And Johnny sat next to her. And he watched her as she opened her bag and handed him a bottle of wine. “Have you been carrying that with you all day?” “I was waiting for the perfect moment.” “And this is it?” Johnny asked, feeling like he was a child on Christmas morning, being handed the bottle. “It might be.” She took out a collection of plastic cups. “This is wasteful. But I’ll recycle them, I promise.” She didn’t even seem to speak to him, Johnny thought as he filled the plastic cups to the brim with red wine, almost causing them to overflow. Y/N took the cup from him and they sat for a while. First in silence, then in a wild flurry of silly conversation. Sparked by the third cup of wine, Johnny said: “Come to my hotel with me.” And he could see she wanted to refuse, but perhaps she felt what he did, maybe only a little bit but perhaps. She nodded. If this had been a movie, Johnny thought, they would be playing some French victory song. Or perhaps not. They finished the wine and walked the last 15 minutes to the hotel. Due to Yuta matching up with a staff member - it had been because of an argument, but Johnny was thankful for that argument now - Johnny didn’t have to share his room this evening. But he did anyway, guiding Y/N through the velvet draped, shiny parquet floored lobby of the hotel to the elevators, a golden button waiting to be pressed. The hallways upstairs were much of the same, some fanciness and luxury, the place breathing of a far away, historian Frenchness. Johnny saw from the look on Y/N’s face that she was impressed, if not by the place around her by the fact that he could walk so confidently and unbotheredly around it. After a day at the hotel, and many hotels like these, Johnny had become accustomed to the beauty. Perhaps there would one day be something that would still shock him to take time and appreciate it - like the sunset at the bridge this evening or Y/N. But those were intangible things. He thought of Y/N as intangible as she entered his hotel room, took off her shoes as if to not destroy the burgundy carpeted floors. She spun around once, taking in the room and Johnny taking her in. “The wine made me tired,” she said. “Just lay down,” Johnny said, gesturing at the large bed. “Do you need something to sleep in?” “Nah. Come lay down with me.” Y/N lay down and patted the spot beside her on the bed. “I don’t know if I should.” He was tipsy. “I think you should.” She wasn’t tipsy. Johnny lay down anyway, making sure not to touch her. Until she turned and started pressing kisses to his cheek, creeping down to his neck. “Johnny Suh…” she mumbled against his neck. Huh, Johnny thought, he had not remembered telling her his last name…

[miraculous-consequence]

Consequence of Our Love, Ch. 1: The Proposition

After 7 long years of protecting Paris alone, Marinette learns that her partner has finally returned - and has shown up unexpectedly at her window with a proposition too tempting to deny.

--

Consequence of Our Love is a pre-reveal, post-Hawk Moth AU exploring Marinette and Adrien’s lives as adults. | Read on AO3

Rating: Mature 

Warnings (Overall): Pregnancy, Minor Violence, Mental Anguish, Angst (with a Happy Ending), Consensual Sexual Content (skippable)

Chapter Warnings: None

--

"Chat Noir has returned!!!!”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are back in business!”

“Glow-up of the century! Chat Noir looking fine as hell!”

“No way its the same Chat Noir. It’s gotta be a new player.”

“If Chat Noir is back, does that mean we’re in danger again?”

“Is he sticking around? I can’t take another heartbreak”

“Does Ladybug know he’s back yet?”

Marinette watched as her media feed flooded with posts and sightings of Chat Noir’s return. She scrolled in a daze - her emotions hadn’t yet caught up to what she was seeing in front of her.

Is he really back...? It had been seven whole years since Chat Noir had left. Seven years since they had defeated Hawkmoth. Marinette touched her neck, trying to assure herself that the hands she felt wrapped around her throat were just echos of the past.

There was no one else in the world that went through everything she went through, who could understand the fear she felt on that terrible day and on every single day afterwards, except for Chat Noir. And he had left her.

Seven years. Seven years all by herself.

That asshole, she thought, but the anger she had felt towards Chat Noir had long since dulled. Now she wasn’t sure what to feel.

When he first left, she had thought he would return within a month or two. Maybe he just needed a break. She certainly did. But after four months, the fear that something had happened to him became too much, and she spent an entire school semester traveling France to look for him. When she came back with no clues, she continued her regular superhero duties without him, bitterly angry but still holding onto hope that he would soon return. When he didn’t show after three years, she accepted that she would likely never see him again.

But now there he was, right in front of her on her phone screen, a blurry black figure leaping across Parisian rooftops in broad daylight. Marinette set down her phone and exhaled deeply.

“Tikki, I think we’d better go find our idiots,” she said. The Ladybug Kwami had been resting on her shoulder, absorbing the news right alongside her.

“I cannot believe Plagg let him stay away for this long!” Tikki grumbled. Unlike Marinette, Tikki had retained her anger at her Black Cat counterpart. “It’s completely irresponsible!”

“We’ve done just fine on our own.” Marinette climbed out of her bed and stretched, frowning when she saw it was already 1pm. She filed through her closet for an outfit.

“We shouldn’t be on our own!” Tikki argued as Marinette pulled a shirt over her head. “The Ladybug and the Black Cat are eternal partners that keep the order of the world in balance. If Chat Noir wanted to run away, Plagg should’ve made him give back his Miraculous! You should have never had to shoulder everything on your own!”

As Marinette finished getting dressed, she picked up Tikki in her palms. Plagg was the only creature that could make Tikki lose her normally cool head. “I appreciate your concern, Tikki. But it’s okay. I’ve been handling everything just fine.” Marinette smiled at her Kwami, trying to show confidence that she didn’t really feel. “Let’s go talk some sense into our boys, alright?”

“Okay, Marinette,” Tikki conceded, smiling back.

“Okay! Tikki, spots-“ BANG BANG. Marinette jumped in the air. Without thinking, she grabbed a nearby roll of fabric and raised it in a fighting position towards her window. The noise sounded again, but nothing broke through to attack her. She slowly approached the window and peeled back the curtains.

She gasped in surprise. Before her was Chat Noir, hanging upside down outside her window. He grinned and knocked again. She opened the window.

“Chat Noir?!” Marinette exclaimed.

“Hey Marinette!”

“What the f- How are you-” Marinette stuttered. “What are you doing here?!” She pushed the window fully open and Chat Noir climbed in, retracting his stick from where he had extended it between two buildings.

“Do you want to get some ice cream?” He asked. He walked around in wonder, observing her room.

“Ice. Cream?” Marinette asked incredulously as he picked up and examined a pink elephant bauble Alya had gotten her for her latest birthday.

“Yeah, I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to see my old friend.” Her mind kicked back into gear, and anger boiled through her.

“Just in the neighborhood..!” That arrogant, block-headed, boorish son-of-a-!

“HEY!” Marinette grabbed Chat’s arm and forced him to face her. He stumbled into her, surprised by her aggressiveness. A chill ran through her veins as she looked up into his warm green eyes for the first time in seven years. For a moment, she forgot everything she was feeling and all she intended to say.

She recovered quickly.

“Chat, you’ve been gone for seven years!” Marinette threw his arm aside. “We can’t just go get ice cream. I have questions! Like- like where have you been? Why did you leave? Are you here to stay?” Marinette rambled off.

“No, I’m not here to stay.” He said quietly. This shut Marinette down, along with the faint light of hope she didn’t realize she was feeling.

“I was kind of expecting you to be more excited to see me.” Chat mentioned guiltily. Marinette scoffed.

“Your adoring fans online are excited enough. I have more important issues to address first with your sudden reappearance after seven years of NOTHING.”

Chat grimaced and tugged at his collar. Marinette noticed with surprise that he no longer had his bell.

“Well, I-um… I just…” Chat stumbled, clearly not prepared for an interrogation. Marinette frowned. Did this idiot really think he could just waltz in like it was old times and completely ignore the fact he had disappeared?

She growled in frustration, snatched up her purse and keys, and headed for the door.

“You will explain EVERYTHING afterwards.” She demanded, menacingly pointing her polka-dot-patterned house key at Chat. He smiled wide.

“I’ll pay for the ice cream.” He said, following her out the door.

“That wasn’t even in question.”

--

Marinette had never seen Andre gush more than he did upon seeing Chat Noir again.

“My Chat Noir!” Andre exclaimed. “How marvelous, how fantastic! You’re back, you’re back! How I’ve missed you!”

“It’s good to see you again, Andre,” Chat said warmly. He held out his hand, but Andre swept him up in a hug. Chat laughed. “Still predicting the hearts of Parisians everywhere?”

Andre set him down with a flourish. “But of course! This city will always need my help! Just like you still obviously need my help. Here you are, with a lovely girl at your side, yet I can tell you have not pledged your heart to her!”

Both Chat and Marinette broke out laughing. “Trust me, this one is just a friend.” Marinette said with a teasing smile at Chat, who met her with an equal grin.

“And as lovely as she is, I am sure she has already claimed someone’s heart, which I will make sure she tells me about in detail soon.” He elbowed her lightly.

“Keep wishing, kitty. We have more important matters to discuss.”

Andre eyed them with a knowing smile. “Ah, but of course! I was mistaken,” he said, with no sign of embarrassment. “Marinette, for you, peach and mint. And for you, Chat Noir, strawberry and blackberry!”

Marinette took her ice cream with concealed bemusement. This was Adrien’s ice cream combination - a pairing that had long left Marinette’s realm of desire. Andre must have given this to her as an homage to that old memory. He had done the same to Chat Noir. Red and black - those were Ladybug’s colors. She noticed Chat grimace slightly as he took the sweet treat. Had he gotten over his old crush, too?

She bit her lip and looked down. He must have. Otherwise, he would’ve cared enough to contact her after he left.

They said goodbye to Andre and began walking aimlessly through the city. Marinette wanted to ask him right away about his sudden reappearance, but he masterfully distracted her with jokes and questions about her life. Before she knew it, they were catching up like old friends.

“You really have your own fashion line now? Marinette, I’m so proud of you! I can’t wait to go out and buy some of your clothes!” Chat Noir exclaimed through a mouthful of ice cream cone. She blushed at his praise, amused at the way he covered his mouth with the inside of his arm.

“You’ll have to wait longer! My first men’s fashion line isn’t ready yet.” She responded. Chat waved his hand dismissively and swallowed his mouthful.

“I look amazing in all clothes, Marinette.” She laughed at the thought and silently considered that he was probably right. Her scrawny cat boy had turned into something of a model. She felt a strange pride at his handsomeness.

They caught up on all of the latest about each other’s lives - well, mostly Marinette’s life. Marinette learned that Chat had been traveling all over Europe and even the US. Chat probed her about her career and inquired how her friends were doing. Marinette was surprised at how easily they were talking, as if no time had passed at all. She recalled the many times Chat Noir visited her when they were younger. They would spend hours just talking and hanging out in her room, eating sweet treats and trying to outplay each other at video games.

Multiple times, Marinette tried to edge Chat into talking about why he had left and why he was back, but he would always worm his way out of the discussion. As they crossed a bridge over the Seine, Marinette saw her next chance. She chose her approach carefully - indirect and full of praise.

“You could stay you know.” Marinette said, acting as if it was an off-hand mention. “Paris could use a devilishly sly superhero like you again. People are super excited that you’re back!”

Chat Noir stopped, his back to Marinette. His body tensed, then he let out a sigh. Finally, he spoke. “I don’t think I can be a superhero anymore.”

“Aw, come on! I bet Ladybug would forgive you for leaving if you apologize enough. She must want her partner back!” She said teasingly. She jumped up to sit on the bridge railing.

“No, I mean… I can’t be a superhero anymore, Marinette.” He raked his fingers through his hair.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t… My powers are too…. Ugh,” Chat cried out in frustration and whirled around to face her. “I’m broken, Marinette. I can’t fight anymore.”

“I don’t understand. Did something happen to your Miraculous?” Marinette frantically grabbed Chat’s hand to examine his ring, but the Black Cat Miraculous was in perfect shape. Chat gently pulled back his hand.

“No, it’s not the Miraculous. It’s me.”

“But you’re here, you’re transformed! I don’t understand what could be wrong-“

“Please, Marinette.”

She stopped talking and looked up at him.

“After what happened the Hawkmoth - after what I did to him - I just can’t handle fighting anymore, even if I want to fight. My body won’t let me anymore. I can barely stand being back here in Paris.”

“But, you still have your powers! And I bet if you start out slowly, you could get back into the swing of things, and Ladybug could help-“

“No, you don’t get it!” Chat cried. He let out a resigned sigh. “You… can’t get it. Which is… good. I never want you to feel what I feel.”

Marinette stared at him, and she recalled how she used to be able to walk down a street without constantly checking the crowd and the rooftops for potential enemies. She recalled how she could sleep without checking the locks on the windows and doors three times, then once more for good measure. She recalled how she used to be able to hear the name Gabriel Agreste without flinching.

She touched her neck. She did understand.

“You’re really going to leave again, aren’t you.” She said. Chat Noir touched her hand, and Marinette understood that he left because he there was no way he could have stayed.

“I’m sorry for not contacting you.” He said softly.

Marinette felt a lump rise in her throat. She swallowed it. “I understand why you needed to separate yourself. You obviously had more important things on your mind.”

“Still, I should have left a note, or done something. I shouldn’t have just left. You were one of my best friends, and I should’ve respected that. At the time, it felt like the only thing I could do. Now, I realize I was just a jackass.”

Marinette silently agreed. She should make him feel bad, she thought. He should’ve contacted her. He was her friend. He abandoned her. She wanted him to know how he made her feel. But she didn’t want to make him feel worse than he did. So she pivoted.

“Well, you’ve must have had lots of interesting experiences during that entire time away,” Marinette tried. “Wanna tell me about them?”

Chat looked up in surprise, then gratefulness. “It honestly wasn’t that impressive. College is college. The US is stupidly big. My proudest accomplishment was learning to cook. You know how early twenties are.”

“I certainly do. There must have been some fun moments though.”

“A few.” He didn’t enlighten her further. Marinette pouted her lips.

“You’re making changing the topic unnecessarily difficult.” She said dryly. Chat smiled apologetically and took a deep breath. She could see him intentionally force positivity into his mannerism.

“Then let me take a shot and ask a much more enticing topic,” he said cheerfully. “Like… Hmm, why don’t we talk about all of those lucky suitors of yours that we told Andre about?”

“Why can’t we talk about your romantic conquests?” She grumbled.

“Because, Marinette, I am a man of intrigue and mystery. And I can almost guarantee you’ve had a more interesting romantic experience than mine.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I haven’t had a boyfriend in years, and I have no intention of getting one.”

“Really?” He looked genuinely surprised. Marinette shifted uncomfortably, and her heart rate rose.

“My life isn’t really suited to having a romantic partner.” She said, rubbing her pant leg nervously. “I’m just so busy with the new fashion line coming out, and I mean who would want to stay up all night with me at these fashion events or deal with me sewing clothes at 3 in the morning, and...” Marinette trailed off as she realized she was rambling.

“It’s just not in my future. I’m not dating material,” she ended with a fake laugh, her gaze shifting to the ground.  Well, Ladybug isn’t dating material.

It wasn’t like she didn’t want a boyfriend, but the truth of the matter was she was the Guardian of the Miraculouses now. Her responsibility to the world far outweighed her own personal desires. Her life was dangerous - maybe not now with Hawkmoth finally gone, but someday soon, malicious forces would return. Marinette, and Ladybug, had to be ready for when that day comes. Whoever she allowed into her life would be at risk, just like Luka was...

“That’s ridiculous!” Chat Noir broadly gestured in exasperation. “You’re totally dating material. It’s silly for you to doubt yourself.” Marinette pouted her lips at his fluffy praise.

“Slow down, kitty. I KNOW I’m fantastic,” she retorted. She crossed her arms. “A relationship is just a lot more effort than I have the time or energy for right now.” Chat Noir didn’t look swayed by her flimsy argument.

“Well that’s BS,” he muttered.

“What!” Marinette snapped at Chat, which he responded to with a satisfied grin.

“I remember you being all about romance, Marinette! You were always playing matchmaker with the couples in your class and helping people plan the perfect dates for their significant others. And I remember how you swooned whenever you hung out with Luka-“ Marinette flinched at the mention of the name, “and when you made those super cool masks for his band.” Chat Noir bent down to Marinette’s eye level and smirked.

“You’re made to be in a relationship, Mousinette.”

“Oh shut up! You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Marinette bristled. Anxiety shot through her at his reckless reference to her alternate superhero identity, Multimouse. How did Chat always manage to find her buttons, then proceed to press them incessantly? He did the same thing when they were Paris’s super-duo, and it seems like he hasn’t changed a bit, much to her disappointment. She thought some time would have made him a bit more tolerable to be around.

Chat chuckled, then relaxed. “Come on, Marinette. Don’t you want to be in love? To care deeply about someone… someone who intrigues you and fills you with energy and life! Someone who’s your best friend who you could trust completely, who accepts you for all of who you are, and” he gestured dramatically, “have someone romance you thoroughly, as if you were the most precious thing in the world to them?”

Marinette laughed. Even though he acted theatrically, she could sense the sincerity beneath his fancy words.

“Yes, yes I do,” she admitted. More than I could possibly describe.

“Ha!” Chat said victoriously. “See? I’ve got you pegged.”

“I know, I know. It’s just... I want to experience all of that, but I really, really don’t think a relationship would be a wise decision for me right now.” She sighed and rested her head and arms against the railing. “I wish I could just experience all of that for a day, but then wake up tomorrow and never see the guy again.”

Chat remained silent as he processed. “You mean like... a one-night stand?”

“No! I mean, yes, I guess - kind of - like a one-night stand but with romance instead of sex! Though sex could be included. But mostly it’s about the romance, and I would feel totally comfortable with him as if we’ve been dating for years, but without any of the emotional ties or relationship responsibilities the next day-“ Marinette gave an exasperated sigh. “Oh, whatever. None of this is coming out right, and it’s impossible anyway.”

They sat in silence for a while. She expected Chat to respond with some witty remark about how silly she was being, but he said nothing. Marinette shifted awkwardly, trying to figure out a safe topic to switch the conversation to, when he finally spoke.

“So you want to have a full-on romantic date with me then.” He said it not as a question, but as a statement. A sound between a cough and a snort erupted from Marinette.

“How the hell did you get that from what I said?” She exclaimed. Chat smirked in amusement.

“Isn’t it obvious? You want to experience a romantic date with someone who you’ve known and been friends with for years -“ he pointed to himself and mouthed the word me, “- you want someone who you would never have to see again, and who you’d never be able to track down or contact -“ again, he mouthed me “- AND you want someone who could give you the most brilliant, most romantic date that you’ve ever experienced in your life.” He paused for dramatic effect, then pointed. Me.

Marinette couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Go on a date? With Chat Noir?? “That is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous? Don’t I recall you professing your undying love to me?”

“What? I mean - T-That was years ago! We were young! I didn’t know how obnoxious you really are!”

“Obnoxiously adorable! And sexy as hell if I do say so myself.”

“No, no, this is - how can you suggest this, this is so-”

“Excuse me, I think I still look incredibly good in this suit.”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about-! I mean, UGH, Chat!”

Chat Noir placed his hands upon Marinette’s face, and in a single, weird instant, Marinette felt her body go calm and relaxed. He was smiling, but not in his usual smirk. He seemed... sincere and kind. She stared into Chat’s green eyes, mesmerized.

“Marinette! Calm down! You don’t have to get so worked up over this.” He released her face and gently tousled her hair. She stared at him, still wordless. “I only offered because it makes sense to me. It seems like I could give you what you need, no strings attached. But only if you actually wanted it.” He leaned back against the railing, still smiling softly at her. Marinette looked away and clasped her hands together in front of her.

“I also think Andre might be disappointed in me if I don’t take you on a date, and I don’t think I can risk that,” he added. She laughed.

“Okay,” she said.

“Okay?” Chat echoed questioningly.

“I will accept your offer to ‘romance’ me,” she looked Chat straight in the eye and smirked. “If you think you can pull it off.”

Chat Noir grinned at Marinette. “Oh I think I can.”

"But no falling in love! This is just for fun!" She quickly added. He laughed.

"Of course," he agreed. He bowed and extended his hand to Marinette, who placed her hand in his. “I’ll pick you up for your night of no consequences tomorrow at 4pm.”

“So early?”

“Someone as difficult as you needs extra time to be fully romanced.”

Marinette tried to pout, but she couldn’t help grinning.

“I look forward to it.” She said. Chat’s tail waved happily. 

“So do I,” he said warmly.

Chat looked at the setting sun, and lowered his ears.

“Shoot, I didn’t realize how long we’d been talking,” he said. “It’s already sunset. I’m sorry, but I have to go. There’s someone I have to sort things out with.” Chat rubbed the back of his head. Marinette bit her lip.

“What will you say to her?” Marinette ventured. Chat sighed.

“I don’t know.” He looked into her eyes and smiled. “Goodbye, Marinette.”

“Goodbye, Chat.” Marinette smiled back. “Oh, and by the way - you do look good in that suit.”

Chat laughed. “Don’t I?”

“I mean - as good as a full grown man can look in a skin-tight leather catsuit.”

A moment of silence, then, “Yeah, that’s fair.”

--

Marinette watched as Chat Noir faded away into the background of Paris before walking the opposite way.

“Marinette,” Tikki said, floating up next to her shoulder. “You know who he’s going to see now right?”

Marinette grasped her purse tightly. “Yeah, I know.”

“And you know what you have to do?”

“I just want to give him some more time. He said he’d be here for a few more days at least!”

“The more you wait, Marinette, the harder it will be.”

“I know, Tikki. He just went through so much…” She recalled the look of pure fear on Chat Noir’s face as his Cataclysm ate away Gabriel Agreste’s body. She clenched her purse even tighter.

“So did you, Marinette. Yet you stayed.” Tikki floated in front of Marinette’s face, forcing her to stop.

“Just a bit longer, Tikki. Then I’ll take it. I promise.” She cupped Tikki in her palms and gently moved her out of the way, ignoring the unconvinced look on the Kwami’s face.

Marinette ducked into an alleyway and looked around for other people. When she confirmed there were no threats to her identity, she brushed her hand by her ear and uttered the magic words.

“Tikki, spots on.” Magic power coursed from her earrings through her body, enveloping her in Tikki’s power and transforming her into Ladybug. She grabbed her yoyo and launched herself onto the roof. She knew exactly where she would find Chat Noir.

Just a little longer, she thought as she sprinted across the rooftops. Then I’ll take it. I’ll take the Black Cat Miraculous from him.

--

Read Ch. 2: The Rooftop Where We Always Meet >>

Read the Full Story >>

[lallemcnt]

go ahead and watch my heart burn (part four)

“When you look at him you see dark night opening, giving way to dawn.”

— Ibn Said al-Maghribi

-

“Talk to me.”

“You shouldn’t have to reassure me all the fucking time! I’m so sick of my brain and how messed up I am!”

“You’re not messed up, Lucas.”

Lucas is perched on the arm of Eliott’s sofa, head bowed and arms shielding his body. Eliott sits on the edge of the sofa at its other end, the exasperated expression on his face mirroring Lucas’ voice. The distance between them, a sofa separating them, feels like miles upon miles, an impossible space to close. Lucas understands his frustration, he even feels sorry for him, sorry that he has to deal with Lucas when he gets like this: frustrated and insecure, when Eliott hasn’t done anything to incite these feelings, when he has been nothing but understanding, nothing but absolutely caring, nothing but a flame in the dark on the days when Lucas’ anxiety has been particularly debilitating.

He knew this was going to happen, that he would mess it up, he just didn’t know he would only have a month of being with Eliott before it all blew up in his face. Abruptly, the frustration drains from him and he is tired. He moves towards the door, stuffing his feet in his trainers and pulling on his jacket. Eliott gets to his feet, following Lucas to the door, asking in a beseeching voice, “You can’t just leave, we need to talk.”

Lucas doesn’t turn around to address him, simply opens the front door and lets out a quiet: “Let me go” before shutting the door behind him and trudging down the stairs into a chilly late summer day. His shoulders instantly hunch up and he’s blowing hot air into his hands for warmth, not sure where he’s going exactly. Going, he scoffs to himself, more like running, like the coward you are. But the knowledge of his cowardice is not enough to make him go back to Eliott and explain.

Lucas recalls a conversation they had a few days after he told Eliott about his father. When Eliott asked Lucas about his anxiety and how it affected him. He didn’t push Lucas to speak about it or set up some kind of intervention. They had been watching reruns of shitty TV at Eliott’s, as usual, eating popcorn and drinking some kind of nasty-ass beer Lucas has brought over when Eliott had asked him:

“I- Can I ask you questions about your anxiety? I’ve been reading up on it and I know I’ll need to do more, but would you…would you mind that? Because I know it is different for everyone.” His voice was tentative, his hands clenched around his beer bottle as if he was scared he had crossed an unspoken line, entering into unknown territory.

It was completely out of the blue. Lucas wondered if this had been on Eliott’s mind the entire evening, he, himself, felt slightly uncomfortable and nervous, because talking about it never ended well, it only ever crushed his mood, his soul, leaving him disappointed. However, he knew, in his heart, that if this thing between them had any chance of survival Eliott had the prerogative to know, to decide for himself if Lucas was worth all the work, and to make this decision he needed all the facts.

Turning down the volume on the TV, Lucas had shifted to face Eliott, because he could be strong. Hadn’t all his years of quiet survival proven that? He could look Eliott in the eye when he inevitably concluded that it was all too much. That Lucas was not worth it.

“You need to understand that you can’t fix me, okay? I’m always going to be dealing with this and I want you to know that I won’t blame you or hate you if you decide to leave, okay? It is a lot. I know,” Pausing for breath, Lucas had taken a swig of his drink before continuing. “Sometimes I’ll get irritable for no reason, at myself and at you. I’ll be snippy. I won’t want to talk to you. When we’ve planned to go to a party or out for dinner, when the day comes round the thought of going may make me feel physically sick and I won’t want to go because I’m terrified of meeting new people or being left alone at a party with nothing to do or no one to talk to. Sometimes I’ll put off doing things and stay home for days because the idea is a lot more peaceful, comfortable and safe than going out.

“And you have to know, it won’t be your fault. I just need space sometimes. There’s something else, too. It’s hard to explain why…there are times when I think it’s because of my father, but I can be touch averse too, casual touches will annoy me and turn my mood sour. I used to be this really affectionate kid, and I still crave touch, but I also hate it at times.”

Eliott nodded thoughtfully along as Lucas spoke; being given the opportunity to explain how he feels and be heard was everything. Everything and more. More than he ever imagined he would be lucky enough to experience.

He doesn’t even know how this afternoon’s argument got heated so quickly, but when he reaches that level of frustration he can’t be talked down, no placating words can calm him, and Eliott contradicting him, telling him he wasn’t messed up made him more angry, and Lucas also knew that while his head was telling him to yell and slam the door and tell Eliott that he will never understand, that he doesn’t get it, that this will never work between them, his heart was whispering for him to get out of there, to cool off, before he said something he would regret.

He knew why Eliott was frustrated, Lucas had been closed off for the past week, refusing to confide in Eliott who had asked him several times what was going on. He was clueless, unsure if he was the problem. Lucas could have easily reassured him that it wasn’t him, but he was feeling mean and bitter. Communication. The age-old issue that tore couples apart on the daily. He knew Eliott would be struggling to understand if the issue was anxiety-related or if Lucas was just being an asshole, which he was want to be every now and then, but that only made Lucas more irate.

Walking along the Seine, Lucas kicks out at a rock and then another, physically exercising his annoyance. The thing was, deep down is wasn’t just anger he felt, it was fear and shock and insurmountable shame, and even the thought of explaining this to Eliott- it is enough to make him sink down on a bench in fatigue, because hasn’t he told enough secrets for once? Hasn’t even opened himself up to pain over and over again these last few weeks? So, seeing what Lucas saw in conjunction with someone else being worried about you and constantly asking if you are okay when you most definitely are not is too much. To be worrying about someone else’s feelings when you are consumed by your own mounting despair is enough emotional grievance to knock you out for a lifetime.

Today at 13:15

Le gang

yann: my dudes who’s up for a night of gaming at mine? bazzz: HELL YES I’M IN arthur: idk i’ve got this huge essay to get done by tomorrow arthur: and i haven’t started yet bazzz: yikes arthur: lucas!!!!!! have u done it yet?? bazzz: come on we haven’t hung out in ages bazzz: are you’ll really choosing work over spending time with ME?! yann: i have bEER arthur: bold of you to assume i’d bunk of uni work for beer bazzz: we’ve got arthur! yann: lulu! where u at? arthur: lulu! bazzz: lulu!

Lucas clicks off the chat, puts it on silent and pulls up Manon’s.

Today at 13:27

Manon

lucas: hey u around? Manon: hey!! Manon: yeah i am Manon: what are you thinking? lucas: ummm wanna go for a walk? Manon: i’d love to

After deciding where to meet, Lucas begins to stroll across one of the many bridges that cross the river. In an attempt to clear his mind of Eliott and their argument, he marvels at the beauty of his city, at all the history that these old and ornate buildings must contain; the grey water washing by them, dividing banks and creating islands. He walks by children already wrapped up in coats and hats but licking away at vanilla ice-creams. There are two men in suits locked in a heated exchange, jaws tight and eyes narrowed. A couple up ahead leans against the side of the bridge, entangled in each other’s arms, blonde hair whipping against their faces: Lucas looks away quickly at the surge in his chest. And just beyond them, he spots a red pea-coat: Manon. Dressed in woolly tights, her brown hair tied in a loose braid, she clutches a paperback book in one hand, her elbows rest on the off-white arm of the bridge, discoloured by the grim of urban life.

When they meet, Lucas falls into her outstretched arms as though this place, here, is a refuge amidst a storming sea. He doesn’t cry, but he remains there for a while. If Lucas had to describe Manon he would wax poetic about her. She’s closer to a sister to him than a friend, but then who ever said a person couldn’t be both to you?

Drawing away from each other, they smile and return to look over the bridge where Manon rests her  book. Lucas observes the cover and the authors name as recognition hits and he’s turning back to Manon, incredulously, as he exclaims, “No way! What the hell? Is that the last book?”

Manon is grinning and holding it up to Lucas’ face. “Yep! Had to pre-order it and everything. Just went to pick it up from the shop, actually.”

“I can’t believe it. We waited, what, five years for it and now it’s actually here? Fuck.”

When they were twelve, there was this fantasy book series everyone was reading about magicians and vampires, empires falling and rising, quests for lost artefacts and stolen celestial swords. Suffice it to say, Lucas and Manon were obsessed; they would queue up outside the bookstore for midnight releases with Manon’s older brother and parents, they would have reading parties together on weekends, but it was also one of those series where the last book kept getting pushed back until it’s release seemed a fallacy, but after seven years, the final book was out.

Lucas grabbed the book proffered to him and scanned the cover and back, flipping the book open like a fan. The smell of newly printed pages ready to be devoured and loved was an inexplicable bliss. He placed it in reach of Manon whose back was against the bridge’s sides and face directed towards Lucas, her blue gaze is searching. He pretends to be interested in the boats disappearing beneath him, but he’s forgotten Manon can out-wait him, she has the patience of a saint. What’s more is she has always thought of Lucas as a younger brother despite their birthdays only between two weeks apart — one week, six days, two hours and 19 minutes exactly if you ask Lucas — making her infinitely more willing to spend minutes, hours in silence until he is ready to open up or can’t stand the silence so he fills it meaningless words which eventually unwinds into the deeper stuff, because Manon makes the time to be there for everyone she holds dear. Lucas is one of those lucky people, he knows that.

In this way, while the wind insists on dispelling summer in favour of autumn, as Manon waits out Lucas and the sky grows grey in alliance with the wind and the Seine leads its placid journey, winding around the city, Lucas voices what has got him all twisted up inside for the past week, the catalyst for this argument with Eliott.

“I think I saw my father last week. At uni.”

This shocks Manon. Although he isn’t directly looking at here, out of the corner of his eye he sees her blanch at his words, she turns around, standing beside him as though in solidarity, as if she would be able to protect him from what has already happened. His heart clenches at this.

“How are you feeling?” She asks.

Bringing his hand up to chew his thumb nail, Lucas shrugs, which is ridiculous because he knows how he feels, he’s been sinking in this tumult of negativity for seven fucking days.

“You know what I wanted to do? I wanted to go up to him. I wanted to look him dead in the eyes and see if he would even recognise me, to ask him how he could do what he did and claim it was love? How you can do that to someone you’re supposed to love unconditionally? What did I do exactly to make him hate me so much? What did I do? I want to know so I never do it again, so I don’t provoke that kind of behaviour-”

“Listen to me, Lucas. No,” Manon is shaking her head and holding Lucas own between her hands so he is forced to look at her while she speaks. “You did not provoke anything, you hear me? I can’t explain to you why he did what he did to you, why he hurt you. But I do know one thing for certain, and I know you’re tired of hearing me say it but I will say it forever if I have to, this is all on him, nothing you did was wrong. It was all him. All him.”

Biting down on his lip, blinks back tears. “I don’t even know why he was there, and I didn’t want it to become this big thing but Eliott caught on to my mood, I mean, how could he not? And I didn’t feel like talking about it, not after telling him about my father, my anxiety. It would’ve just been overboard for him, you know?”

“No, I don’t know. Lucas, he’s there, right? Wanting to be with you. In relationships there are times where you don’t want to say how you feel and you don’t want to express the messy shit, but Lucas, if this is going on for an extended period of time you have got to let him in. It’s unfair otherwise. You’re part of a team now.”

Lucas sighs.

“Unless he’s been an asshole and said something-”

“No! He hasn’t-”

“-because then I’ll be having words with him.”

That brings a smile to Lucas’ lips. Hearing Manon threaten someone — even thinking it sounds ridiculous in his head — is always a shock because she’s Manon, always flocking to make sure everyone is okay, wearing their coats when it’s cold, ensuring everyone has a ride home after a night out.

“No, he’s great. I’m the asshole, but what’s new, right?”

Throwing an arm around Lucas’ shoulder, easily done because they’re the same height, Manon frowns. “Just talk to him, my love. For him, for your relationship, but, most importantly, for yourself. Now, say this together with me ‘I am not an asshole’.”

Lucas rolls his eyes but Manon is serious. She begins to open her mouth and when Lucas makes no effort to join her she stops and glares, full force, at him until he obliges with another sigh.

“I am not an asshole.”

“And again.”

“I. Am. Not. An. Asshole.”

“Whoop! That is so true, Lucas. You aren’t. Alright, let’s hobble along somewhere, it’s kinda chilly out here. I think my toes are about to stop working.”

“Okay, okay.”

Linking arms, the two friends find a coffee shop to sit at, a feat on days such as this when everyone is seeking the warmth of the inside, clutching warm mugs of hot chocolate between their hands they speak of lighter things, less serious but just as important.

-

By the time eight o’clock rolls around, Lucas is feeling hopelessly guilty about leaving Eliott’s place that afternoon. Manon’s words play on his mind: You have got to let him in. It’s unfair otherwise. You’re part of a team now. But because he’s the king of avoidance, Lucas has agreed to go to Yann’s for a gaming night and he’s rationalised to himself that that is okay, because he hasn’t seen the boys in a while and he misses them and Eliott is probably off hanging out with Idriss and Sofiane, so he’s okay and they can speak tomorrow. It can all be sorted out tomorrow.

On his way over to Yann’s, he begins typing an apologetic text to Eliott, it screams pathetic and cheap, everything he should say in person. Cursing in frustration, Lucas deletes it all, at least he tries to and he does erase most of it but his thumb slips onto the send button in his frustration.

Today 20:04

eliott

lucas: i’m

FUCK.

He shoves his phone into the front pocket of his grey hoodie, and of course this happened, he really can’t catch a break can he?

He gets no response. Radio silence. Hopefully hanging with le gang will be distraction enough.

For the first hour Lucas is caught up in the fervor of his friends’ excitement about a new season of a TV show about a family gang in Birmingham, England on netflix. They settle on Yann’s sofa, pulling up beanbags and lazy-boys to rest their feet on; despite their apparent enthusiasm they talk through the entirety of the first episode, making poor imitations of the Birmingham accent, Baz laments about how attractive the leading male is and Lucas can’t do anything but agree.

As the night goes by, however, Lucas becomes restless, he plays one game with Yann and then a team game with Arthur and Basile. He drinks flat coca-cola and chooses the music they listen to, but there, in the background of everything is Eliott’s face when Lucas left. When he is choosing the next song to play he thinks back to the many nights when they would talk on the phone before bed and Eliott would play Lucas the piano music he had grown to love, sometimes falling asleep to it, lulled by tender notes and impossibly smooth melodies. He should be there. With Eliott.

So he leaves, apologising profusely, promising to meet them at lunch on Monday, his mouth agreeing to anything while his one-track mind retains its steady focus on one boy. He is running in the dark, the sky jet-black where weeks ago the sunset was only beginning be set. Impossibly, a few stars peak through the light-pollution endemic to most cities and the moon is there, coaxing him on his way, as if to say hurry hurry you’re almost there. Out of breath and surely sweating Lucas does not stop. He doesn’t text Eliott; he will wait outside his place until he comes home, he will wait forever if that is what it takes.

Lucas is anxious now. He presses the buzzer for Eliott’s door, hoping against hope that he will be forgiven for walking out.

“Hello?”

“It’s me. Lucas.”

Silence.

Lucas is there on the steps, panting from his run, his heart galloping in his chest for more than one reason he can count. It feels like an eternity before he hears the tell-tale sound of the front door buzzing and he’s pushing it open, climbing up the stairs to Eliott’s door. It is down the end of the corridor, the last one on his floor, and Eliott is there, in the doorway, watching Lucas as he walks towards him and it is agony: he can feel the guilt’s full force curling in his stomach. Lucas is suddenly self-conscious, he wants the floor to swallow him up. His steps are hesitant. He stops a few feet away from Eliott. Wanting to hug him.

“Can I come in?” His words are stilted, coated in uncertainty.

“Why are you here?” Eliott looks tired.

“I want to talk.”

“Okay.” He doesn’t budge a single inch.

Looks like Lucas is going to have to do this here. In the hallway. Where any number of people can just walk by. At least Eliott hasn’t shut the door in his face.

“I’m sorry. For shutting you out, refusing to talk to you. For being mean,” At this, Eliott’s composure starts to falter, Lucas understands then that his annoyed posture was all an act, possibly an attempt to guard himself from hurt, and that nicks at his heart a little. “For walking out earlier, I should have stayed. I’m just really sick of feeling vulnerable all the time, I feel like I can’t catch a break and then I take it out on you by being cold.

“I saw my father last week, unintentionally, he was at uni and it’s the first time since he left that I’ve laid eyes on him. It brought back all the shame and humiliation. I wanted to walk up to him, like I’ve imagined doing multiple times over the years and confronting him, but all I could do was run the other way. I hate that this man still has this power over me. Anyway, that’s not the point, the point is that I hurt you-”

Eliott is stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Lucas, pulling him into his apartment and holding him against the door.

“Please don’t be mad.” Lucas’ voice comes out muffled against Eliott’s chest.

“I’m not mad. The truth is I’d rather be annoyed by you than not have you at all. I want to know when you’re in pain and why. And you were, I could see it and it hurt to know you were fighting something on your own. I am so sorry, Lucas.”

“You have nothing to apologise for.”

“Remember what I told you, yeah? You are not alone.”

Lucas’ heart clenches at those words. How does Eliott think of and say things like that, so sincere like it is effortless, like it costs him nothing but the air he breathes to say them.

He pulls back from Eliott, head tilted up against the door. “You need to stop that.”

“Stop what?” Eliott cups Lucas’ face

“Saying those romantic things.”

“And you need to know that you have nothing,” He says fiercely. “To be ashamed about. You are not what happened to you. You are magnificent, and I can’t believe how lucky I am that you choose to be with me.”

“I love you.” The words slip out, Lucas widens his eyes and Eliott is laughing at Lucas’ brazenness. Simultaneously, his eyes shift and brighten, as if Lucas’ confession has changed the very colour of Eliott’s eyes, as if those three words have changed him.

A kiss, soft and tender. ”Not as much as I love you.”

Another kiss just as tender and slow, torturously slow. “Yeah, yeah. Now carry me to your bed, please.”

They stumble there, stripping off their clothes as much as they can while kissing and touching each other. As soon as Lucas hits Eliott’s bed though he is enraptured by the softness of his duvet and pillow and he sighs contentedly.

Eliott looks up from where he was kissing down Lucas’ chest and lets out a disbelievingly laugh when he sees Lucas snuggling into his pillows. He crawls up Lucas’ body until he is caging him in and looking directly down at him. Eliott, straddling Lucas’ hips now, plants a hard, searing kiss on his lips which Lucas is all too happy to reciprocate, clutching Eliott at the hips.

“You are ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously into you.” Lucas winks.

Eliott rolls over, laying his head on Lucas’ chest. “You’re tired.”

“Yeah…Your bed…Morning sex, instead?”

“Sure.”

From his position on Lucas’ chest, Eliott caresses Lucas’ lower stomach, running his fingers lightly over the skin, raising goose bumps in their wake.

Je t’aime.

Moi aussi.

[theluckiestwitchatblackwell]

Operation Secret Garden

Good morning and a happy holidays to my @mlsecretsanta​ recipient, @amlbfan​!! I hope you enjoy it~ 

Also on AO3 and FFNet!

“Are all the flowers planted?” Marinette heard Alya mutter into her earpiece. On the other lines she could just hear her friends give their signal.

“Perfect, go Rose!”

“Uh, me?”

Marinette could see Alya roll her eyes in her peripheral vision before replying, “No, the other Rose!”

Rose made a sound of confusion as Juleka chuckled, and pushed her cart forward.

After a few seconds of silence, Juleka’s voice crackled in their ears, “The rose has no thorns. Sunflower, you’re up.”

Marinette giggled softly as Alya grinned. She was so glad Alya roped them into this. Mylene squared her shoulders and, looking both ways, crossed the street to Officer Raincomprix.

“Ah, young miss, I believe you’re in my uh, my daughter’s class! What can I do for ya?”

“Monsieur, there is an illegally parked car across the street!” Mylene exclaimed, pointing towards the Gorilla’s car. Officer Raincomprix looked in the direction she pointed and narrowed his eyes.

“Thank you, mademoiselle, I’ll take it from here!” He marched off towards the car, and Mylene spoke into her earpiece. “The sunflower has shone! Tulip, you’re up!”

“Marinette, are you excited?” Alya left her microphone off and turned to face her best friend.

“More nervous than anything! What if something goes wrong? Or he actually does have his phone on him? Or-“

“Girl! It’s gonna be-“

“The tulip is… uh… I’m in place!”

“Perfect timing, Tulip! Buttercup just finished! I’m going to go hide, Lotus. Head around the corner! But don’t make it seem like you were waiting for him! I know you haven’t finished that dress design Rose was after!”

The two girls stood up and ran; Alya hid behind one of the pillars and Marinette sat on the steps by the rickshaw, taking out a sketchbook and flipping the pages to a half-drawn dress as Alya told her to. She idly moved her pencil around the page, half-assing strokes as she listened out for Adrien’s footsteps, feeling hyper-aware. Slowly, light pitter-patters made their way into her eardrums and she began to feel nervous. What if he wanted to wait for The Nanny to get back? What if he didn’t want to go with Marinette? What if-

“Marinette?”

“Ahh!!”

Even though she was expecting him, Adrien’s voice cutting into her thoughts still managed to spook her. She shot up, almost tripping over and Adrien narrowly dodged her head from breaking his jaw, which definitely would not have pleased his father.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry, Marinette! What are you drawing?”

“Oh, it’s a Rose for dress! No, uh, a dress for Rose! I felt a little crowded at home so I came out to get some fresh air! All your posters- uh, your dad’s fashions were uh, I see them every day so-“

“Haha, I get it! I wish I could get out of the house so freely like you!” Adrien’s gaze moved from Marinette’s face to the cars by the kerb, scrunching up slightly in confusion.

“Where’s…”

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, it’s just, my bodyguard should be here by now…”

Marinette heard a whisper behind her and turned her head a little to see Alya mouthing, “Ask. Him,” in her direction. She turned back to face him, counted to three in her head, then stuttered out, “Uh, hey, how about we rickshaw take home together this? Wait, no-“

“Sure, okay! Can I borrow your phone to text my bodyguard? I left mine in the car.”

“Oh, sure! It’s-“ She clicked the button on her phone but the screen did not light up. “It’s dead. Sorry, Adrien.”

“If we’re quick it should be fine! Are you ready?”

“After you!”

Adrien stepped into the rickshaw, holding his hand out to help Marinette in and soon the tall buildings of Paris moved past them as the rickshaw driver began to pedal.

“My house is the big one with a wall and gate around it, across the Seine and near Francis Dupont School, sir,” Adrien told the driver with a smile.

They reached the river after a short while when Marinette pointed out, “H-Hey! There’s Andre’s ice cream cart, you want stop do to- uh, do you want to stop?”

“Uh, sure! It shouldn’t take too long, right?”

“Yeah! Stop here please!” At the latter sentence, Marinette turned her direction to the rickshaw driver who smiled and nodded, slowing the rickshaw to a halt. Marinette hopped out of the rickshaw, feeling the warmth of Adrien’s hand leave hers and realised with a panic that he never let go.

“Marinette and Adrien, two of my favourites! I’ll fix you up, I hope you’ll savour it! Mint for his eyes and blueberry for her hair, and topped with cherry for their lips!”

Marinette’s face burned bright red as she glanced over at Adrien, who was just as red.

“Uh-“

CRASH. SCREAMING. MORE CRASHES.

Adrien and Marinette turned to the direction they came from and to their horror, buildings were toppling over, sending dust into the air. A large, blue, gorilla-like being was standing on all fours behind it, growling and stomping through the streets.

“Is that-“

“It’s my bodyguard!”

Adrien shoved the ice cream back into Andre’s hands, grabbed one of Marinette’s and ran back across the bridge.

“Ah-h-h! Adrien, what are you doing?!”

“We need to go!”

“Yeah, let’s hide, but not towards the akuma!”

“I think he’s akumatized because of me... I need to show him I’m all right.”

“Adrien, listen to me.”

He finally stopped struggling against Marinette’s grip and turned to face her.

“Let Ladybug and Cat Noir handle this. I don’t want you to get hurt trying to handle this, your fault or not! Okay?”

His eyes softened, “Alright.”

They both turned, still hand in hand, and ran for the other end of the bridge. Alix skated past them, leaving a small trail of flower petals behind as she shot off and turned left at the end of the bridge.

After running for a few minutes, they ended up in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Marinette ripped open the door and shoved Adrien inside.

“Stay here, I’ll hide somewhere else! He won’t suspect you hiding here!”

“What about you?”

“He doesn’t know me, Adrien! I’ll hide out at Alya’s!”

“Okay, stay safe!”

Marinette ran a block before hiding in an alleyway, letting Tikki out of her bag when she was hidden.

“Marinette, you really should have thought this plan through!”

“This wasn’t my plan, it was Alya’s!”

“But you agreed to it! And you’ve seen how protective that man is of Adrien!”

“I know Tikki, I’ve learnt my lesson. Now, spots on!”

A shimmer of red light washed over her but Marinette barely gave a thought to the magic as she threw her yo-yo and flew away.

Swinging over the rooftops back towards the bridge, Ladybug found Cat Noir already running, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Cat Noir! Have you heard anything about the akuma?”

“Nope, what about you?”

“I heard on the bridge that it’s Adrien Agreste’s bodyguard!”

“You were on the bridge?”

“Uhhh,” Ladybug cringed internally. She couldn’t give away where she was without raising suspicion about her identity. “N-No, Andre the Ice-cream Man told me when he saw me at the start of the bridge!”

“Oh, okay! So what might the akuma be?”

They were now in the air, flipping towards a rooftop and bounding over it, closing in on the buildings that had been knocked down. The Gorilla was further down the street and had not yet noticed them. Ladybug squinted her eyes and looked carefully at him.

“I can’t see anything obvious... maybe in his pockets?”

“Do you reckon we could get close enough for that?”

“We’re gonna have to trap him. Lucky Charm!”

She threw her yo-yo, which transformed into a cell phone, and she sighed.

“Who am I supposed to call? What does this me-”

Ladybug paused and glanced over at the Gorilla, then Cat Noir. Her Ladybug vision lit up on their beings.

“Apparently, the magic is telling me to call him. Well, that’s the akumatized object out of the way!”

Cat Noir frowned. “How are we supposed to call him? How do we get the phone from him?”

“You need to run over there when I say so and grab it from his hand as he takes it out. Ready?”

He nodded and turned towards the Gorilla.

Ladybug pressed a button on the polka-dotted phone. It began to ring, and the Gorilla’s phone rang loudly in his pocket. He paused and began to reach for his phone.

“Now!”

Cat Noir pushed off and ran towards the Gorilla, leaping through the air and grabbing the phone from his fists just as he lifted it to his ear. Once safely on the other rooftop, he broke the phone and the akuma flew out of it.

“No more evil-doing for you, akuma. Time to de-evilize!”

Her yo-yo swung out and grabbed the butterfly, purifying it.

“Gotcha! Bye bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!”

She threw the spotted phone into the air, spreading the magic of Creation around Paris and restoring the fallen buildings. Ladybug swung down to the ground near the restored Gorilla as Cat Noir descended on his staff.

“Sir, are you okay? Did you lose someone?”

He merely grunted, and showed a picture of Adrien on his phone.

“Oh, I’ve seen him! He was heading back to the mansion near Francis Dupont School with a friend! If you head back now he should be there soon,” Ladybug replied with a smile. “Don’t worry, we won’t tell your boss!”

The Gorilla grunted again, the hint of a smile on his gruff face as he entered his car nearby and left.

“So, pound it?”

“Pound it. Lovely working with you again, Bugaboo!”

Ladybug smiled before turning and leaping back towards the bridge again. She swung over the rooftops and landed in the alleyway near her house. De-transforming, she opened her bag for Tikki before she ran back to the bakery, colliding hard with Adrien as he opened the door to leave.

“Ow!” “Oof!” They proclaimed at the same time, cradling their heads briefly.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” “Sorry, Adrien!” They spoke again simultaneously then giggled, breaking down into laughter.

“Only I’m this clumsy, I must be rubbing off on you! Anyways, did you stay safe in the bakery?”

“Yeah, and Alya’s was safe too, right?”

“A-Aly- Yes! Yes, I was there, safe! Safe, yep.”

“It’s too bad our ride home got cut short with the akuma. I guess I should head back home now so he isn’t angry again.”

“Can I walk you home?”

Adrien smiled softly, replying with, “Sure.”

The short walk from the bakery to the mansion was quiet and Marinette glanced over at Adrien a few times with a blush grazed along her cheeks. Arriving at the Agreste mansion came far too soon, in her opinion.

“Y’know, despite hiding from the akuma, I had a good time with you, Marinette. Let’s do it again sometime!”

“Y-Yeah, sounds like good plan! A good plan! Haha, you’re good, uh, a good friend! Yeah…”

“Yeah… I’ll see you at school?”

“See you then, Adrien!”

Marinette watched as he approached the mailbox, spoke to the camera that popped out and soon enough he was through the gate. He stopped to wave back at her before heading inside. Marinette waved back then headed around the corner and squeaked, sliding down the wall.

“Tikki, did you hear that? We’re gonna hang out again!”

“I’m so happy for you, Marinette! You should tell the girls!

“Y-You’re right!”

Running back to the bakery, she sent a group text to the girls.

“Operation Secret Garden was a success!”

[micdropragnarok]

l’amour est mort

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20299963

The year is 1899, and you are living in Paris, a beautiful city of culture and wonder, which you have grown deeply fond of. And you’re not the only one - Kim Taehyung has ventured West too, stumbling into your life just when you need a friend the most. It isn’t long before your heart decided to give itself away, much to its own demise.

Kim Taehyung, 1895

He loved her. She lived right next door and she was as bright as the sun, and best of all, she loved him back. It was a fairytale, certainly from Taehyung's point of view.

She was adored by all that knew her, including Taehyung’s parents, who were certain that their son would end up marrying the ray of light. Taehyung wanted to, of course. Every day, he would stare out from his farm, gazing across the fields, his eyes squinting as he took in the farmhouse next to him, where he would usually see her, laughing like nothing could ever stop her. He admired that the most about her. It inspired him to remain optimistic, even in the face of adversity. Her smile really had been perfect, too. It had turned Taehyung inside out, like he had never seen anyone ever smile before until he saw her smile.

He remembered the day when he decided he was going to marry her. He had been by the river, collecting water when he had seen her wading in the river, trying to rescue a sheep that had lodged itself in-between two fallen trees. The water was strong, but she had been holding on to the logs using all of her strength, the water reaching her waist, soaking her dress completely, much to Taehyung’s surprise. He immediately jumped into the water to aid her, and together they guided the sheep to safety. “Thank you, Tae.” She had said, a winning smile on her lips. He fell in love right then and there.

He had proposed a few weeks later, and of course, she had said yes. There was no reason for her to refuse, it truly was the perfect match. She was everything to Taehyung.

He had tried to ignore the tears that had streamed down her face as she said yes. He had assumed they were tears of love, and joy. But hindsight taught him better.

Everything came tumbling down a mere two weeks later, when Taehyung’s cousin, Kim Seokjin, had stormed into Taehyung’s house, demanding that Taehyung release her from her promise to marry Taehyung, since she was pregnant with Seokjin’s child.

Taehyung had been devastated. His whole world had come crumbling down, and he rushed over to her house, to find out the truth from her own lips. Instead, he found her sitting near the river, staring at the water. He interrupted her thoughts, coming over to sit next to her. They sat quietly for a moment when Taehyung finally spoke. “So, is it true?” Taehyung asked, staring at the woman he loved. She nodded slowly, knowing that she could no longer lie to him. “I’m sorry, Tae. I really am.” She said forlornly. And Taehyung believed that, at least.

“But I’m tired of doing what everyone expects me to do. I don’t want to anymore - I want to do what I want, because for once in my life, I have found that - and I am sorry that I couldn’t include you in it. Seokjin can provide for me and my unborn child. He will be an excellent father, and he has a stable job. You, Taehyung… are so young, so bright, and you want to go to study art. I applaud that, I do, but I can’t stay here and wait for you. That isn’t fair to me. I’m sorry you couldn’t be the one. I thought you could have been, but I think that was the expectations for me that spoke for me. My love for Seokjin… it is something so beautiful, so rare, that it could only have been a gift from God. Love… and it is life. It is everything. I can only hope you find it one day, but I am not the one to give it to you.” She said finally. Taehyung didn’t respond, so she stood up and headed away, walking back to her house.

“You’re wrong.” Taehyung said sadly as she walked away. She turned back briefly, looking at Taehyung with deep sympathy. “Love isn’t life. Love is death.”

“I really hope you will change your mind about that, Taehyung. I hope you will find someone that makes life worth living again.” She replied, and she turned back.

Taehyung never saw her again.

Paris, 1899

“L’amour est mort.” You whispered, your hands ghosting across the words scraped into the wall of your dorm room. Love is death. You had never read anything so simple and poetic. You could almost see the pain etched into the words, hear the grief pouring out, burning your ears.

For some reason, the words stayed with you as you left your dorm, walking across the city, your petticoats waltzing around you as you navigated through the narrow streets of Paris, searching for your favourite spot. It only took a short minute for you to reach the spot. It was, of course, one of the many bridges stretching over the Seine river, allowing you to watch as boats and people rushed by, going about their lives with a sense of purpose you were struggling to find.

You had come to Paris from your home searching for an outlet for your art. The finest art college in the world was situated in the heart of the city, and even recently allowed women to join. L’École des Beaux-Arts had become a sanctuary for you. For the first time in a long time, you felt like you belonged somewhere. Your time at the college was, however, drawing to a close, and you were worried what the real world would bring.

Your paintings were inspired by Monet, you loved his flower collections. He had attended the same college as you were currently at - and it was your love for the art and the artist that constantly inspired you. You hoped that you would be able to produce work like he did.

You were thinking about Monet whilst watching the water ripple underneath you. Sometimes, you leaned over the bridge, imagined what it would be like to let your feet off the ground, sink slowly through the air towards the water. You imagined what would happen to your body, when life itself had left it. What of your soul? The metaphysical questions that plagued you had no business in your head, and you leaned back away from the water, Taking your eyes off the river. You instead headed off of the bridge, towards the Louvre. If there was anywhere you liked more than gazing across Paris, it was the museum which was home to your favourite works. It was the place where you could escape, for a few hours, and be at one with art.

It was a normal day in Paris, which fortunately meant the museum was not as busy as some of the times you had been in. You walked slowly around the palace, taking in every painting, as if you had never seen it before. It always felt fresh, you saw something new every time you looked at a painting.

You knew which painting in the Louvre was most popular, of course. It was one you tended to avoid, due to its popularity, which meant crowds. You would rather spend hours staring at a painting by someone you had never heard of than spend two minutes looking at her. You were referring to the Mona Lisa, of course. But for some reason, on this particular visit, something compelled you to visit her.

You weren’t alone. There were around 10 people staring at the painting, chatting to each other, excited to see Mona in all her glory. But there was one man who caught your eye. He was well dressed, that much was clear, in the classiest of French dress, a waistcoat that you knew was certainly at the height of men’s fashion these days, but his head was adorned with a yellow beret, and wide framed glasses hiding the most beautiful of eyes, which were currently furrowed in confusion, looking at Mona. You couldn’t help but lift your lips at the sight. He seemed very baffled by the painting. You moved closer to him, and saw his notebook in hand, scribbled notes which you could read fluently - What was so important about Mona? Why has she captured the imagination of so many? The notes read. You chuckled. The boy looked up, his eyes widening as he took you in, surprised to see you standing near him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I was just reading your notes - are you not a fan of Mona, then?” You inquired, you head titling. The boy shook his head distastefully, wrinkling his nose.

“Not exactly, no. I think she is beautiful. But I… I don’t get life from her. She pales in comparison to some of my favourite works, I think.” He said. You raised an eyebrow, your curiosity peaked. “And what, dare I ask, is your favourite painting?” You asked carefully, a small smirk playing at your lips. The boy smiled, equally as playfully.

“Can I show you? It is here, in the Louvre.” He said. You smiled.

“What is your name?” You asked before answering his question.

“Kim Taehyung. And you?”

“Y/n L/n. Nice to meet you. Now, you can show me your favourite work.” You said. Taehyung smiled and took your hand, guiding you away from Mona towards his favourite painting. “She’s a great deal more beautiful than Mona, my favourite. That is certain.” Taehyung said simply. Anticipation buzzed through your veins as he guided you down the corridors of the large building, especially as you got into more familiar territory - paintings you knew particularly well, making your eyes light up with excitement. “Close your eyes.” Taehyung suddenly whispered in your ear, making your heart momentarily stop. You did as he said as the man you had just met led you into the room. You waited until his low timbre spoke again, beckoning you to open your eyes. It was then that you knew Kim Taehyung was destined to be someone special in your life.

You had opened your eyes to see your favourite Monet painting.

“Her name is…”

“Camille.” You finished. Your voice croaked as you spoke, and you noticed a tear sliding down your face.

“Yes.” Taehyung said, turning to you with a beatific grin on his beautiful face. You turned away, your throat constricting as you looked at him and the painting. That was the first moment things changed, for you coughed into your handkerchief and found a leaf from a waterlily, stained with your blood.

You knew exactly what it meant.

You folded the small green leaf into your pocket and turned back to the boy standing next to you. “She’s one of my favourites too.” You said simply. You both stared at the painting for what felt like hours, but your gaze kept flickering to the unusual man next to you, who had been a complete stranger less than 5 minutes before. For once in your life, you weren’t sure which the artwork was.

Read the rest here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20299963     :)

[vgckwb]

ML: Are They Worthy? Chapter 55: Sabrina Needs.../Beekeeper (A Hero Like Chloe, Part 2)

Honey Bee returned to City Hall and de-transformed. She nervously rushed out, but then remembered Sabrina. She opened the door and found her, holding onto an old hat she found in the closet. “Thank goodness you’re alright,” she said, hugging her.

“I’m just glad you’re alright” Sabrina said.

Chloe let go and looked at the time. “AH! I’ve got to give my speech. Are you OK to come with me?”

“You go on ahead” Sabrina said. “I’ll catch up with you.”

“Great. Thanks” Chloe said, rushing out the door. Sabrina looked upset, but she smiled.

She then broke down in tears. “Oh Chloe,” she said. “I can't believe I wasn’t brave enough to tell you that someone else got the bee miraculous! I’m pathetic.”

“Well well” Hawk Moth said in his lair. “What have we here? An opportunity to draw Chloe in again, AND punish a new miraculous holder? I LIKE IT! Fly away, my vile akuma, and evilize this girl once more!”

The akuma flew off and fused with the old hat Sabrina was grasping. “Beekeeper! I am Hawk Moth. That bee miraculous belongs to Queen Bee, wouldn’t you agree? With the powers I’m giving you, you will give me Ladybug and Cat Noir’s miraculous and PUNISH Honey Bee for taking what rightfully belongs to Chloe!”

“Of course, Hawk Moth!” Sabrina said. She put on the hat and was swallowed by the purple-black aura. It soon encapsulated the entirety of city hall.

Outside, just after Chloe finished her speech, the building was being taken over. Everyone gasped in horror. “Another one?” Marinette said.

Pretty soon, City Hall looked like a giant beehive with a TV screen on it. An image appeared on it. The room looked like a honeycomb with honey dripping down from the sides. There was also Beekeeper, who was wearing a beekeeper’s uniform, and through the netting she looked like Sabrina, but with purple skin. “Greetings Paris!” she said. “As you know, today a heinous crime has taken place. Queen Bee has been robbed! There’s a NEW user of the bee miraculous out and about calling herself ‘Honey Bee’. I cannot stand for this! That is why I have taken it upon myself to challenge her!”

A swarm of robotic bees exited the hive. “My bees will continue to terrorize the city until Honey Bee gives me her miraculous!” Beekeeper continued. “But first…” The swarm of robot bees formed a hand, grabbed Chloe, and took her in. “There. Now once Honey Bee gets here, she can present the miraculous to the Queen herself!” Beekeeper cancelled her broadcast. More robotic bees exited the hive and spread out. The crowd ran away in a panic.

Marinette and Adrien ran away together. “Quick clarification: Chloe IS Honey Bee, right?” Marinette asked.

“Correct” Adrien answered. “She doesn’t know what happened either.”

“Then we have a problem” Marinette said.

“Not for long” Adrien said. “I’ll take care of this. You get everyone else and come up with a plan!”

He ran off. “Adrien WAIT!” Marinette said. “Ugh!” She ran off on her own and hid.

Mayura was watching the chaos unfold. “Perfect” she said.

She got a call and she answered it. “What are you doing?” Hawk Moth demanded.

“I’m waiting for my opportunity” Mayura said.

“You were only to help with Secret Keeper” Hawk Moth said. “Judgement Wolf almost caught you once today! Fall back! That’s an ORDER!”

Mayura didn’t like it, but she had to respect it. “As you wish,” she said. She left.

Chloe was cuffed to a honeycomb throne. “Sabrina, let me out of here! This is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!”

“It’s Beekeeper” she said sternly. “Sabrina couldn’t protect you. I can.”

“I don’t NEED your protection!” Chloe shouted.

“Oh Chloe. You’re so brave” Beekeeper said. “Braver than I was when I found out someone had taken what was rightfully yours. I didn’t say anything. I was weak. But now I’m getting your miraculous back! Then we can make Ladybug and Cat Noir pay for leaving you behind!”

“I don’t NEED the bee miraculous!” Chloe said. “I gave it up!”

“But don’t you want it back?” Beekeeper said.

Chloe looked at Beekeeper. “The only thing I want returned to me is SABRINA!”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself” said Cat Noir, jumping down. “Cataclysm!” He ran over to the throne and destroyed it. “Let’s get you out of here!” He grabbed Chloe and left the hive.

Beekeeper put her hand on one of the honeycombs and said “After them!” Out of another honeycomb, another swarm of robot bees came out and started following Cat Noir and Chloe.

Meanwhile, Judgement Wolf was going around destroying whatever robotic bees he could. He saw Abrial fruitlessly swinging a stick at some that were trying to attack her and her parents. He rushed over and destroy them. “Thanks Judgement Wolf” she said.

“It’s what I do” he replied, sheathing his sword. “Now get to safety!” Abrial and her family ran off.

Judgement Wolf got a call, and he answered it. It was from Ladybug. “Judgement Wolf!” she said. “Meet me at the Pont des Arts bridge! I’ll explain when we get there.”

“Gotcha!” Judgement Wolf replied. He left.

He found Ladybug on the Pont des Arts, and Rena Rouge and Carapace came running up as well. “Where’s Cat Noir?” Rena asked.

“He ran off by himself to save Chloe” Ladybug said.

“Of course” Carapace said.

“So, what are we doing?” Judgement Wolf said.

Ladybug thought for a moment. “Rena! Carapace! You two grab the other heroes and protect Paris. Judgement Wolf and I will track Cat Noir and we’ll take the fight to Beekeeper!”

“What about Honey Bee?” Carapace asked.

“Duh! She’s Chloe!” Rena asked.

“Oh right. Judgement Wolf told us as much” Carapace said.

Ladybug nodded. “Now go!” The teams split off.

Alya and Nino arrived at Master Fu’s and grabbed all but the dog miraculous. They retransformed and gave the miraculous to everyone without revealing anyone’s identity. The bees had done a good job of separating people for them.

Meanwhile, Cat Noir was trying to outrun the swarm that was following him while carrying Chloe. “Move faster!” she said.

“I’m trying!” Cat Noir said. “It appears she really wants you!” Suddenly, Ryuko came in and sliced through the entire swarm. “Ryuko!”

“Rena Rouge and Carapace told me the plan” Ryuko said. “Hide Chloe and meet Ladybug at the Arc de Triomphe!” Cat Noir nodded and took off. Another swarm came to Ryuko. She smiled and called out “Lightning Dragon!” She transformed into lightning and zapped all of the swarm. She continued flying through the city, zapping whatever bee-bots she could find.

“NO!” Beekeeper shouted. She checked her other bees and was devastated. All across Paris, heroes were taking out her swarms. Rena Rouge and Carapace were doing their synchronized combat to destroy the swarms. Bunnyx was racing around the city, destroying the swarms and running off using her time powers.

King Monkey was destroying what her could, while also leading a large swarm. He jumped off a bridge, and when the swarm followed, one of Pegasus’s portals opened up, and they flew through into the Seine.

Another swarm was heading towards Pegasus, but they were sniped out by Rooster Gold, who gave Pegasus a salute. Pegusus nodded back. Rooster Gold kept shooting.

Meanwhile, Oxenfree kept destroying bees with his hammer. One of the mini-Scourieses jumped off of Oxenfree and landed on one of the bees. She rewired it, taking control. She smashed into another bee and jumped off onto another bee. We can see plenty of Scourieses doing the same.

Hog Wild had gathered a large swarm, as did BleatStar. When the two met each other, they turned around and used their power against the swarm to capture them. Hog Wild distorted the ground so it turned into a large ball that captured the bees, while BleatStar used the fear he had gathered to make a cage and slammed it on the swarm that was following him.

Viperion had taken the time (literally) to gather as big a swarm as he could, and lead them down the Champs Elysee. Once there, he got out of the way, and Tigress unleashed a huge sound blast to destroy the swarm.

Ladybug watched over this and smiled. “OK, we’re here” Cat Noir said. His miraculous started beeping. “I gotta go.”

“Just be back here as soon as you can” Ladybug said. Cat Noir hid.

“I’m sorry” Chloe said.

Ladybug said “Don’t be. This isn’t your fault. In fact, you helped out earlier, right?” Chloe smiled. “And we need that help now. The four of us are going to take on Beekeeper! Ready?”

Chloe nodded. “Pollen! Buzz On!” She transformed back into Honey Bee.

“Great, now we just gotta wait for Cat Noir” Judgement Wolf said.

“Present and accounted for!” Cat Noir said, coming back.

“That was fast” Judgement Wolf said.

“Well, this time Plagg agreed with me when I said we should rush this” Cat Noir said.

“Let’s go!” Ladybug commanded. The four took off through the city. They destroyed more robotic bees on their way to the hive.

Beekeeper saw the four on their way. “So, they think they can take me out with the impostor” she said. “We’ll see about that.” She placed her hand on another honeycomb to summon something.

The four heroes burst into the hive. “Alright Beekeeper! We have you surrounded!” Ladybug shouted.

“Do you now?” Beekeeper said. The heroes looked up and saw Beekeeper piloting a giant robotic bee. “Because I think I have the upper hand.” The giant bee robot pointed its stinger and Ladybug and charged at her. The rest of the heroes split off and Ladybug ran away. “It’s no use Ladybug! You’re going to pay for ignoring Chloe!” Ladybug continued running. “She’s changed! She’s better! And yet you refuse to give her the miraculous!”

Honey Bee watched at Beekeeper was chasing down Ladybug. Ladybug couldn’t work like that, and she knew it. “Hey! Beekeeper!” she shouted. “It’s me you want, isn’t it?! The so-called ‘impostor’?! You can take care of Ladybug afterwards!”

This intrigued Beekeeper. “Yes. Of course!” she said. “I should be punishing YOU first!” She turned her contraption to Honey Bee. Honey Bee started racing away from Beekeeper.

“Honey Bee, no!” Ladybug called out.

“Relax” Cat Noir said, coming to her. “I think she knows what she’s doing.”

Ladybug sighed. “You’re right. Lucky Charm! Super glue?” She looked around and saw the honeycomb walls, the stinger, Honey Bee, and the super glue. “That’s it! Can you two distract Beekeeper for me.”

“Anything for you, m’lady” Cat Noir said.

“Sure” Judgement Wolf replied. The two jumped into action.

Honey Bee was still running away from the stinger when Ladybug’s yo-yo dragged her off. “Get back here!” Beekeeper said.

“Hey!” Cat Noir said. “I’m sure you have some qualms with us?” He stood on his sticky cockily, while Judgement Wolf challenged her.

“You bet I do!” Beekeeper said, turning her attention to the two of them. She began giving chase. “You both should KNOW how good Chloe has been! You need to stop this impostor with me!”

“I don’t think so” Judgement Wolf said.

“Not even if you bee-have” Cat Noir added.

“Really?” Judgement Wolf said.

“I just had to get one in there” Cat Noir said.

“Ladybug, what’s going on?” Honey Bee asked after being let go.

“You need to use your Venom to stop Beekeeper when she’s in motion” Ladybug said.

“Got it!” Honey Bee said.

Ladybug called out “Cat Noir! Stay where you are!”

“WHAT?!” Cat Noir said, stopping.

Beekeeper smiled. “You fool!” She went full steam ahead towards Cat Noir.

“Honey Bee! Go!” Ladybug said.

“Venom!” Honey Bee said. She stung Beekeeper, which caused her to freeze while still moving ahead.

“Cat Noir, you can leave now!” Ladybug called.

“Thanks!” Cat Noir said. He got out of the way.

Beekeeper crashed into the wall. “And now, for the finishing touch” said Ladybug, getting out her super glue. She took some of the loose pieces and super glued the area around the stinger. “That should do it.”

The Venom was wearing off. Beekeeper tried to back out of the wall, but found that she couldn’t. “So, where’s the akuma?” Cat Noir asked.

“I think it’s in the hat” Honey Bee said.

“How do you know?” Judgement Wolf asked.

“Just trust me on this” Honey Bee said.

“Well, only one way to find out” Ladybug said. She used her yo-yo to grab the hat. Once she had it, she tore it in two, revealing the akuma. “No more evildoing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize! Gotcha! Bye bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!” The magic Ladybug fixed all of the damage caused by Beekeeper. All of the heroes outside were in awe, and pounded it with whoever was close by.

Sabrina returned to being herself. “Ugh…”

“Pound it!” the four heroes said.

“My second failure for the day” Hawk Moth said. “No matter. I’ll still be busy as a bee to defeat you, Ladybug!”

Ladybug got a call. She answered it. “Rena! How’s it going?”

“Great!” Rena said. “Carapace and I are going to get back the miraculouses soon. Just wanted to check in and congratulate you.”

“Thanks” Ladybug said. “You all did well out there too.”

“Seeya” Rena said, hanging up.

“Hey!” Sabrina demanded. “I know I wasn’t myself, but I still feel like that!” She then went from angry to sad. “Chloe really has changed. So why?” tears started to drop. “Why can’t she be Queen Bee anymore?”

The heroes looked at the crying girl. Honey Bee turned to Ladybug. Ladybug nodded. “Sabrina!” she said. Sabrina looked up. “Pollen! Buzz Off!” She transformed back into Chloe.

“Chloe?” Sabrina said, slightly confused. “Chloe!” she said, happier. She ran to Chloe and gave her a hug.

“I’m sorry, Sabrina” Chloe said. “I wanted to tell you, but Judgement Wolf told me to keep it a secret for as long as I could.” The hug got less tight, but they were still embraced. “I didn’t know why I had a new costume either.”

“None of us were expecting that” Judgement Wolf said. “I told her to keep it a secret because if she became Queen Bee again, then everyone would know who she was.”

“If I may, your majesty” Pollen said. Everyone turned their attention to her. “A miraculous costume is determined by the heart of the user. Since Chloe recently went through a dramatic change of heart, her costume also changed with it!”

“So, it’s the biggest signifier of her becoming a better person” Cat Noir said.

“And I mistook that as someone else” Sabrina said. “I’m such an idiot.” She cried into Chloe’s jacket.

Chloe locked her arms around her. “It’s OK,” she said.

“SABRINA!” Everyone could hear Lieutenant Roger call out for his daughter. “Sabrina, where are you?”

Ladybug’s Miraculous started to bee. “Don’t worry. I’ll cover for you and you can make your escape” Sabrina said. She left the room. “I’m over here, daddy!”

“We should get out of here” Cat Noir said.

“WAIT!” Chloe said. “Ladybug, can I talk to you?”

Ladybug noticed her earrings counting down.

“Let’s go to the roof,” she said. The heroes grabbed Chloe and took to the roof. “Alright, let’s hurry this up!”

Chloe stood there nervously. “Um, it’s OK if you don’t want to tell me, but are you Marinette by chance?”

Ladybug was surprised. Still, she knew what she had to do. She let her transformation run out and then said “What do you think?”

Chloe was delighted. “I KNEW it!” she said. “Iknewitiknewitiknewit!”

“So, how did you figure me out?” Marinette said.

Chloe looked at Marinette. “Well, I started thinking it when I first saw Pollen and how she reminded me of that toy thing I grabbed.”

“You mean me?” Tikki said.

“Yeah” Chloe said. “Sorry. Had I known, I wouldn’t have done that. Anyway, I started realizing it more after the talk we had after the day Adrien’s photographer. And even more at my coming out party with the class.”

“I see” Marinette said.

Cat Noir then smirked like he had an awful idea. “Hey Chloe. Watch this!” He then grabbed Marinette and gave her a kiss.

Chloe yanked Cat Noir off of her and started shouting. “Hey! She’s spoken for! And by one of my closest friends too! Marinette, I am so sorry. If he found you made a move on her, he would be so devastated and-”

“Plagg! Claws in!” he said. He transformed back into Adrien. “Hey Chloe.”

Chloe started smacking him. “Not funny, Agreste!”

Adrien chuckled, putting his hands up to try and defend himself. “I just like seeing how much you cared.” He chuckled some more.

Judgement Wolf sighed. “Does this mean I have to share who I am too?” he asked.

Chloe stopped smacking Adrien long enough to answer. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Judgement Wolf stood still. “Beyyo! Fangs Dull!” He changed back into Vlad.

Chloe smiled while lowering her eyelids. “I should have known it was you.”

“Yeah, well, lucky you didn’t get akumatized for it” Vlad said. Chloe punched him. “Ow!”

“That’s my girlfriend we’re talking about here,” Chloe said.

“Sorry” Vlad apologized.

“Well, we should get out of here” Marinette said. The heroes retransformed and separated.

Roger and Sabrina found Chloe at the Arc de Triomphe. “Chloe!” Sabrina said. “I got your text. I was so scared.”

“It’ alright” Chloe said. “Cat Noir stashed me here after he rescued me. You know, I did mean it when I said that I didn’t need the bee miraculous if I had you.” Sabrina blushed. “Come here.” Chloe gave Sabrina a kiss. Roger smiled. From a different vantage point, Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Judgement Wolf looked down and fist bumped as well.

Meanwhile, in Gabriel’s office, he and Nathalie were talking. “It seems that Miss Bourgeois really don’t mind not having the bee miraculous” Gabriel said. “It looks like I can’t use her anymore.”

“With her out, and with Lila wavering on her convictions, it seems that we’re losing potential allies” Nathalie said. “Meanwhile, Ladybug’s team only appears to be growing. What should we do?”

Gabriel grinned. “Not to worry. We still have limited help from Judgement Wolf. But more importantly, I think there’s someone new I can convince.”

[alternative27angel]

Fox Hunt

Kinda miffed with ML’s choices for the miraculous’ powers, and just frustrated in general with their writing, so decided to dust this off.

This is just a rough draft, though. Trying to hammer out some more plot details first.

They say every person comes to a crossroad in their life. A choice of two paths, one that will become the best decision you ever made, and one that you'll regret til the end of your days.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng hadn't quite decided which path her current one could be considered, but scurrying around the edge of a tower in the dead of night wasn't what her fourteen-year-old self had in mind when she'd stopped to help an old man.

A pigeon giving her the bird-version of a side-eye wasn't doing her any favors either.

"Don't mind me, Jacques, just running a little errand." She waved distractedly as she made her way over to one of the filthier windows on this side of the building. According to the schematics, the third window from the right should be the one for the file room. Would be nice if she could actually see inside to confirm, though…

Guess all she could do was hope and pray for the best, then.

Shifting her flute into a narrower shape, she jammed it underneath window and quickly levered it open. Dust and metal flooded her nose as she took in the room. The large room with file cabinets and shelves. With walls and walls of file cabinets and shelves. All most definitely filled to the brim with documents and security footage.

"Well, it's definitely the file room…" With a sigh, she made her way inside and started scanning the labels for what she needed.

2001, 1999, 1997, 1995… 1993, there we go. Now, which of the 8 boxes could it be…?

Her ears caught the sound of footsteps echoing on a staircase, charging their way up to her floor. Why would they…?

A red light blinked out of the corner of her eye, and with a groan, she turned to look at the camera she didn't even think to watch out for. Oh, Trixx was probably loving this right now.

Time for Plan B. Well, technically Plan G, but it's not like anybody else had to know that.

Still trying to keep some level of stealth (if for no other reason than to salvage her wounded pride), she whisper-yelled the command, "Fox Sense," and tapped her flute against her head.

Immediately, a strong smell of plastic assaulted her senses, and her eyes were drawn to the box on the highest shelf. She crawled her way up and yanked off the lid, rifling through the tapes as quickly as she could without making too much noise. A shock raced across her palm, prompting her to look at the label on the tape currently in her hand.

15/03/1993 'Frelon Roi Goes Dark'

Gotcha.

Moving fast, she tossed the lid on, slid the box back into place, and leapt over to the window just as footsteps reached door. By the time the security staff burst into the file room, she was already outside and running across a roof two buildings over.

Giddiness overcame her as she realized that–despite screwing up with the camera–she'd managed to make a clean escape with her loot. And no birdbrain in sight! Looks like her luck was finally turning around-

Shwing!

Unable to help the little scream that escaped her, she quickly leapt back from the hardened feather embedded in the roof mere inches from where she'd been a second ago. A rustle in the wind was all the warning she had before a dark blue shape was dropping down on her from a nearby building, forcing her to fling herself off her own in an effort to get away.

Down in the street, she sprinted a few yards to put some distance between them before pivoting to face her pursuer, whom had quickly made his way down to the lower level as well.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, young lady?" drawled a familiar voice, casual tone belying the blackened eyes latching onto the tape in her hand and bringing a pinched look to his masked face.

If Marinette had any hope of getting out of this with the tape in her possession, she could not engage in a direct fight. Time and again, he managed to snatch every piece of evidence she had ever managed to find, and she couldn’t afford to lose this one too. They needed this.

A quiet beeping from her necklace reminded her that she was also on borrowed time. She scanned her surroundings as subtly as possible whilst distracting the Peacock.

“Oh, Jay Bleu. The sky is clear, the breeze is sweet, and the city of Paris is at peace. Can’t a girl just enjoy a beautiful night every once in a while?”

There was an alley two buildings down. Narrow spaces wouldn’t do her many favors, but if she remembered right, that alley was a shortcut to the Seine…

Taking a menacing step forward, Jay shifted a couple more feathers into his hands. “Young women need their beauty sleep, my dear. That’s why everyone is currently resting safe in their homes.” Sirens sounded in the distance, tugging a smirk onto his lips. “Well, most of them, anyway. I’m afraid someone has disturbed our esteemed officers’ sleep.”

“Well, that hardly has anything to do with me,” she blithely denied, keeping eye-contact with him as she slowly circled around him and tightened her grip on her flute. She had to time it right, or he would be on her in no time.

Jay Bleu rolled his eyes. “Fox, let’s not waste our time tonight. We both know how this ends. Just give me the tape and go on home, before your time runs out.”

She stiffened, just as another beep sounded in her ears.

A sigh escaped him, letting his eyes close briefly before he fixed her with a flat look. “Even if I couldn’t hear it, that necklace of yours is painfully obvious, blinking light and all.”

Almost there. “Come on, can’t you let me have a win for once, Jay?” she pleaded, lacing her voice with false sweetness. “It’s not gentlemanly to keep denying a lady like this. If you're not careful, girls might start hating you~”

He rolled his eyes a second time.

So close. She shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet. “Also, the name isn’t Fox.”

Almost.

She gestured at the pot of red flowers next to her. “It’s Camellia!” she stated, pride seeping into her tone as he took the bait, glancing over at it.

Now.

“Those aren’t-” Thwack! Her flute struck hard at his ankle, and down he went. “Shit!”

Not even pausing to see if he’d hit the ground, she made a break for it. First to the alley, which would hopefully have enough debris for her throw in Jay Bleu’s way. Then, it would only be a sprint to the bridge-!

A feather just barely brushed her cheek, forcing her to duck to the left and-against her better judgement-peer behind her. Jay Bleu had already gotten his feet under him and was pelting after her, a dark glare making his already intimidating gaze even more terrifying. She didn’t even hesitate to grab the nearest thing (a trashcan lid) and sling it at him.

The oof! behind her assured that she’d hit her mark, and she used the opportunity to put on an extra burst of speed, using whatever she could grab onto to fling herself even further away from her pursuer and leaving it lying in his path.

Another beep sounded, signaling that she had only two minutes left. If she didn’t make it, she was done for.

Desperation was fueling her as she burst out of the alley and sped out into the open. The cursing and crashing behind her said that Jay Bleu wasn’t far behind, so if she was going to do this, it had to be now.

Reaching into the pouch on her hip, she spun around and made eye-contact one last time with the boy behind her. Unable to resist, she smiled smugly and threw down the smoke bomb.

As smoke exploded into the air, she sprinted for the little bridge and promptly flung herself over it.

The Seine rushed up to meet her for just a second before she used her paw pads grab onto the side of the bridge and catch herself. She scrambled as quickly and quietly as possible to the underside and then waited.

Footsteps pounded overhead, reaching the middle and pausing as the boy gasped for breath. Nothing could be heard, save for the sound of his coughing every few seconds.

She held her breath and then suddenly remembered, wrapping one hand around her miraculous just before it beeped again, muffling the sound.

A few more seconds passed by, and the fox began to fear that her time would run out first. But someone must’ve been taking mercy on her, because after coughing rather hard one more time, Jay Bleu cursed and ran away, apparently having given up and simply deciding to try a random direction.

After waiting a little to see if he’d come back, she let out the breath she was holding in a big sigh of relief, shoulders beginning to relax. And just like that, orange light engulfed her and took away the fox guise, leaving simple Marinette behind.

Simple Marinette that had no way of holding onto the underside of a cement bridge.

She barely had time to scream before she fell into the river, a big splash erupting as she hit the water hard. She re-emerged, coughing and sputtering as she treaded water to keep herself afloat.

“Well,” she sighed, “that could’ve gone worse. At least I got...” Her eyes snapped open wide.

Video tape + water = OH NO!

Before she could begin to panic though, a deep, soothing voice called out, “No worries, Mari. I’ve got it.”

There, floating above her, was a little fox with large ears and slanted eyes glimmering with amusement. And in their paws was the video tape…!

Marinette couldn’t help her giggle of relief. She waved up at him in glee. “Thank God you’re here, Trixx!”

A chuckle responded back at her. “No no, you did all the work, Mari. We’re still  a little rough, but this is the proof that you’ve got what it takes.” They swooped down to hover just a little in front of her face, a foxy grin aimed at her. “Congratulations on your first successful heist, Camellia!”

Marinette’s responding smile was blinding as the reality settled in. She’d finally done it! She’d finally beaten Jay Bleu and recovered her first piece of the puzzle to finding the other missing Miraculouses. She could actually do this!

“Yes!” She thrust her fists up in victory. Maybe this was the right choice after all.

[cutsliceddiced]

New top story from Time: These Heroes Went Above and Beyond in 2019

From a 9-year-old boy who wanted no kid to go hungry to a high-school coach who reached out to an armed student, here are TIME’s heroes of 2019.

Defenders of Notre Dame

William Daniels—Panos for TIMELaurent Prades, left, and Antoine-Marie Préaut on Nov. 29

As flames leaped from the roof of Notre Dame cathedral on April 15, those who knew its innermost secrets ventured into the pitch darkness of the smoke-filled nave. Their aim: to rescue some of the most valuable treasures in all of Christianity. “There was no electricity, there was a lot of water, there were alarms going off,” says Antoine-Marie Préaut, conservator of historic monuments in the Paris region, remembering the moment he entered the cathedral with Notre Dame’s operational director, Laurent Prades, and a group of firefighters. “The atmosphere was apocalyptic.”

Millions across the world watched aghast as fire shot from the medieval masterpiece in the heart of Paris. Less visible was how close Notre Dame came to total collapse, and how narrowly its treasures were saved.

About 400 firefighters battled the flames for more than nine hours—some climbing the staircase in its north tower, despite the danger of being trapped, to keep the cathedral’s set of 13-ton bells from falling and potentially bringing down the towers and the entire cathedral with them. The roof was already almost gone. “I found a situation that was completely catastrophic,” says Jérôme D., a firefighter who climbed to the top, and who cannot be named in full, per the rules of Paris’ fire brigade.

Préaut and Prades were so focused on rescuing the relics that they tuned out the chaos. Then they heard a giant noise as the spire crashed into the nave, collapsing the roof. Inside the cathedral, the fire now raged at ground level. “We felt utterly powerless,” Prades says. “But then everything happened very, very quickly. We lost all sense of time.”

Amid darkness and flames, the men fumbled to unlock a strongbox in a back chapel. Inside were Notre Dame’s most precious relics—including the Crown of Thorns that worshippers believe Christ wore to his Crucifixion, as well as pieces of wood and a nail believed to be from the True Cross. The two became part of a human chain, passing the priceless items to safety. “We told the firefighters, ‘Take everything you can carry,'” says Préaut, 38. “They were shouting at us, ‘Get out, get out!'”

Toward midnight, police finally escorted Préaut to city hall, where the relics were locked up for safekeeping. As their van crossed a bridge over the Seine, Préaut was stunned to see crowds jamming the entire area. “There were thousands and thousands of people just standing on the street silently, in shock,” he says. “I had the impression like it was the end of the world.”

Indeed, that night was the end of an era for a tight-knit group that had worked together for years at Notre Dame. As the months have gone by, the memory has weighed on Prades, 44, who has been at Notre Dame for more than 20 years. Préaut still has trouble sleeping. “There is a trauma from the event itself, from the hours that I spent in the cathedral,” Prades says. “There is also the trauma of knowing what might have happened.”

The two men are among a handful of people who have spent months working in trailers in the cathedral’s backyard, helping to prepare for the mammoth reconstruction ahead. The treasures and relics have been moved to a safe room within the Louvre Museum, and Notre Dame is wrapped in scaffolding and plastic. It will be shut perhaps until 2024, while its roof and spire are rebuilt. Until then, its ravaged state is a daily reminder of that terrifying night. “We would be happy to turn the page, to recover and go back to normal life,” Préaut says. When that time comes, the relics will go home, to their place of honor in a cathedral that, against the odds, still stands. —VW

A boy who helped change the law on school-lunch debt

Courtesy Kylie KirkpatrickRyan Kyote used his saved allowance to pay off his grade’s lunch-money debt

Nine-year-old Ryan Kyote was eating breakfast at home in Napa, Calif., when he saw the news: an Indiana school had taken a 6-year-old’s meal when her lunch account didn’t have enough money. Kyote asked if that could happen to his friends. When his mom contacted the school district to find out, she learned that students at schools in their district had, all told, as much as $25,000 in lunch debt. Although the district says it never penalized students who owed, Kyote decided to use his saved allowance to pay off his grade’s debt, about $74—­becoming the face of a movement to end lunch-money debt. When California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill in October that banned “lunch shaming,” or giving worse food to students with debt, he thanked Kyote for his “empathy and his courage” in raising awareness of the issue. “Heroes,” Kyote points out, “come in all ages.” —M. Carlisle

A one-man crew amid the flood

Courtesy Angela ChandlerSatchel Smith worked over 30 hours straight at Homewood Suites during Tropical Depression Imelda in Beaumont, Texas in Sept.

It was supposed to rain for only a few hours. When then 21-year-old Lamar University student Satchel Smith got to his job at Homewood Suites in Beaumont, Texas, on Sept. 18, he planned to leave promptly when his eight-hour shift was done; he had class in the morning. But the rain didn’t stop. By nightfall, Tropical Depression Imelda had flooded the highway. No one could reach—or leave—the hotel, and Smith was the only employee there to tend to the hotel’s roughly 90 guests.

According to the Texas Tribune, Imelda dropped up to 43 in. of rain in parts of southeast Texas and caused flooding that killed five people. But inside the hotel, Smith didn’t panic. He answered the phone as it rang all night. In the morning, people started looking for breakfast. Despite not knowing how to cook, Smith raided the kitchen and made sure everyone got a hot meal. The storm set off the fire alarm; he ushered tired guests out and back into the building.

Angela Chandler, an educator from Nacogdoches, Texas, was one of those guests. She had come to Beaumont for a business trip and was already nervous about being away from home. But as she watched Smith, she suddenly felt grateful. “Satchel was in and out of the kitchen, answering the phone, taking care of guests with a smile on his face,” she says. “And I looked at him and realized, ‘That baby is only a year older than my son.'” She was floored by his composure, and shared her observation on social media.

As the day ticked on, it became clear Smith would also have to cook dinner. By then the guests had started pitching in. Helping him cook and clean, they made chicken and pasta. A few people walked food and water out to truckers stranded on the highway. Someone brought out playing cards.

“We all came together. They made sure I was all right; I made sure that they were all right,” Smith recalls. Finally, another employee was able to get through the water in a monster truck to relieve him.

He had worked over 30 hours straight, and stayed awake the entire time.

Chandler’s post about Smith’s steadfastness quickly went viral. While he says it’s nice to be recognized, Smith adds, “I kind of feel like I was just doing my job.” —M. Carlisle

A bus driver who brought kids in from the cold

YoutubeNicole Chamberlain, a bus driver in Waukesha, Wis., brought two kids in as temperatures fell on Nov. 11

As temperatures fell below 20°F on Nov. 11, Nicole Chamberlain, a bus driver in Waukesha, Wis., peered through her windshield and saw two children wandering alone outside, headed toward a busy intersection. “They were upset, frazzled,” says Chamberlain, 44, who pulled her bus over and called out to them. When the ­children—a 2-year-old girl and her 6-year-old ­brother—came bounding over, Chamberlain realized neither was wearing a coat and the girl had on only a T-shirt and a diaper. “It was mind-­blowing,” says Chamberlain, who was captured on the bus’s surveillance cameras wrapping her coat around the toddler’s bare legs. Chamberlain stayed with the children until police arrived, along with the children’s grandmother, who was babysitting when they darted out of the house. “It’s nice to have a feel-good story to share,” says Chamberlain. After a fellow driver tipped off a local news station to the story, strangers from all over the country agreed. “You saw something amiss and chose to step up to prevent a potential tragedy,” one wrote on her Facebook page. “I hope your example inspires others.” —M. Chan

A coach who embraced an armed student

Jordan Murph—Sports Illustrated/Getty ImagesParkrose High School football and track coach Keanon Lowe in Portland on June 25

When a distressed student appeared before him, armed with a shotgun, Keanon Lowe had no time to think. The football and track coach at Parkrose High School in Portland, Ore., lunged for the firearm, as students knocked over desks in panic. “It was a very surreal moment,” Lowe says, “all the kids screaming for their lives.” After a tug-of-war that seemed to last forever, Lowe, 27, wrestled the gun out of the student’s grasp. Then, in an unexpected move, he pulled the student in for a hug. “I didn’t see an evil kid,” Lowe says. “I saw a kid that was going through a lot.”

The student, identified by authorities as 19-year-old Angel Granados-Diaz, had been suicidal for several months, according to prosecutors, when he took the loaded and legally bought shotgun to school on May 17. Before Lowe intervened, the teen had already tried killing himself outside a bathroom, but the shotgun did not discharge. “What he needed was a shoulder to cry on and someone to hug him,” says Lowe, who has been coaching and serving as the school’s security guard for the past two years. “I don’t know the last time he got a hug.” While Granados-Diaz resisted the embrace at first and tried shoving Lowe away, the coach’s comforting words soon softened him. “I told him that I cared about him and that I was there for him and I was there to save him,” Lowe says. “He was surprised that I had said that. He said, ‘You do?’ and looked me right in my face. I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ He gave in to the hug, and that made a huge difference.”

Lowe and Granados-Diaz were strangers until then, but they held their embrace for at least 20 seconds, as Lowe passed the shotgun to another teacher. The moment, captured by a security camera, moved tens of thousands of people who saw it on social media. “No one would have batted an eye if he responded more aggressively,” says the school’s principal, Molly Ouche. “But he had compassion.”

For his bravery and kindness, Lowe was awarded a civilian medal of heroism from Portland’s police chief, and the city’s mayor declared May 29 to be “Coach Keanon Lowe Day of Recognition.” The accolades have been humbling and overwhelming, says Lowe, who played football at the University of Oregon. But he’s ready to move on, mostly so Granados-Diaz can do the same. On Oct. 10, Granados-Diaz pleaded guilty to having a loaded firearm in public and was sentenced to 36 months of formal probation, which includes mental-health treatment. According to prosecutors, his gun was loaded with only one round, meant for himself. It was evident that day that the student was “fighting demons,” Lowe says.

“This was just one moment in my life that’s not going to define me,” he adds. “And it’s not going to define Angel as well.” —M. Chan

A woman who kept dozens of dogs safe during Hurricane Dorian

ZumaChella Phillips has run Pawtcake Refuge in Nassau since 2015

Chella Phillips has lived in the Bahamas since 2004, and she knows what a storm can do. When Hurricane Dorian barreled toward her home, she got to work. Phillips has run Nassau’s Pawtcake Refuge, which cares for homeless dogs, out of her home since 2015. She had 82 dogs there already but searched out more. By the time Dorian arrived, she was hunkering down in her three-­bedroom house with 97 dogs, and she dashed off a quick Facebook post about the mayhem. Then she lost power. It was only after Phillips emerged that she learned her post had gone viral. Nassau was largely spared, but the storm devastated the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, killing scores of people and leaving many with a sense of hopelessness. Her story had become a bit of positive news to hang onto, drawing thousands of messages from around the world. “I [said], ‘Why are people so impressed about this?’” she says. “Anybody who cares about these animals would have done that.” Still, she’s grateful for the extra attention on the dogs: in the week after Dorian, Phillips sent 68 to homes or rescue groups in the U.S. —M. Carlisle

This article is part of TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year package. Read more from the issue and sign up for the Inside TIME newsletter to be the first to see our cover every week.

via https://cutslicedanddiced.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/how-to-prevent-food-from-going-to-waste

[peckhampeculiar]

This is not a drill

WORDS: EMMA FINAMORE; PHOTO: LIMA CHARLIE

From gaining the support of international music stars and getting meetings with cabinet ministers, to arrests and accusations of dangerous behaviour from members of the public, it’s fair to say Extinction Rebellion is making its mark.

Known as XR for short, the group describes itself as an international “non-violent civil disobedience activist movement”, which wants governments to declare a “climate and ecological emergency” and take immediate action to address the climate crisis.

In April the group “shut down” London for 10 whole days – blocking bridges and using peaceful, mass civil disobedience, resulting in more than 1,000 arrests.

In June, activists blocked traffic in New York, and chained themselves outside Angela Merkel’s chancellery in Berlin. In Paris, police used pepper spray to clear activists blocking a bridge over the Seine. In July, XR used brightly coloured boats to stop traffic in Cardiff, Glasgow, Bristol, Leeds and London.

All this activity has brought them a lot of attention, both negative and positive. When a hacker stole a cache of unreleased Radiohead recordings, instead of paying the demanded ransom, lead singer Thom Yorke released the music online and pledged all the proceeds to XR.

The group has gained meetings with people like Michael Gove – then secretary of state for the environment – but has also drawn criticism for blocking roads required for emergency services like ambulances, and in July more than 30 activists were charged with a range of public order offences in London. Planned drone activity over the summer – in response to proposals for a third runway at Heathrow – was cancelled after police warned those involved they could face life sentences and urged campaigners to reconsider.

Clare Farrell – one of XR’s founding members – is in it for the long haul though. Having been involved in activism since the early 2000s, the threat of arrest, for her, pales in comparison to the threat of climate change.

Having studied and worked in fashion, even setting up her own apparel brand in a Bussey Building studio, how did she come to this seemingly contrasting world?

In the early to mid 2000s Clare was part of the Space Hijackers, which she describes as a group of “anti-capitalist troublemakers”, parking tanks outside arms fairs and throwing parties on the Circle line. They were aligned with Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping – a radical performance group based in New York, focusing on mass consumerism – and other groups, with lots of focus on consumer culture and stemming people’s addiction to shopping.

So when Clare started working in fashion, she tried to do so sustainably. “I did a fashion degree and I wrote about the environment,” she says. “And everyone told me it was really boring and unimportant.” She wrote about how much water cotton needs to be manufactured, and what she says are “tens of thousands of people poisoned to death every year by the cotton industry”.

How did she square that anti-capitalist, anti mass consumerism, environmentally aware mindset with the fashion world? “Well, they [fashion and her activism concerns] kind of should be mutually exclusive, that’s why I’m not doing much with my brand – I’m a one-woman business so there’s a big deficit if you’re just not interested in selling stuff. I feel like I like developing a good product but I couldn’t give a sh*t about selling it.”

Clare talks about the difficulty of working consciously in fashion, saying big brands don’t follow through on promises while small brands suffer from a lack of scale, so she bounced between the two for a while before deciding that “green capitalism is absolute sh*te, people need to get a grip because everybody is going to die and it’s all been a joke. It’s not interesting to make organic T-shirts if you’re expecting an uninhabitable planet by the end of the century.”

Then in 2017 she met one of the other main founding members of XR, Roger Hallam – a PhD researcher at King’s College London who was on a hunger strike to demand the university stopped investing in fossil fuels and who had been testing out various civil disobedience tactics for years. He went two weeks without food, after which King’s agreed to divest from fossil fuels by 2022 and to be a fully carbon neutral institution by 2025.

Inspired, Clare went along to a meeting. “I went thinking, ‘Loads of people will be there because it’s really interesting’, but there were like, five people,” she laughs. She started blocking roads, testing out tactics like Roger had done, as part of a campaign called Stop Killing Londoners, calling for radical action on air pollution.

“Londoners breathe illegal air,” she says. “They have done for about a decade. It’s obscene, I have total disgust for the way public health and the environment is viewed by politicians and the way it doesn’t meet. There are 9,500 deaths in this city every year linked to air pollution. And that’s not part of the climate conversation.”

What she says definitely seems to be backed up by research. In June, Public Health England reported that the rate of fatalities linked to breathing in killer particles rose from 6.4 per cent to 6.5 per cent in 2017. That followed a jump from 5.6 per cent to 6.4 per cent the previous year, suggesting that efforts to clean up particulate pollution are having little impact. Before that the death rate had been falling since 2010.

Clare says angrily: “If someone drives a car into someone on a pavement outside the Houses of Parliament, how many thousands of pounds are spent erecting a barrier overnight and keeping it there, and debating rerouting roads and changing the traffic system? And yet for the sake of nearly 10,000 deaths a year they won’t put any effort in at all?

“Politicians say the public just accept those deaths as inevitable, as part of ‘progress’. I don’t think they f***ing do! People just feel like they can’t do anything about it.”

Hoping to draw attention to their cause, Stop Killing Londoners organised a series of what Clare describes as “little experiments”, testing how long it was possible to block a road before being arrested.

Then members of the group began pushing their civil disobedience further, getting sentenced for spraying chalk spray on City Hall, for example – then breaking bail and going back to do it again and again – or going on hunger strikes in prison and writing to Sadiq Khan from inside.

“In some ways it’s really not cool to say, ‘Get arrested and that’ll fix it’, because it won’t fix it, at least on its own,” acknowledges Clare. “But when you say, ‘There’s no way I’m willing to stand by and watch you do this without doing anything, and you can chuck me in jail if you want’, it shows your commitment, and it gets you the sympathy of other people, who realise the seriousness of the situation and that we’re willing to make a very serious sacrifice for it.”

Clare says non-violent struggles are about winning hearts and minds, winning the intellectual and emotional argument. “You can’t beat the state on the ground,” she explains. “If they send the army in, what are you going to do? You won’t win a fight that way. And what we’ve already done is to be able to shift the language, that’s a battle in itself.”

For XR, the term “climate change” is problematic, only helpful to states and big business. “If you term it like that it sounds somehow less alarming, like ‘Maybe we didn’t do it ourselves’. And that’s been very clearly steered while the public have been confused and all the fake science and bullsh*t campaigns and the PR and the billions that the fossil fuel industry has spent on PR – all of that, swinging the language round.”

But now “climate emergency” is entering the public vernacular, which for activists is a far more fitting term. It’s no coincidence that this shift has taken place since the establishment of XR in May 2018, after activist network Rising Up committed to working together on environmental issues and ran a series of talks across the UK signing people up to support them in taking action.

The light touch civil disobedience tested out by people like Clare and Roger Hallam – such as spraying something on a wall then sitting next to it waiting to be arrested – is the bedrock of their work. But to make an impact, it’s needed en masse. How have XR persuaded so many people to stand with them in acts like this? For Clare, it’s all about the national talks the group ran.

“If you’re going to ask someone to go and break the law with you, you’re not going to get them to say that on Facebook. You have to talk to them and they have to feel that they trust you and that it’s going to be worth doing. In the world of activism and organising, people overstate the importance of online. It doesn’t help you get proper support, people who are going to put their body on the line. That involves real time and real connection.”

Clare’s well aware that this isn’t something everyone can commit to, regardless of how concerned they are about the environment. “It’s not possible for everybody to engage in that act,” she says. “There’s always been a conversation among the Rising Up community about recognising privilege, but also about using it.

“A lot of criticism we’ve received says, ‘Well not everyone can go and get arrested’, because it’s more difficult for them, or because they’ll be treated really brutally because they’re not white, or who can take time off work, or who can have a bad DBS check. And it’s all true, it’s not fair. But it’s not fair right now, and it’s going to get a lot less fair really quickly. The people who can’t afford to take the time off work are going to have to face a doubling in food pricing in about 10 years.”

She says that if you’re lucky enough to be able to afford to make sacrifices, then you should consider it, and that the group acknowledges that there’s work to be done to help those who feel excluded by their brand of action.

“There are people like carers at home who were saying, ‘I can’t come out on the streets, how can I be part of this?’ People from communities of colour who said, ‘We think it’s too dangerous for us to do this but how can we be a part of it?’ We need to get our heads together in the coming months to think more and more about how that looks because lots of people want to recognise themselves as in rebellion but are not able to do some of the things that we’ve been doing.”

Clare also talks about working to persuade industries and sectors like culture, teaching, music and construction to declare an emergency.

“Concrete is also killing you,” she says. “It’s got a huge carbon footprint and doesn’t stop, and it never disappears. Massive carbon emissions from the concrete industry hardly ever get scrutinised, but it’s really, really not good. And its use just goes up and up.” Six XR activists were arrested in July after chaining themselves to the entrances of a concrete factory in east London.

Despite the huge task ahead of XR, Clare also says it’s a magical feeling to be part of building something so big that it takes on a life of its own. “You think, ‘There used to be 10 of us on Marylebone Road feeling no one’s paying us any attention.’”

Well, they are now.

[sandwormsladybugs]

A Unique Photo

Inspired by this post by SinMother ™ (make sure you read it first ;)

 A thought

I saw this and just had to write on it. Thank you for the idea and permission.

‘Something unique… hmm, I can do that.’ Adrien mused in his head. “Hey could I borrow your camera for the night, I might just be able to do that for you.”

Marinette smiled, she had never quite gotten over her crush on Adrien, but at least since she had decided that if she was just going to be his friend she was going to act like a full on human being. Alya, of course, had a large hand in that, they had spent many a night practising. Adrien cleared his throat. She shook her head snapping out of her reverie. “Um, sure. The camera is nothing special, though. Just something my mum bought me for my birthday when I was younger.”

Adrien smiled that bright model smile at her. “Ya, but it's important that the shots have the same aesthetic. You know I have been in front of the camera myself a bit.”

She laughed at him, “I know silly." she dug a camera out of the drawer of her desk. "Here you go, best of luck.”

They passed the rest of the day with some UMS, battling each other to a near stand still until it was time for Adrien to go home. It was a lovely evening, so he decided to walk instead of calling for the car. He hummed quietly to himself as he enjoyed the sight of his city. Why was it that after being with Mari for any length of time he found himself relaxed and happy? After even a few minutes with Chlo, he could feel his shoulders bunch up. It wasn’t that she tried to work him up, but she always seemed to put a negative spin on everything unless it was about her. Mari always seemed the opposite, just like all of those images on her wall, she was always thinking about others. If it weren't for Ladybug, he would definitely want more of a  relationship with Mari.

As he walked along a red flash overhead caught his attention. A familiar figure swung past, he had the camera up in an instant and took a shot, but when he looked at the screen, all he had was an out of focus image of her back. ‘No good.’ What incredible luck, though, even after being partners for a few years they still didn’t  know each other's identities. He didn’t even have a way of contacting her unless they were both transformed. They had no schedule, they just had a knack for both showing up if there was an akuma on the loose. So her being out just when he needed her was a stroke of luck he normally didn’t have.

He jogged up the street, around the corner, and skidded to a halt. Looking around to catch his bearings he spotted in the middle of the square a column. Atop the column, there was the usual gold gilded winged statue, but perched in a squat on his right shoulder was his target. She seemed to be fiddling with her yo-yo. He skirted the edge of the square working towards the optimum angle for the shot.

Just as he found the perfect spot, she stood and turned away from him. “Damn it,” he muttered under his breath and moved to see if he might still get a shot. As he did, she swivelled, turned and just as suddenly cast her yo-yo out swinging off away from him.

He took off at a run hoping to not lose her. As he reached the Seine, he spotted her standing atop of a building perfectly silhouetted against the evening sky. He cursed that Mari’s camera was not the best, but he couldn’t say much he was the one that had insisted on using it. As the camera came up, she took off at a run down the rooftops of the buildings that ran down the centre of Île Saint-Louis.

He ran down the narrow street that ran the length of the island. Between sports, fencing and being Chat Noir he was still barely able to keep up. She had always been faster than him.  It was funny though, it seemed that she was always just ahead of him tonight. As he came to the far end of the island, he spotted his red and black pray. She was seated in a chair left out in front of the café that was at the end of the street just before the bridge that left the island.

This time he was going to get the shot. She was beautifully posed, arms loose on her lap, head slightly down, feet kicked out. He worked up along the building being as quiet as humanly possible. The red awning, the cobblestones, the green tree in the background this was gonna be the shot. Marinette was going to love it.

He stopped, adjusted his footing, slowly he brought the camera up. Oh, this was going to be perfect! He held his breath as he worked the zoom button. Suddenly she stood, her yo-yo whipped out into the distance, and she was gone!

Unbelievable! He ran out into the middle of the intersection and watched as she sailed off across the Seine. He watched as she did a flip and landed atop the apartment across the bridge. Shaking his head, he trotted off across the bridge hoping not to lose her.

She stood atop the building looking off into the distance, he grabbed a quick photo, but she was too far away. He hurried on and watched as her yo-yo zipped out latching onto the top most part of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame.

He was done! He had thought that this was going to be easy. He had no idea how Alya did it, he had no idea how Mari had got the shots of Chat that she had. He was going to cheat. He pulled open has dispatch bag, nestled in the bottom was Plagg.

“Cheese?” Yawned the tiny black cat god.

“Later Plagg for now, Transfome-moi!” Plagg shot up out of the bag, he swirled into Adrien's ring. In a green flash, Adrien disappeared replaced in an instant by Chat Noir. “There this should work better. She will have no idea,” he chuckled to himself as he drew out his staff and launched himself to the roof of the building that Ladybug had just been standing on.

He could see her hanging on the side of the spire atop the Cathédrale. She appeared to be studying here yo-yo once again, suddenly she turned in his direction, shook her head and then took off again. She was moving faster now. He finally caught up to her as she stopped in front of the Fontaine Saint-Michel. She stood in front of one of the dragons looking closely at her yo-yo once again. She seemed to be shaking her head.

She turned toward him as he approached, readying the camera. He wasn’t ready for the pained expression on her face. She shook her head and dashed off at a flat out run. He dropped the camera and let it dangle on the strap around his neck. He was sure she saw him. Oh, this was so confusing.

He extended his staff he sat atop it so he could get a better view. She had moved to the rooftops. She was running flat out. He let the staff fall in the direction she was going and made chase. It didn’t take long before he realised where she was going, the Eiffel Tower had become visible as he ran after her.

He watched as she hopped and sprang up the side, periodically using her yo-yo. He marvelled at her speed and agility. It didn’t take him long to reach the top. He found her sitting above the viewing deck amongst the antennas and dishes. She sat quietly with her feet pulled in tight.

“It didn’t take you long to catch up Kitty,” she said with a sigh as he landed beside her.

“You did give me a run for my money m’lady. May I have a seat?” she gestured to the spot beside her. He sat carefully. Close but not too close, almost afraid that she would bolt again. “You seemed to be in quite a rush. Is everything alright?”

Sounding sad she sighed, "actually Kitty no, no it's not."

"What's the matter Bugaboo? Did I do something wrong?"

"No Kitty, it was me, it's all my fault. I thought it would be fun, you had offered to take a picture of me for Marinette. It was supposed to be a fun game of hide and seek."

Chat smirked, "Oh you mean the camera my friend Adrien gave it to me so I could get a good shot."

Ladybug slowly shook her head, "sorry Adrien I can't pretend I don’t know. Please don’t hate me. I didn't mean it. It was supposed to be a game, honest." she buried her face in her hands. "I'm so stupid, we aren't supposed to play games. What we do is real, and I ruined it, I've made it messy and I can't undue it."

Chat sat looking off into the distance. "How?"

"I used a tracker on you. Like the one, you used on Kim when the zoo keeper was akumatized. I could see when you stopped and were about to take a picture and I could scoot on ahead and then wait for you to catch up. It was perfect till suddenly the tracker disappeared, and Chat Noir was where Adrien was a moment before."

"Ah," he said in silence measuring his next words carefully. "Well, Bugaboo, to be honest, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I can honestly say that I am not even disappointed. I know we have always said that it was safer to not know, but it was only a matter of time. As for playing, of course we play. How many times have we chased each other all over Paris? Playing, training same same as far as I am concerned."

She brought her head up and looked at him for the first time since they arrived. "Are you sure Kitty?"

"Of course I'm sure, I trust you, I have always trusted you with my life." he chuckled. "Now I know how Mari got all of those awesome shots of Chat Noir, she is a friend of yours somehow. Oh, and Plagg detransform." In a shower of black and green suddenly Adrien was sitting next to her. "This doesn't mean that I need to know who you are."

Ladybug sat staring, "actually Adrien I think it does. Tikki detransform." In a shower of pink and red suddenly Marinette Dupain-Chang was sitting beside a flustered looking Adrien. "Hi Kitty, surprise, actually it was Marinette that took those Chat Noir pictures. Who knew that we have been so close."

Adrien felt his cheeks ache as a smile blossomed. "Do you know what this means Bugaboo?"

"Um. No?" She said slightly puzzled.

He grinned at her. "I can ask you out on a date!" he said excitedly.

The happy giggle that rushed from her told him she was going to say yes.

Ao3

[rescue-satellite]

In Your Court

Chapter 8 of my Sidekick!Adrien AU is now on AO3!

based on the AU by @geek-fashionista

Marinette woke up with a headache that could take down three fully grown men if split equally between them. She immediately regretted every life choice that led her to that moment, including leaving the curtains open. The sun washed over her as her eyes cracked open unwillingly. For a cloudy morning, it was ungodly bright.

She turned over herself, feeling the warm blankets fall across her skin, and noticed briefly the emptiness in bed beside her. With a groan, she threw herself out of bed to get the coffee that awaited her. If only it made itself.

In the kitchen, she was almost shocked to see Nino, standing in jeans, sipping from a mug of coffee. She cinched her eyebrows as she walked up to him - not hiding the fact that she was still naked - and took the cup of warm coffee from his hand without a word. Cream and sugar was set up on the counter. She had no idea how long it took him to find sugar in the mess of her kitchen, but he had. “Good morning,” she mumbled through foul breath.

When she caught a whiff of herself she grimaced. “I’m going to take a shower.” She dragged her feet along the cold floor, not even trying to look appealing. “You can join me if you want, but I have to brush my teeth first.”

He shrugged and went with her.

After he left - which wasn’t for a while if we’re being honest here - she called Alya, who hadn’t had as much luck as she had. She was just as hungover, but it didn’t stop her from screeching.

“You fucked Nino?”

Marinette held the phone away from her ear for a moment to let the wave of shock pass before answering. “Yeah.”

“Adrien’s best and only friend?”

“I wouldn't say only-”

“Twice?”

“It was more like five…”

“Five?!”

“...or six?”

“Six times?!”

“It’s just sex, Alya. It’s not like anything’s gonna come of it. I mean, we both have-” She was about to say that they both had crushes on other people, but she knew that information would be pried out of her cold dead hands if she offered up any hint. She wouldn't be the person to tell Alya that Nino had a crush on her. No matter the friend code, Alya was close to a relationship, and Marinette could not damage that.

Nino would just have to wait.

“Well.” They sat for a moment on the phone, Marinette pouring herself another cup of coffee - her fourth - while Alya typed away endlessly on her keyboard. “Was is good?”

Marinette hung up and tossed her phone onto the couch, not caring that it bounced to the floor as she overshot it. That phone would never die.

Much to her chagrin, the phone started vibrating with alerts. She moaned and walked around the couch, flumping down onto it and retrieving her phone from under the table. Adrenaline spiked as the news alert for ‘akuma’ came across her screen, but it was a false alarm.

Some local journalist had written a piece about the hacking that had occurred in the video cameras around town when there was an akuma attack. Marinette didn’t have anything better to do, so she did what she rarely ever did, and started to read an article about herself. The hacking had been nearly untraceable, only found out because a secure server had a trip that hadn’t been disabled.

The report went on to say that more hacking had been reported around the city when the akuma attacks occurred. Cameras followed Ladybug as she swung to and fro, but more interestingly, lighting systems from the city and in private buildings had been switched in the midst of an attack. Marinette thought back to her latest attacker, the Jockey. While horses rampaged through the street, the traffic lights had switched to red, preventing anyone from entering the path of the stampede. She thought it had been her doing.

“Tikki!” Marinette called. The fairy flew from her spot in the closet and settled near the crook of her neck, where she was still warm from the shower.

“What is it, Marinette?” Tikki said.

“When we were fighting the Jockey, did we do anything with the traffic lights?”

The little red kwami shook her head. “No. We don’t possess that kind of magic. Heightened strength and speed, sure, but we can’t manipulate electricity like Lady Wifi.” They looked at the phone for a moment, contemplating. “Why?”

Marinette thought back further. “So when we were fighting Siren, we didn’t set off the lights either?”

“No. We couldn't have.”

Thoughts and memories circulated in her head. “And the barriers in the windows hadn’t been tripped until we were in the building, even though Siren had used most of her abilities outside the building. And the akuma before Jockey, the Riddler, she got shocked by the electrical fence, even though it had been disabled. Tikki.”

“Yes, Marinette?”

“I think people are hacking us.”

The implication was lost. “What do you mean? They watched through the cameras, right?”

“Right. But I’m talking about someone hacking to fight.” She stared at her phone while a sinking feeling balled in the pit of her stomach. “Someone is actively helping us by hacking into the electrical systems.”

“What’s wrong?” Tikki laid a hand on Marinette’s cheek, where a generous flush was forming.

“I don’t know.” She did.

She didn’t like the idea that someone thought she was weak, or that she needed any sort of help. She had been Ladybug for a long time, and had picked up a lot of skills, and she didn’t need assistance doing her job. It was stressful, sure, and she had a hard go of it sometimes, but it was her work. No one else’s. She couldn't let others be hurt. But she didn’t tell Tikki. She just shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

A deeper headache was forming in between her eyes, and she pinched the bridge of her nose to try to ward it off. Her head was pounding though all the lights in the room were turned off. She thought she could smell the bacon being cooked downstairs and the smell made her nauseous. She wanted to curl into a ball and hide from the world until the bad feelings went away.

But the word didn’t like to be hidden from.

Her phone beeped again, the word akuma scrawled across several news lines. Marinette thought little of it until more popped up. “Akuma attack...” “New Akuma Villain Spotted...” “Ladybug Needed…”

“Aw, fuck!” Marinette moaned and told Tikki to transform her.

Even in the suit, her body ached. The joints of her shoulders cried out as she swung through buildings and around chimneys, her legs yelled at her as they pounded across rooftops and pavements like, her head was stabbing itself with tiny needles to try and end the misery. But still, she kept running.

All the alerts told her to head toward the Parc de Princes, and she hurried in that direction. She flew across the Seine in one swing and her body protested the movement. Tikki must be tired, too. Even if it had been three days since the last attack, more than enough time for them to recuperate, Tikki took as much energy from Marinette as Marinette did her, and both their energy was low, their bodies sore and lethargic.

It took more time than it should have for Ladybug to make it to the grand stadium, where some performance had been interrupted by an akumatized victim. Light flashed across tendrils of spiky arms that flicked through the air, cutting, stabbing, and slicing everything they touched. The screams of those in the stadium crescendoed as they made it to the doors and found they were locked.

Ladybug didn’t take the time to survey the scene, however much she wanted to. Her mind was slower than it should be, and she knew it would take far too much time, and people were already being injured below her.

As a shimmering spiked limb shot out toward the crowd of people cowering at the doors of the stadium, Ladybug dropped in front of the projectile, spinning her yoyo fast enough that it formed a shield in front of the innocent passersby. The arm at had reached her shattered and spit back, the entire length falling into pieces, lifeless on the floor. They glittered in the dim light of the day.

Ladybug waded through the frightened crowd of people and with one deft kick, broke open the doors. It only took seconds for the crowd to disappear out the door, all trying to fight each other to be the first to leave.

With the majority of the innocents to safety, and all who were left inching toward the now opened door, Marinette took the time to survey the scene. She didn’t see the akuma, and assumed that it would be regrouping after she had shattered its arm.

The shards of material lying on the floor were thick like a carpet as she approached. Crouching down, she examined one sharp piece, holding it up to the light.

Unnaturally clear glass, sharp on all edges, seemed to disappear at every other angle. Even as she felt it in her fingers, it seemed as if she was holding something invisible, until a hint of light caught it at the right angle and the entire thing became visible to her again. She could feel the razor edges biting into her skin.

Movement below her caught her eyes. She looked down and saw the other shards shaking slightly, as if trying to assemble themselves together again. The piece in her hand pulled itself away from her like it was attached to a string and jumped away. Her eyes followed the trajectory, where the akuma stood, seemingly made of the glass-like material that had been made of her arm.

The akuma stood in the very center of the stadium-turned-arena and Marinette's mind flashed back to her first battle against Stone Heart in this very location. She had barely been able to escape his grasp the first time, and when the butterfly carrying the evil magic multiplied and spread, she thought the day would be lost. It was the first time that Marinette had acted purely on instinct, in that first battle, and it hadn’t done her any good.

Now, with years of experience under her belt, she was ready, more than ready, to fight this akuma.

The shards of glass covered her in intricate patterns, obscuring the skin that was translucent like the rest of her costume. Marinette tried to focus on all of her at the same time, but as soon as her eyes moved to another part of her body, the previous section was lost to her eyes. It was as if the akuma was disappearing and reappearing just as quickly, transforming before her eyes.

A wicked smile appeared on the akuma’s face, right before her entire body vanished.

Ladybug bent her knees in a ready position, flashes of movement hitting her from the corners of her eyes. She scanned the entire area, trying to find something that would indicate the akuma’s location. She saw nothing. Even the tendrils of glass shards were obscured to her.

A dull, quick impact in her back sent her forward, somersaulting and crouching down, her yoyo streaking out behind her and catching nothing. The air behind her was vacated before she had the chance to make an attack, and there seemed to be nothing else in the vicinity.

A tug at her ponytail sent her reeling around, swinging her yoyo laterally through the air to catch whatever she could. Mocking laughter followed her.

Marinette’s face contorted into a scowl as she resigned herself to listening instead of looking. The faint clink of glass on glass surrounded her, rendering that line of detection useless. Almost imperceptible movement was all around her.

Finally, when Ladybug assumed the mirage took too much energy to maintain, the akuma’s tentacle appeared and bore down on her, crashing directly where she had been a split second before. Her yoyo whizzed through the arm, breaking it in half, but the pieces sewed themselves together as soon as they broke apart. Again, the tendril of glassy anger followed in her path, and Marinette kept her yoyo whistling in circles to prevent any of the tiny darts of glass to come anywhere near her.

They seemed to work simultaneously and independently. Like a well-commanded army. Each piece had their objective, and they worked together when necessary, and took their own charges when the opportunity struck. Ladybug found herself fighting against individual bits with her hands while her yoyo took the majority of the tentacle. Tiny, paper-cut like wounds marred her hands, and eventually her fingers were dripping with blood.

Futilely, she shot her yoyo out with one major swipe, coming down across the line of glass. The tendril burst into fragments, falling to the floor like they did before, bearing their master to her.

Ladybug named this one Mirage, her face shocked and contorted into a dozen different expressions at once. The set of her mouth finally formed into a scowl, and she flashed out of sight again.

Useless while she watched, Marinette set herself to swiping through the air with her yoyo randomly, hoping to catch the akuma. Ladybugs were a symbol of good luck, right? She needed some at that moment.

Something bore into her back, and she felt a long slice of something cutting into her. She tried to bite back a scream unsuccessfully as she rolled away, dodging whatever came next and blindly sending her yoyo out behind her. A gross sense of satisfaction came with the grunt that followed the contact of the yoyo.

Mirage stood, clutching her arm. At least, Marinette assumed that she was. It was hard to tell either way.

After she disappeared, Ladybug took the moment of opportunity to call for her Lucky Charm. A red and black-spotted torch fell into her hands in one moment, and in the next, she was being pummeled in the back with sharp fists.

A quick flip of the switch turned the light on, and she pointed it as she twisted at face the akuma. The brightness caused Mirage to cover her eyes, and for the first time, Marinette could see every movement clearly. The light refracted throughout the akuma’s body, and she stood out from the grassy stadium, clear as day.

Ladybug smirked at the sudden look of panic that came across Mirage’s face, and took that moment to fire her yoyo toward the akuma. She was met with more glass shards firing at her, and it took everything she had to prevent herself from being sliced to ribbons.

When the tendril was dispatched, the torch’s light searched for the akuma. She whipped around in search, making sure to keep moving and prevent another attack from behind. Blood could be felt dripping from her hand, and sliding down her back. It couldn't be said how many wounds she had now, but she couldn’t think of that now. The pounding in her head, ache in her body, and sharp pain of the cuts all over came second to making sure this akuma would never be able to hurt anyone else.

The flash of light was reciprocated as it bounced off of Mirage, and Ladybug bore down, her yoyo hitting her as swiftly as possible to break down her defenses. A chorus of grunts came from her as she was hit again and again, beating her until she had to crouch to the floor and protect her middle. As she went to wrap the thin yet indestructible chord around the akuma and render her immobile, another tentacle of glass blindsided her with a gesture from Mirage. A nearly imperceptible flick of the wrist sent glass shards toward Mari, blocking the yoyo from trapping her in its grip.

Ladybug flew across the stadium, coming to a rolling halt and hitting the ground and the wall hard. She grunted and looked up.

The red torch was half way across the stadium, glinting in the cloudy light of the day, but nothing else seemed to be in the cavernous space. She struggled to stand up, her yoyo retracting into itself slowly. Her eyes scanned and she waited for another attack. For now, she could only play defense until she got the light back.

The face of Mirage appeared in front of her as the stadium lights poured down suddenly. Both clenched their eyes shut to shield from the blinding lights, a thousand times more potent than the handheld torch Ladybug was wielding. The entire space was flooded with light, and her head pounded with hangover and new opportunity.

Finally, she could see the small glass figurine that hung at the neck of the akuma, glittering with its own faint purple light. Marinette went out to grasp it as Mirage flicked her wrist again, sending the glass shards into her. Their pierced into her arm and she cried out with the unbearable pain it caused. The force that knocked her over also brought the akuma-infected necklace to the breaking point, and the chain shattered like glass.

Mirage, her form flickering in the stadium lights, stood tall and intimidating over Ladybug, who looked as crippled as she felt. A wave of hopelessness washed over her as fear settled in her stomach. The feeling was painfully familiar, and unwelcome memories flashed into her mind.

Tears not brought by the shards of glass sticking from her body coursed down her face as she brought the necklace in her hand into the ground. The glass broke in two and a purple butterfly wiggled out.

Ladybug struggled to manually open the yoyo at her side to begin the healing process as Mirage took one last opportunity for attack.

She didn’t know how, because darkness overtook her in those final moments, but the akuma was cleansed.

When she came to, it was with the woman who had been akumatized hovering over her.

“Ladybug? Are you okay?”

Her breath left her body as she realized she hadn’t detransformed. She looked down at her costume, which was still encasing her with red warmth, and felt tremendous relief.

The woman kneeling over her was older than she expected. Lines creased her face and she grasped the glass figurine that had been her sickness tightly in her hand. Her hair was frazzled and unkempt, as were her clothes, but the clearness of her eyes reminded Marinette of the glass she used as her weapon.

Ladybug struggled to sit up. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” It hurt even worse to stand, but she did and lent a hand to the woman who had just been cleansed. “Are you alright? You had it worse than me.”

The woman nodded. “Yeah. I think so. I was an akuma?” A tear leaked from her eye.

“You were. But you’re better now. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”

Ladybug instructed her with a sure voice to leave the stadium and find help. She couldn’t let her see the pain she struggled against, even while the blood leaked down her side. She watched as the woman made her way from the stadium, shaking and scared, wishing she could have helped, but she would have fared no better. And it wouldn't have benefitted either of them to see the Hero of Paris in such a vulnerable position.

Slowly, she made her way to the middle of the field, where the red spotted Lucky Charm awaited her. There was no enthusiasm in her chant, but she could feel the slight ebbing of pain as healing powers washed over her. They wouldn’t do much, but enough. The rushing feeling of the magic overpowered her and she had to keep herself from collapsing.

Eyes seemed to be watching her as she stood there, but she knew the stadium would be empty by then. There was relatively no structural damage, and anyone who had been hurt would be outside where the paramedics awaited them.

Still, the feeling wouldn't cease.

Marinette shifted her shoulders back and looked around. Cameras pointed to her, watching, and she realized she was being watched. Of course. As she saw more of them, she could see every one was pointing to her, the small light flashing to say they were on. Boldness crept into her belly, and she had to know.

“Can you…” she cleared her throat and tried again, calling louder. “Can you hear me?”

For a moment, it felt ridiculous. She was calling into an empty stadium. Of course no one would be able to hear her. Her shoulders slumped and she began to walk away when the light of the jumbojet screen came to life.

Her eyes latched onto the screen, blank for a moment, then with the pixelated animation of a black cat, with bright green eyes staring down at her. A flush of heat began in her gut. The cat seemed to laugh down at her, bearing bright white teeth, and then it was gone.

The lights of the stadiums crashed off, leaving her stumbling blindly, with more questions than she had answers. As per usual.

[ecofinisher]

The Adventures of Super Nathan 3 - Chap 30

Chapter 30

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23301076/chapters/59554777

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13531960/30/The-Adventures-of-Super-Nathan-3

https://www.wattpad.com/901560530-the-adventures-of-super-nathan-3-chapter-30-two

Kagami leaned against the wall gazing down at the Seine, where she had lost her miraculous waiting for Adrien‘s arrival.

From above a building a dark-dressed superhero appeared landing on the streets behind Kagami, then he approached Kagami and placed his hand on her shoulder.  

„Your alright?“ Cat Noir asked, then Kagami pointed down at the river.

„We sat here together and the miraculous flew right down there“ Kagami answered. „Raiden hasn‘t shown up yet to help me, he said he needed a fishing rod,“

„Okay, I will find it for you, even if I have to search up the whole river for the rest of the night“ Cat Noir answered picking up his staff climbing on the wall, then Kagami grabbed the boyfriend on the leg, which looked back at the woman.

„Be careful“ Kagami warned the blonde, which nodded at the girl and took a leap at the bridge across them and dived into the river. Kagami followed the wall next to the bridge to get down to the docks of the tour boats and approached the river and got down on her knees waiting for her partner to come back.

In the meanwhile on a small motorboat appeared the man Raiden Soto from under the bridge and waved at Kagami, then stopped in the middle of the Seine.

„I have found a helping hand“ Raiden mentioned. „He will borrow me an underwater telescope so we can easier find your necklace“

„That‘s great“ Kagami complimented out loud. „Be careful, Cat Noir is down there too“

„What is he doing there?“ Raiden asked.

„Helping me!“ Kagami answered earning a nod from the raven-haired man, which sat down on the edge of the boat next to the driver.

„Don‘t worry, Cat Noir is a good superhero, he won‘t do you or your girlfriend anything“ The man assured the man, which nodded.

„No, I‘m more surprised, what he‘s doing here“ Raiden mentioned suspicious about seeing Kagami and Cat Noir in the same place.

„Well you know all the superheroes are still present in our city and usually have their eyes wide open for any situation. They don‘t have it as much as they had in the past with the akumas, but it‘s good to know, they‘re still here with us“ The man said handing Raiden out his telescope. „You stuck the one end in the water and look through it. You‘re able to zoom too, if necessary,“

„Okay,“

„Also I will need your eyes when we have to pull it out, “ The man said letting the end of the fishing rod into the water while Raiden used the telescope to look down into the water and saw Cat Noir with his baton in front of the lips swimming around the ground palpating with his fingers the ground looking for the miraculous. Cat Noir felt the hitch stitch his head, then he looked up to recognize two persons on a boat, and Cat Noir remembered Kagami mentioning, that Raiden was looking for a fishing rod and might have arrived now. Cat Noir wiped off with his hands on the ground the grains of sand on the ground slowly, then he felt something and he wiped the sand off that place to encounter a beer bottle, making Cat Noir roll his eyes and use his other hand to search for objects and ends up finding a broken cutter, then he takes it and swims up at the surface to encounter Raiden on the boat along with the owner.

„I haven‘t found it yet, but if someone had a bag or something, I would appreciate it“ Cat Noir mumbled, then the man gave him one from a box he had filled with utensils for fishing.

„It may smell after fish, but it‘s the only thing I can give you“ The man answered, watching Cat Noir take the bag and dive into the water again.

„I think for now we have to wait a little“ Raiden said earning a nod from the man, then Raiden took his smartphone out and typed down Parisian superheroes and scrolled the page down on the image category and opened a picture, where he saw Ryuko posing with her sword behind the back, then Raiden noticed around the heroine‘s neck a black choker with the red pearl in the middle and he zoomed in to the picture to see it and creased his eyebrows about the similarity of the necklace.

„They are superheroes“ Raiden marveled about analyzing the image of the superheroine Ryuko. „This is the only logical way for her to be worried about it“

From the water appeared Cat Noir jumping up at the boat, then Raiden and the man helped Cat Noir sat up and he dropped down the plastic bag filled with trash he found under the river and on the other hand he held a black thread, which was from Kagami‘s choker, then Raiden placed his hand on Cat Noir‘s then he revealed the missing chocker of the Japanese woman.

„Wow you found it“ Raiden mentioned it earning a nod from the blonde, then Raiden took the choker, and Cat Noir removed the baton from his lips.

„The Seine needs a little clean up“ Cat Noir mentioned.

„Is the Seine looking that bad?“ The man asked picking up his telescope to look into the water.

„It‘s not worse, but it did look better in the past“ Cat Noir answered standing beside the man, then Raiden tapped Cat Noir on the shoulder.

„Something just fell off the boat,“ Raiden pointed out and Cat Noir looked down at the water and Raiden shoved the man with his leg down on the water shrieking Cat Noir.

„Hey!“ Cat Noir yelled following the man to help him up to stay over the shallow of the water. „Why did you do that?“ Cat Noir asked watching Raiden put the motor running of the boat and turn around near them and Cat Noir pulled the man down to avoid the two getting injured by the blades of the rotor, then Cat Noir observed under the water Raiden head to the port, where Kagami was standing.

„Raiden, why did you do that?“ Kagami scolded the man, which held the miraculous in his hands.

„This necklace here isn‘t just a simple necklace isn‘t it?“ Raiden asked watching Kagami glaring at him.

„I have no idea, what you‘re talking about, just give me my miraculous back!“ Kagami ordered making Raiden wide his eyes at her revelation.

„So you indeed are a superhero!“ Raiden pointed out making Kagami growl.

„Just give me the miraculous, it‘s dangerous if you don‘t know, how to use it“ The woman pointed out watching Raiden put the miraculous on and from the miraculous Longg had appeared in front of him.

„What happened?“ Longg asked, then saw Raiden wearing the miraculous and dropped his arms in shock. „Oh oh,“

„You‘re going to introduce me to your pet?“ Raiden asked making Longg cross his arms.

„I‘m a kwami,“ The red kwami corrected. „And if I were you, I would take the miraculous down and give it back to the specific holder“

„Why should I?“ Raiden asked. „You‘re not my boss“

„Raiden just give me back my miraculous.....come on,“ „Maybe later, I‘d like to know how this works“

„Just forget about that Raiden, “ Kagami said. „Give it back“ She begged, making the man chuckle.

„Little kwami, come on, I‘m curious to know, how it feels being in the skin of a superhero. Wouldn‘t you at least give me a minute with it?“

„Don‘t do it Longg!“ Kagami ordered, then watched Cat Noir swim along with the man towards the boat, then the man was helped up by the cat-themed superhero to climb back on the boat. „Or you know what?“ Kagami said, making the friend lift up his left eyebrow. „Just say, Longg, break the storm“

„Why the heck should I say Longg break the storm?“ The man asked activating the miraculous to transform into a dragon-themed superhero. „Woah it worked!“ Raiden extolled, then felt the boat move and Cat Noir stood there with the man looking at the dragon-themed superhero.

„Hey why….who are you?“ Cat Noir asked making the man cross his arms.

„I was wondering, why Kagami made such a drama because of the necklace and it was all because this was the miraculous. Her miraculous“ „Oh wow…..Ryuko you look as a civilian really gorgeous?“ Cat Noir commented a little unsure about the discovery of Kagami‘s secret identity.

„I know it‘s you, Adrien. You obviously look like him, just with different hair“ Raiden pointed out.

„You told him about me?“ Cat Noir asked shocked.

„Why should I do that?“ Kagami asked about her boyfriend‘s question, then Cat Noir nodded at the woman‘s answer. „He figured mines out, it wouldn‘t take him long to find out yours“

„How did you find out about it?“ Cat Noir asked, then the man pointed at the choker.

„Who would make such a big drama about a necklace?“ Raiden answered sarcastically. „Also you told me the other day about the so-called magic jewelry and I noticed her necklace and how similar you two were to those superheroes I saw on the videos. How didn‘t any of your friends notice that?“

„They all have different theories about us you know, by the way, they can just confirm anything as long as they haven‘t seen both of us close up for comparison,“ Cat Noir mentioned. „So if you don‘t mind, give the miraculous back to me and we‘re all cool, “ Cat Noir asked holding out his hand for the man, which placed his hands around his neck, gazing at the eyes of the superhero, then he smirked and he gave Cat Noir a Muay Thai kick hitting the blonde on his arms as he quickly reacted to the attack and fell down on the boat over the man.

„Adrien!“ Kagami complained, then Raiden grabbed Kagami on her arm pulling her to follow him, but she slapped his arms away from him. „Get your hands off me!“ Kagami shouted, then Cat Noir got up on the four legs and glared at the Japanese man, which stood on the ground next to Kagami.

Cat Noir jumped on the ground taking his baton holding it behind his back, making Raiden smirk and take out his sword.

„You‘re going to fight with that?“ Raiden asked earning a nod from the cat-themed superhero.

„You'd be surprised how good I am, with it"  Cat Noir answered. „Otherwise I would be dead a long time ago“ Mentioned the dark-dressed superhero, then got attacked by the raven-haired man and he began to use his staff to reflect the attacks of the miraculous holder.

„Guys stop that“ Kagami ordered watching the two fight.

„Kagami get away from here, “ Cat Noir asked earning a nod from the girlfriend, which ran at the stairs and stopped seeing the two friends fight against each other. Kagami opened the contact list on her smartphone and made a video call to the superhero chat and was answered first by Marinette Dupain-Cheng which sat inside a restaurant.

„Marinette, can you tell Luka to come help?“ Kagami asked showing to Marinette Cat Noir fighting with the dragon-themed antagonist.

„Sure Kagami…... Luka would totally love to help Adrien…...move the curtains, he‘ll be there“ Marinette answered making Kagami furrow her eyebrows.

„Uhm where are you?“ Kagami asked, then Marinette discreetly showed herself on the restaurant along with Luka, Alya and Nino. „Okay, tell him to hurry up“ Kagami placed her smartphone on the rail of the stairs and looked at Cat Noir walk backward as the man guided him away. Kagami looked around for anything, that she could use to help her boyfriend and she ran the stairs up and near a small food barrack and stopped in front of the barrack to observe the owner clean the counter of the vehicle.

„Quick it‘s an emergency, I need something long and hard“ Kagami ordered the man making him chuckle.

„How necessary do you have it, girl?“

„Just give me that long spoon over there. While you‘re here making jokes Cat Noir is having trouble fighting a villain“ Kagami warned earning a nod from the woman as he understood how serious it was.

„Oh uh okay, don‘t worry, “ The man said getting her the large soup spoon. „Does someone down there need soup?“ The man asked watching Kagami grab the spoon.

„Maybe later, if not I take on in exchange, “ Kagami said, then she ran back to the stairs and noticed on the ground the small street chess game on the ground with its figures shaped after the Eiffel tower, which gave Kagami an idea, then she collected a few and brought them to the stairs, then ran back to get some more and she placed on on the wall and aimed Raiden, which was being dominated by Cat Noir right now and she observed the two fight and as Cat Noir used his staff to jump up in the air to dodge an attack, Kagami used her spoon to kick the Eiffel tower figure against the two, managing to hit Raiden on the head. Kagami grinned at the success, then threw the next two figures and the third one hit Cat Noir‘s head as he was about to attack Raiden.

„Sorry!“ Kagami apologized watching Cat Noir look up at her, afterward Kagami saw Raiden aim Cat Noir shrieking her. „Watch out!“

Cat Noir ducked down, then used his baton to push Raiden down on the ground, then Cat Noir used his staff to held the man down by his arms and with his other arm he went behind Raiden‘s neck and Raiden moved his head to hit Cat Noir on his nose, making him cover his nose with his hands afterward Raiden pushed Cat Noir away from him with the baton and threw it into the river.

„Get out of there!“ Kagami warned the blonde, then threw down at the two the Eiffel tower figures missing Raiden, afterward Cat Noir tripped over a figure landing on the floor, then Raiden got over Cat Noir and held him down with his sword just like Cat Noir did before and Kagami grabbed another chess figure and threw it at the head of Raiden, followed by a second one and Cat Noir threw the man away and looked up at Kagami, which pointed at the spoon earning a nod from the blonde and Kagami dropped the spoon for the boyfriend to catch it, afterward, Raiden threw towards Cat Noir with the chess figures, that lied next to him on the floor, then Cat Noir used the spoon to smack the figures away from him, then got hit after the sixth time on his hands making him yelp. Raiden ran towards the superhero, then held him against the wall with his sword glaring into his eyes.

„The other day you had just luck. You‘re not even as good fighting as a hero“ Raiden divulged, then looked at his hands to see the black ring on his finger, then he smirked and he throws Cat Noir down on the ground and pressed him down on the ground with his knees and grabbed the hand with the ring and removed it causing him to transform back into Adrien Agreste.

„Woah, woah, woah, time out!“ Plagg ordered the dragon holder, then got slapped away by Raiden and Plagg landed on the ground in front of Kagami.

„What happened?“ Plagg asked looking up at his holder‘s girlfriend, who saw now Raiden being kicked on the stomach, then Adrien managed to get up, then Raiden moved his sword to hit Adrien, but luckily the blonde jumped over it and tripped over the sword landing on his butt, therefore Raiden got pointed his sword at Adrien, which held his hands up, while Raiden got up on his feet and kicked Adrien on the chest making him yelp in pain, then the raven-haired man pulled the Frenchman down with his sword and held it in front of his throat making Adrien gulp.

„Oh oh,“ Plagg stated in shock about the situation.

„Kagami, use Plagg to transform“ Adrien ordered and Kagami looked at Plagg, which shook his head.

„You can‘t do it,“ Plagg warned earning a nod from the kwami.

„Plagg, let her do it!“ Adrien hissed, then shrieked as Raiden touched him with the tip of the sword.

„She can‘t do that. I can‘t protect her from an abort“ Plagg warned the blonde, which was startled by Raiden‘s threat.

„Raiden don‘t do that to him!“ Kagami shouted shocked about his idea.

„Why shouldn‘t I?“ Raiden asked. „He‘s no good for you. There are other people that are worth your attention,“

„If you‘re talking about people like you, I‘d rather be all by myself than wasting my time with them“

„Oh and do you think you know the real me at all?“

„There I see it“ Kagami answered. „And the day you jumped in front of the car in front of our house, just to frame Adrien and get him punished. The real you always was egocentric, rude and adaptable, but adaptable for the wrong things. You obviously just played a good person, so you could get between me and Adrien and you know what?“ Kagami asked making the man growl. „I believe the one, who tried to frame me in Adrien‘s bedroom was you too“

„You don‘t know anything about me!“

„You lied Raiden, I could read it those times on your face“

„Lucky you, you‘ve studied medicine“ „I‘m studying law, medicine is doing Adrien“ Kagami corrected. „The reason I can figure out people‘s lie is that I grew up helping out a friend getting rid of her lying behavior “ Kagami explained, then Raiden grabbed a chess figure and threw it at Kagami, which dodge it and saw Raiden raise his sword up to finish his job.

„Any last words?“ Raiden asked looking at Adrien, which looked terrified at the man and Kagami looked at Adrien‘s fright getting tears streaming down her face.

„P….plagg!“ Adrien stammered, then Kagami bursted into tears, which the two men saw.

„I‘m pregnant Adrien!“ Kagami blurted out, making Adrien drop his mouth along with Raiden, which was more shocked about the revelation, than Adrien. Kagami fell down on her knees, making Adrien look worried at her. „You‘re going to be a father“

„What?“ Adrien asked confused about Kagami‘s revelation. „But how?“

„You don‘t even know, how that could happen?“ Raiden asked looking down at Adrien in surprise.

„Just shut up!“ Kagami yelled, making Adrien frown as Kagami was getting worse with the crying, then Raiden stabbed the sword next to Adrien‘s body on the ground.

„Every man can make a baby, but only the real ones can be a father“ Raiden pointed out looking down at Adrien, which rolled his eyes down in guilt, then he growled and tried to shake Raiden off his body, therefore, Raiden grabbed his sword and swung it back, but before he managed to stab Adrien a boxing hand glove formed like a fist appeared in front of Raiden and pushed him away from Adrien.

Adrien sat up and saw on the top of the bridge Super Nathan standing together with Viperion, which played with his lyre by throwing it up.

„Hey wish dragon, give the miraculous back!“ Super Nathan ordered.

„We‘ve got more of them fists, if you know what I mean“ Viperion added making Super Nathan chuckle.

„We could just use your second chance and go back in time to do that“ Super Nathan pointed out earning a thumb up from the snake-themed superhero.

„It‘s not needed“ Adrien mentioned, then Kagami sneaked behind Raiden and removed the choker of his neck letting it fall on the ground causing him to drop his transformation to look like his civilian self again.

„Hey!“ Raiden shouted, then Adrien grabbed the miraculous crossing his arms looking at Raiden, which now had nothing to fight with.

„Interested in a street fight?“ Adrien asked the raven-haired man, making Raiden think about, then he looked up at the superheroes and waved at them, which looked at each other in confusion, then Raiden ran off leaving the friends in peace.

„Should we go behind him?“ Viperion asked looking down at Adrien, which shrugged his shoulders.

„Let him go“ Adrien answered. „He might have learned his lesson, “ Adrien said, then Super Nathan pointed to himself and took off in the air with his jetpack, while Viperion jumped down on the ground to approach Adrien, which got down on his knees to check on Kagami.

„Are you okay?“ Adrien asked placing his hand on her cheek, then Kagami hugged him leaning her face on his neck. Adrien caressed his girlfriend on the back and sat down on the ground with the girl sitting over his lap, then Adrien thought about what Kagami revealed before and moved her face up carefully to be able to look into her brown eyes.

„Was that, what you wanted to tell me the other day?“ Adrien asked. „About the pregnancy?“

„Yes“ Kagami answered.

Viperion got down at the two friends and held out his hands at the two.

„Let‘s get out of here. You two can discuss this at home“ Viperion suggested earning a nod from the two, then Plagg appeared holding his ring and handed it out to Adrien.

„Thank you Plagg“

 Later at the Agreste manor Cat Noir carried Kagami in his arms then landed at the edge of his bedroom‘s window, which was leaned back and from Kagami‘s pocket Longg got out and entered to open the window for them and Cat Noir entered into the bedroom and carried Kagami to the bed sitting her down on the edge of the mattress.

„How are you?“ Cat Noir asked looking at Kagami, which lied down on the bed.

„I‘m feeling better now“ Kagami answered.

„Hey…..I‘m sorry about not believing in you about today‘s situation. I was a little frightened if this was just a trick or if that was real“ Cat Noir apologized.

„And I‘m sorry I didn‘t tell you earlier about my pregnancy….I was afraid you would get mad at me, because you would have to skip school in the future because of me and in the very start, I thought you weren‘t interested into kids, because of what happened back in the laser arena“ Kagami explained passing her hand under her eyes as she had another tear coming down her face, then Cat Noir lied down next to her with his belly down and caressed her on the cheeks making her smile.

„You know I would love it….it‘s just kind of the wrong time you know“ „If you want I could go for an abortion, but…...it‘s my fault if I didn‘t listen to your idea of using protection during my menstruation. Also you have to listen to my view, I‘m only allowed until the end of the next week to get an abortion if I want to and I also need to speak with the medics, because of it, but I know it‘s the wrong moment, but there‘s a living being inside of me. Our common child. I don‘t want it to pay with its life, just because I made a mistake,“

„You didn‘t do the mistake by yourself, I did too,“ Adrien corrected. „And if you think the best solution is to keep the baby, then I agree with you. We can always continue our education afterward, right?“ Adrien asked earning a nod from the girlfriend.

„Right“ Kagami agreed, then Cat Noir kissed the girl on her lips and lied his head over her breast rolling his eyes up at her seeing her feeling better about the talk. Cat Noir noticed under the pillow behind them a white sheet and he took it out and sat up to look at it.

„What‘s that?“

„Oh I wrote that to tell you about my pregnancy in case I‘d fail or we got interrupted again“ Kagami explained watching Cat Noir read the letter, soon his pupils shrank at how detailed the letter got about a certain moment of their lives together. Kagami giggled as she saw Cat Noir turn pink under his mask, then looked over his shoulder at the mask, then Cat Noir read it out loud for the girlfriend to hear it.

„We should have waited but I had the desire to feel the warmth of your body on mine. I wanted to know this feeling everyone has already experienced and that you gave me that chance made me really happy. It was indeed the best night of my life. You made my heart soar at every time I heard your groan. The way your hair flops in front of your forehead when you‘re inside me and how gently your touch is, when you patted me anywhere, how reliable it is to gaze into the emerald eyes of yours, seeing the love you have for me and feeling the pleasure you have from everything you did for me. I have to confess, I don‘t regret any of those times I have slept with you and I know we‘re in the wrong moment to have our first child, but I don‘t want to get rid of our baby, because it wasn‘t in our plans. It‘s a living being after all and don‘t want it to pay for my mistakes with its life. Adrien, I might not say this as much as you do, but you know, that I love you. I love you with all of the fiber of my being.“

„I didn‘t know you could write like that“ Cat Noir confessed making Kagami smile. „I‘m kind of feeling hot right now“ Cat Noir mentioned making Kagami shake her head.

„I can see that“ Kagami said looking at his face, which was redder, than before.

„I really liked the letter“

„That‘s great“ Kagami answered leaning her face on his shoulder making his smile gleam at the gesture of the woman. Cat Noir placed his arm behind Kagami‘s back and lied her down on her back and started to open up the blouse from down to the middle of Kagami, causing her to turn red at his move. „W….what are you doing?“ Kagami asked a little anxious, then Cat Noir leaned his ear on the belly to see if he could hear something.

„Anyone home?“ Cat Noir asked making Kagami chuckle.

„I think it‘s a little early to hear it“

„I just hear your intestines a little“ Cat Noir admitted then held his hand next to her belly while Kagami observed him doing so. „Hey, little girl…..or boy…..your dad is talking here to you. I know you‘re coming a little to the wrong time, but I want you to know, that it doesn‘t matter, cause we will love you a lot. You got here two extremely talented fencers as your future parents, a wonderful mom, and a handsome and cat….tastic dad. ..“ Cat Noir said getting hit on the head by the girlfriend, which chuckled at his words. „It doesn‘t matter if you‘re a girl or a boy. What you‘re going to be in the future and whatnot. We‘re here to support you with everything, we promise you that“ Said the cat-themed superhero followed by kissing her thin belly, then got his hair fondled by the girlfriend and lied his head over her belly. „When will we tell our parents?“ Cat Noir asked, making Kagami shrug her shoulders.

„I haven‘t thought about it“ Kagami answered. „Do you want to wait or should we say it tomorrow?“

„Maybe tomorrow?“ Cat Noir suggested. „Aren‘t we going to have your mother for dinner tomorrow?“

„I think so“ Kagami answered. „But what will she think about it?“

„Nothing. We‘re old enough to decide, what we want to do with our lives. Don‘t worry, she will be okay with it“ Cat Noir assured, then Kagami hugged her boyfriend, which smiled warmly enjoying the careful side of her.

[ecotone99]

Humor [HM] A Sunny Morning in Paris

In 1981 I went to France and left my mark.

I drove through the center of Paris on a hot and humid August morning. Here I was in one of the world’s great cultural centers. The Eiffel Tower looked down on the cheap rented Renault as I circled the Arc de Triomphe and headed down the Champs-Elysees . I didn’t think about the historical significance of the monument or the troops from France, Germany, the UK and the US who marched through it at different times under different circumstances. I zoomed past la Louvre on the left; who cared about the Mona Lisa and the other glorious treasures inside? They could wait. As Notre Dame came up on the right, I refused to contemplate the wonderful stained glass, flying buttresses, gargoyles or the awe inspiring interior. The tour boats on the Seine and the romantic young couples who strolled along the river bank were only distractions.

At each stop light I looked in every direction seeking only one thing. When the light turned green I slammed on the gas and let go of the clutch like I was driving a formula one racer instead of a miserable cheap rental car without air conditioning.

My passengers must have felt like we were being chased by Russian secret agents who wanted the microfilm I had hidden in the lining of my briefcase. They asked what was wrong and I didn’t say.

No one was chasing me; I was looking for something of extreme importance.

In desperation I took a right on the Rue Bonaparte, thinking that I could find it in a residential neighborhood. I flew across a lovely bridge and the river that deserved my attention.

Einstein was right; time is relative. In my dire need time stretched out. As each cute goddamn cafe spun past things got worse.

I speed through yellow lights and slammed on the squeaky brakes when red lights demanded it.

People say Paris is the most beautiful city in the world. To me it became a nightmare.

Then I saw it half way up the block on the left. I jammed on the turn signal, hit the brakes, locked up the tires and waited for a gap in the traffic headed in the other direction.

Gridlock.

A funeral procession was crossing the street behind me. They tied up that intersection and stopped all the vehicles between me and my goal. The deceased must have been someone significant because over one hundred cars escorted him to the cemetery. I was very sorry he died. I hoped he passed in peace surrounded by his loving family, faithful dog and mistresses after a long fruitful life. But I wished he had hung on for another day or two because his goddamn funeral was messing up my day.

After the traffic started flowing, I waited for a good Samaritan to let me turn left. Where’s a cop or a f’ing thoughtful person when you need them? As I waited the people behind me started honking. Screw ‘em. I saw a whole new set of rude gestures in the rear view mirror. That’s the thing about international travel - you learn so much about other cultures.

Finally a saint stopped to let me through, but I had to wait for a line of school girls dressed like Madeline and her classmates. Their little hats and dresses dawdle along ignorant of my urgent need. I spun into the driveway (only grazing the last little student in the line), jumped out of the car and rushed into the office of the gas station - a couple of old pumps near the sidewalk and an ancient building with two tiny service bays

Now I’m not a language person - more of a numbers guy. But I knew the key words, “Où sont les toilettes?”

The lady behind the counter saw and heard another rude American. In perfect English she said, “It’s in the back of the service bays.”

Without a merci beaucoup I ran into the first service bay.

A mechanic worked in a pit under a Citroen. I got down on my knees and stuck my head near the oily floor to get his attention. By then I could only say one word, “toilette?”

He smiled at me and pointed to a closet door in the corner of the shop.

I righted myself, hustled over to the door and tried the knob. It was locked. I knocked and heard, “Un moment.”

F me on a flying doughnut.

After twenty torturous seconds the door opened and mechanic number two came out while wiping his hands on a rag. He smiled at this dumb American and stepped around me.

As soon as he passed I saw it; I thought my God this can’t be happening. There wasn’t a porcelain fixture, just a hole in the ground with an indentation in the floor on each side of it for your feet go.

If this was a number one situation, no big deal or pas grave en frances, but I had a bigger issue. Last night’s dinner, steak tartare, had worked some evil magic in my gut and the dam down there was about to break in a most cataclysmic fashion.

I closed the door, turned the lock and instantly analyzed the environment like Jason Bourne - no sink - only a hose - two metal grips to hold onto while you squat - single roll of tp hanging from a wire on the wall - no soap - no paper towels - no blow dryers. Check.

OK, Smith, I thought make a plan and quick. I removed my shoes, socks, pants and underwear; rolled them into a bundle and held them on top of my head. This wasn’t going to be pretty and I did not want any collateral damage.

I gripped one handle and settled onto my haunches like a catcher waiting for a fast ball.

Everything let loose at once like a Saturn Five rocket. All systems were go. Houston, we have lift off. Next stop - the moon.

My aim was not perfect, but under the circumstances I was proud of the achievement.

After the storm had passed and with the help of the hose I rinsed off the floor and myself rather well, if I do say so. I got dressed and exited the WC like my shit don’t stink James fricking Bond.

With a hardy bon jour to mechanic number one and mechanic number two I danced back to the Renault and drove off into the mid-day Parisian sun a new man thinking, “What’s for lunch?”.

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