#LycoRogue ramblings

[alittlecstaticxilophone]

The Lucky Ones

Happy Holidays! This is a small fic I made for @lycorogue as part of the @mlsecretsanta, it has mostly Marichat with a bit of fantasy. I hope you like this and that you are having a wonderful time during the season!

Sumary: Marinette has been a peculiar child since she could remember, being unable to sleep since she was a child made her parents worried and her nights lonely. That is, until an unlikely visitor begins to keep her company revealing a truth that was kept from her.

Marinette could feel the air around her, it was easy to tell summer was already over making its way to autumn. The young teenager was on her bedroom’s balcony relying against a chair, sketchbook over her legs working a new dress she would probably sew later, if she ever did at all. It wasn’t entirely hard to see in the middle of the night, with a lamp with the shape of a flower lit on her side and the moonlight shining bright above her. It was a regular sleepless night for Marinette Dupain-Cheng; but they had been like that ever since she could remember.

That night in particular was sealed into her mind as the permanent memory of the first time she saw him.

He was a young man who almost made her scream the first time she saw him. He couldn’t be much older than her, or younger for that matter and jumped into her balcony, all dressed in black leather, with cat ears and a small bell in the collar of his suit.

Marinette’s first instinct had been to hit him over and over with her sketchbook her voice muttering a thousand different questions while he spoke playful apologies over and over again.

Once she stopped, he finally raised his tilted head and she looked into his eyes, too similar to those of a cat, but as green and eager and happy as they looked, they also seemed to belong to someone older, someone who had seen more than what they could tell.

“Sorry, princess” He had said, playful smile adorning his face “I was jumping from roof to roof, and when I saw you here under the moonlight I thought I found you, and I told myself I had to come, you get what I’m saying?”

It had been Marinette the one who had tilted her head next, as she lowered her sketchbook seeing as the stranger was virtually harmless. Goofy ecstatic smile on his features as his eyes scanned searching for a reaction from her

“You don’t remember me?” The previously cheerful tone of his voice dropped, and Marinette found herself feeling sorry for the blonde boy in a black-leather cat suit “I should have guessed it… People call me Chat Noir nowadays, what is your name, princess?”

“Ma..marinette” She hesitated to say it to him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Marinette. I hope we can become friends again” He extended his gloved hand to her, and Marinette took it, a smile slowly forming in her lips, blue eyes staring into the boy’s.

Months later a new boy appeared in her class, blonde hair and green hopeful eyes that scanned over the unfamiliar room. For a second, his eyes seemed to stop and focus on Marinette who shy, put one hair behind her ear and used her fingers to try and detangle her short pigtail. The boy, although briefly seemed to smile in her direction before continuing to scan the rest of the class.

Adrien, was his name, she overheard it when he introduced himself to Nino, this was later confirmed by Chloe who wouldn’t stop bragging about him and how he was a model and they were childhood best friends. Alya had hit her on the ribcage with her elbow as Marinette felt any previous good opinion she’d had on the boy vanish quickly, no good person could have tolerated Chloe for that long and still remain her friend.

“… I’ve never had friends, it’s all new to me”

Maybe, just maybe she had been too quick to judge.

.-.-.-.-.-

Seeing Chat almost every night, whether it was as Ladybug without him knowing it was the same person to who he was alternating between calling Princess and My lady or as Marinette. In both instances she rolled her eyes and laughed it off, not once daring to tell the boy that when she talked with him during the night and when he encountered him during the day, it almost felt like if it was talking to two slightly different people, during the day he didn’t have the same old look in his eyes.

“Maybe I can introduce Ladybug to you one day” he had commented one night while telling her the story about an akumatized baker, angry that Tom Dupain had won him in a contest. Marinette always listened to him attentive, despite knowing the story all too well. “I think you two would get along wonderfully. She’s pretty awesome, not as awesome as you Princess, of course, but she’s cool”

“Yeah, right” Marinette couldn’t help the blush that rose up to her cheeks as she playfully pushed him, he let out a heartfelt laugh.

“I mean it” He said standing on the balcony and walking on it like if it was a tightrope balancing his arms. Marinette rolled her eyes when he jumped down to her side, slightly leaning on her. “Sure, Ladybug is awesome, kind and heroic. But you, princess are all of that too and without super powers, not to mention super pretty”

“Stop it, you” Marinette pushed him staring at the full moon, there was no laugh coming out of him this time, and she didn’t realize that instead of looking at the moon above them he was looking at her, tender eyes and unfading smile.

“As you wish” He muttered.

The winter air was already beginning to feel above her pajamas, Marinette was wearing a sweater Alya had given her the Christmas of the year before.

“Any plans for Christmas, Chat?” She questioned, his eyes immediately turned to the ground.

“I don’t know” He finally admitted after a few seconds of silence “Maybe my father will have something planned, but I think the most likely scenario is that he’ll have something to attend and I’ll have to eat the dinner alone” He mumbled, Marinette scanned him looking for any clue that he might be playing a very unusual and unfunny prank with her. “Such a shame, I’ve wanted to celebrate Christmas for a long time and I’ve come to live with unreformed Ebenezer Scrooge”

“You could come spend Christmas with me and my family” Marinette didn’t think before the words came out of her mouth, but unlike most of her thoughtless rambling she didn’t regret this for one second, especially after his eyes lit up when he looked at her.

“Are you sure that would be alright?” Chat questioned. “Won’t your parents think I’m intruding in such a familiar event?”

“No one should feel alone on Christmas” Marinette said with certainty “You are my friend Chat, and I’m sure my parents won’t mind having more people over for Christmas, even if my friends include a leather-wearing superhero. They’ll be delighted to have you and meet you, I’m sure”

“You can’t take it back now, princess” Chat stood closer to her, his face nearly connecting with hers “How impressed do you think my future in-laws will be if I show up in my best Christmas sweater?”

“Yeah, right” Marinette laughed “Future in-laws, sure”

He took a step back and began discussing the details of the Christmas sweater he was going to wear and emphasized the importance of their sweaters matching. Marinette found herself laughing at his enthusiasm when he talked about a pattern of small black cats using the moon as a toy. For a second, when looking at him Marinette thought she was seeing someone different, same blonde hair, wearing a suit that made her think of fairy tale princes. She shook her head vanishing the thought that left as soon as it had arrived.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Marinette was taking a platter of cookies out of her house’s oven when the doorbell rang. Sabine was the one to walk to it, while Tom decorated a cake small green pine trees on the side of the round cake while he finished the details of the poinsettia at the top, a bûche de noël was adorning the table alongside the rest of the already made food.

“Oh!” Sabine’s voice resonated in the house, both Tom and Marinette turned to look at the open door where Chat stood wearing a Christmas sweater with the picture of a reindeer with a red nose and lights hanging off of it, he was wearing a Santa Claus hat and held three boxes of varying sizes on his hands, a somewhat excited smile on his features while his eyes scanned the room in an obvious array of nervousness.

Marinette left the cookies on the counter and rushed to her mother and her guest. In between saving Paris, making sure all the schoolwork was properly done and organizing her class’ Christmas party she had forgotten to inform her parents about the possibility of having a guest for the Holiday.

“Chat, you came!” Marinette said, taking the cooking gloves off her hands, she tried to ignore the curious eyes her parents were directing her “Please come in, let me help you with those”

“Good Evening Mrs and Mr. Dupain-Cheng” The blonde greeted. Both Tom and Sabine made sure to give an effusive greeting to the young hero, all while lifting an eyebrow at Marinette.

“He said he might be alone for the Holiday” Marinette admitted to them in a hushed tone while Chat sat on a corner of the table, swinging his feet and staring at the freshly made batch of cookies. “I thought it would be better to invite him… because he does so much for Paris, you know? We all should be thankful to him and Ladybug” She rambled

“Well, an extra guest has never hurt anyone, right Tom?” Sabine resolved, smiling at her husband

“Any friend of Marinette is always welcome in this house” Tom nodded, kind smile on his features.

Marinette made sure to give both of her parents a tight hug before approaching her guest.

“Sorry. We still aren’t fully done with the dinner, you can sit anywhere you want while we finish, I promise it won’t take long” Marinette waved her hands as she spoke. Chat tilted his head.

“You surely don’t expect me to sit while all of you do the work.” Chat said grabbing one cookie “You were too kind inviting me to your home, princess. Let me help you with anything I can”

“Have you ever cooked, Chat?” Marinette raised a teasing eyebrow.

“No” He sheepishly admitted taking a bite of the cookie, opening his mouth immediately trying to blow air into the piece that was burning his tongue “But this could be a good learning experience” He said with enthusiasm before swallowing.

“Alright” Marinette laughed. “You could help me decorate the cookies. First lesson, don’t eat them while they are still warm”

“You are so smart, princess” Chat leaned his elbows over the counter, resting his face over his hands.

Marinette observed how her father raised an eyebrow, this time amused while Chat placed both of his elbows on the table while Marinette instructed him how to apply the icing on the gingerbread cookies and watched with amusement how messy his results ended up being. They were well intended nonetheless, she was more careful and practical, providing the small gingerbread people with carefully tailored suits made of multicolored icing. Chat was doing his best, using the small people to create tiny scenes of theater to Marinette’s amusement.

Sabine and Tom began preparing the table, putting the meals across it, Chat’s eyes shone upon setting on the food he would have the privilege to taste. Marinette smiled softly taking off her apron once their work was over and watched her hands before adjusting the forming creases on her pink dress. Chat stared at her for a second, mouth slightly open.

“Did I stain the dress?” Marinette questioned, upon noticing his gaze looking down to the skirt she had embroidered with small red details.

“Not at all princess” He said, shaking his head, pink in his cheeks, a silly smile in his face “It’s just that since you were wearing the apron I hadn’t noticed you were wearing a dress. You look beautiful”

“Oh” Marinette said, her cheeks now in a similar tonality to Chat’s “Thank you Chat. Please, take a seat. Mom and Dad are done with the table, wait until you taste it, my mom makes the best Christmas turkey in all of Paris”

“I can’t wait” Chat murmured excited, taking a seat next to Marinette.

Sabine and Tom began taking food from the different plates across the table, Chat looked at the Turkey.

“Don’t hesitate” Tom invited “Serve yourself anything you want”

Chat’s eyes lit up immediately as he began to take the food that went as far as his arms would reach, Marinette laughed when, like a child,  he stared a little too long at something that was entirely out of his grasp and she took it upon herself to hand it to him.

“Thank you for having me over” Chat said taking a bite of the Turkey

“Any friend of Marinette will always be welcome here”

“My dad wasn’t around for the holidays” Chat began, observing their shocked faces “it’s okay anyways, the chef made me a good dinner. This is great though, your food is very delicious Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, Marinette was great, this is the best turkey”

“I’m glad you came then” Tom said this time “How unfair it would be that a person who gives his time to save Paris had to spend Christmas on his own.”

Marinette gave a tight squeeze to Chat’s hand under the table, letting it go as quickly as she had grasped it. He stared at it in awe.

“Thank you so much. You three are very kind, I promise I won’t overstay my welcome”

“You are always welcome here Chat” Marinette was the next one to speak “No matter how annoying you can be”

“I’ll have you know, there are people out there who see me as someone very charming, princess” Chat put a hand over his chest feigning offence at Marinette’s words who just rolled her eyes.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“Of course you can accept them” Chat claimed, legs crossed over the couch, clasping his hands together “It’s the least I can do to properly thank you for welcoming me into your home”

“Kid, don’t you think this is a little too much?” Tom questioned

“I’m afraid Tom is right, Chat”

“It’s not too much. Please accept the presents, I insist”

The argument had been going on for a few minutes, since the moments Sabine, Tom and Marinette had opened the presents Chat had brought for them, A bottle of an expensive perfume for Sabine, a bottle of wine for Tom and a small box with a pair of earrings and a necklace for Marinette that Chat had initially joked it was a wedding ring. Tom wasn’t very pleased by the prank, but Sabine had quickly calmed her husband down.

With the sigh that came out of her parents’ lips Marinette knew they had surrendered. Chat seemed to know it too, because his ears perked up and a smile adorned his lips.

“I suppose I should leave right now” Chat began standing up from the couch. “You probably want some alone time in family and I don’t want anyone at home to worry if they find out I’m not there. It was… wonderful to get to spend the holidays with you, thank you, again”

Marinette stood up with him, walking him to the door of her house. They nodded at each other, smiling softly. She was the first one to take a step further, hugging the blonde tightly.

“Be safe, Chat” she murmured. It didn’t take him long to return the hug and he sank into it.

“Anything for you princess”

.-.-.-.-.-.-

Adrien threw himself onto the bed, de-transforming, Plagg flew by his side before rushing to where the cheese was kept. The young teen now devoid of the mask stretched in the bed, as if he was to sleep until the next morning, but instead he laid in bed, eyes wide open staring at the ceiling above him. The black kwami flew to him floating by his side.

“You took quite the leap of faith with that letter kiddo”

“I know Plagg” The teen said turning over and sinking his head into the pillow. It came out muffled. “She won’t believe me”

“And you won’t remember during the day. You got yourself into quite the mess kid, you humans are such fun” Plagg, this time Adrien let out an amused smile before throwing the pillow at the Kwami who avoided it.

“Do I have to remind you I’m not human?”

“As long as I have to remind you I’m older than you anyways” Plagg shrugged, taking a bite of the cheese he held between his hands while Adrien stood up from the bed holding the pillow between his fingers dragging it back to bed. “Have you ever thought about what would happen if she actually finds the letter and reads it?”

“Nope” Adrien shrugged “I guess we’ll have an answer to that when it happens”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Marinette tinkered with the necklace Chat had given her between her fingers, she was already wearing her pajamas as she laid in bed. A small part of her had hoped the young hero would be at her balcony, ready to stretch the Christmas fun a little longer.

Tikki flew over her head, looking at the necklace attentive, Marinette had been impressed by it when she first saw it. It had the shape of a moon and sun necklace, the moon was made out of silver and covered in small blue jewels that made it look like broken crystal, the sun was bright and golden.

“It’s a nice present” The small kwami checked it from up close “Chat must have struggled a lot to find it”

“Chat is too sweet Tikki” Marinette said playing around with the necklace until the sun opened in half. “Tikki I broke it! This can’t be… there must be a way…”

Marinette’s eyes followed the kwami who reached over to pick a carefully folded piece of paper that had fallen out of the necklace.

“I don’t think you broke it Marinette” the kwami laughed, handing the piece of paper to Marinette who held it between her fingers. “It was supposed to open”

The teen unfolded the letter and began to scan its content, eyes widening.

-.-.-.-.-.-

An Akuma began creating havoc in Paris the following morning, a small child, furious he hadn’t been given exactly what he wanted on the Christmas morning. Ladybug wished Hawkmoth had been kind enough to let the festivities go free of akumas, but since he had previously tried to akumatize Santa Claus, she should have known the unlikeness of the event.

“Good Morning, my Lady. Has your Christmas been good?” Chat greeted standing at her side for a quick conversation between the two heroes.

“Good Morning Chat” Ladybug greeted back trying not to look to the boy, the contents of the letter fresh in her mind. No matter how much she wanted to talk to Chat about it, they had more important issues to attend at the moment. “It’s been great, and yours?”

“Certainly better than his” He said pointing at the kid who had taken the shape of an angry elf and was now turning whatever he touched with a wand into a toy he would then throw around Paris.

Ladybug rolled her eyes rushing to the kid, trying to contain his anger or at least prevent him from continuing to throw cars to the helpless people who were fleeing the scene as fast as their feet would allow.

“Be a good kid, will you?” Ladybug pleaded, catching a car with her Yo-yo

“Miraculous!” The kid said rushing to where the heroine was, holding an object with the shape of a magician’s wand in his hand.

“I guess it’s my turn to try” Chat smiled when Ladybug reached his side. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, holding his staff in his hands. “Hey! Kid! How about you give us wherever the akuma is and in exchange, we won’t tell your parents and give you candy, how’s that sound?”

“Kitty! Miraculous!” The kid repeated.

“Aren’t you a wonder with kids” Ladybug mocked

“I’m usually better than this, why Milady, would you like to start a family?” Ladybug’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

“Stop joking around” She sentenced as soon as their feet touched the ground avoiding his gaze “We need to… watch out!”

Ladybug pushed Chat out of the way, in perfect timing so none of them would be touched by the kid’s wand.

Or so she thought.

As Chat opened his mouth to speak, he felt his limbs going rigid. His suit beginning to be filled with golden details, the mask remaining over his face as every part of his body froze until he was no longer able to move.

Ladybug felt as if time had frozen in front of her. Amongst all the times Chat had jumped in front of an akuma, he had always remained at least a fraction of himself, seeing him so stiff felt unnatural.

“Who are you?”

“A young man, I’ve come to meet the princess”

“What business could you possibly have with her?”

“I want to get to know her”

“Why is that?”

“I’ve heard about her beauty, but when I saw her she seemed a little lonely, I came here to be her friend”

“Why would I need a friend like you?”

“Why wouldn’t you, Princess? I can warranty hours of fun, if you can take it. I’ve been told my sense of humor is unparalleled. Some might say it even reaches the stars”

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug screamed, regaining her senses. Now she feared the letter had affected her, when it mustn’t had been more than a tale. She stared at the wand and the Christmas lights that fell in her hand and began to stare at her surroundings, piecing everything together.

“How did you even get here?”

“I told you milady, my prowess knows no limits”

“You can’t even stand. You need to go back, it’s no safe. You could… No, please. Return to your castle”

“I needed to see you, princess”

“I want to see you too. Not if it costs your life. The price shouldn’t be your life”

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She threw everything in the air, and the whirlwind returned things to normal.

Chat quickly regained his usual appearance, standing on his two feet rushing to where Ladybug was.

“Like usual, you did it!” He congratulated, holding his fist for her to hit. She stared at him, eyes filled with tears, and instead went for a hug.

“I’m glad you’re back kitten” She mumbled.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Dear Mari Princess:

I don’t know how long it took you to find this letter, but I think it’s time I speak to you with the absolute truth, no that I ever lied to you, of course.

And before you throw this letter, no, I won’t tell you my real identity.

Kinda

I’ll tell you my story first, before I tell you what I recall of your own. You should remember on your own, and you might not believe me, but I hope you do Marinette, I really hope you do.

I’m sure you noticed, that, like you, a good night’s sleep and I have never been particularly friendly. When the position as Chat Noir, the handsomest he was offered to me, it was freeing in a way you can’t imagine. I no longer had to stay until late hours at night staring at a high ceiling waiting for the morning to come, tormented by the memories.

Memories that only come to me during the night time.

This is where you enter princess, because these memories belong to both of us and I want to share them with you, because you deserve to know too.

It was a long time ago, you were a princess, I still don’t understand why you didn’t have a more fitting title like queen since there wasn’t any higher authority than you, I was a king, we were both fairly young for the titles we held, we were given the duties of the moon to you, and the sun for me. My duties were mostly to make sure the sun kept shining constantly, ensuring that my people were fine.

The thing I remember the clearest, was the first time I saw you.

It was one eclipse, the moon moved in front of me, it was my first eclipse as the king and I was nervous. I only saw you casually, you were also peeking through the window, I could tell but when my eyes crossed yours, I truly thought you were the prettiest girl I had ever seen. I still do.

Someone later told me who you were, the moon princess. One night I snuck out of the palace and arrived at your own, I still remember how instead of kicking me out or telling me that I should be loyal to my duties you invited me inside because you thought I was a lost traveler and it had been a long time since you’ve met someone new. You didn’t believe me when I told you who I was.

I can’t point out the exact moment it happened, or what caused it. I just know that before I knew it, I tapped my feet every moment I spent waiting for the moment I would get to see you. We were happy, we truly were. It took me a while to muster the courage to confess and you told me you felt the same but could didn’t want to give up your duties and kingdom for love. I would have never asked you that.

We were happy for a while, until others found out, I don’t know who could have told them. Their voices were loud, disapproving and hateful. They acted as if we had committed a crime.

They gave us guards under their command, but we still managed, we still figured out ways to meet, eclipses became more constant than what nature permitted, all for five seconds where you could be in my arms. They decided if we wouldn’t step apart on our own, they would make us. Then, we each were cursed to never leave palace doors, and even inside a guard was always with either of us, there was no solution in sigh.

You made a solution, the shooting stars were entirely your invention. Small golden boxes in which you stored letters for me, and I sent them back to you the same way. It wasn’t nowhere as good as seeing you, but it was something.

Until you sent what you swore would be the final letter asking me to not return the star with another one because it would be intercepted. I decided enough was enough so I decided to leave the castle inside the star, unaware of the consequences it could bring.

I don’t want to sugarcoat it, but I nearly died. I fell tumbling into your bedroom princess, leaving my castle left me weak, you cried, saying there had to be a way, claiming how unfair it was when we had done no wrong. I tried to assure you I was going to be fine, now that I had seen you for a few seconds I could return. But you had this determined look on your face, such a unique and beautiful sight and said that if they didn’t want to understand you would make them understand.

The next moment I woke up there was a full moon on the sky and I no longer was with you, nor in your bedroom.

These memories aren’t with me during the day. When the sun is high, I live my normal dairy life.

How ironic, isn’t it? The prince of the sun only remembers during the night.

I don’t expect you to believe me, but please Marinette try, I’m telling you the truth.

I hope you don’t hate me after this

Chat Noir

Marinette had been reading over the letter’s content multiple times, even reading it out loud to Tikki to see if the kwami could make any sense out of the content, but beyond confirming the existence of a moon princess the kwami had refused to say anything else to the teenager.

Now, as nighttime approached, Marinette found herself pacing on her bedroom. Confronting Chloe at the beginning of the school year had felt easier than she was about to do. She still had the hope it was a very elaborate prank in which case, she would throw him off her balcony he would land on his feet anyways.

“You need to calm down Marinette” Tikki suggested “Why don’t you continue working on that dress you’ve been making? I’m sure it’ll look great once you are done”

Marinette smiled.

“Thank you for trying Tikki, but I don’t think…”

There was a soft knock, Marinette stopped the path she had created in her bedroom to look above her.

She took a deep breath, Tikki hugged her cheek for a second before flying back to her usual spot. Chat was on the balcony, tiptoeing on the railing. Marinette questioned if it was a good idea to question him on the letter, after all, it could be nothing but an elaborate prank on his part. Then, she would throw him out of her balcony, cats always landed on their feet after all.

The issue was, the things it made her feel were far too real for her. and the voices had nearly been an inconvenience during the fight early on the day. She wouldn’t have considered the veracity of it if it hadn’t had the ghostly feeling of a memory with it.

The letter was crumpled on her hand when she opened the trap door to meet him. The sound of the opening door made him lose his balance for a second, before he regained his posture jumping off the railing to the inside of the balcony, a confident smile on his face.

He opened his mouth for a second, ready to talk, yet, noticing the expression on the girl’s face he took a step back, a small ghost of a smile in his face.

“You read the letter, princess” It wasn’t a question.

“How much of this is truth?” Marinette was quick to ask, Chat leaned against the railing.

“Every word” He assured “I swear on all the lives I have left”

“Why tell me now?”

The question left Chat speechless, and he meditated his answer for a second.

“If I had a secret past life and knowing it would explain something about me, I would like to know about it”

“What about your civilian self, wouldn’t he like to know?”

“I told him already.” Chat smiled “I left my kwami instructions and I left him a letter today. Hopefully, when he wakes up I will no longer feel disconnected from him” There was something hopeful about his voice. “Have you remembered anything?”

“Voices, mostly” She admitted, after meditating her answer for a few seconds “I heard them for the first time today. They were… inconvenient”

“What did the voices say?” His voice was filled with curiosity.

“A lot” Marinette didn’t say anything else, and Chat couldn’t entirely gather up the courage to ask. “Let’s assume this is true, and I believe you…”

“Don’t you?” Chat pouted, and Marinette rolled her eyes pushing him softly.

“What will happen afterwards?” She mumbled “They won’t be very happy to receive the two people who defied every single rule know to them”

“Something tells me they already got over it” Chat shrugged, confident smile on his.

“How can you be so sure?” Marinette pried

“It’s my feline instinct. Plus, I remembered when I was here and you are in that path, I think. I’ve seen them give many punishments, this is not one of them, I’m sure”

“Very well” Marinette muttered, unsure of what else she could say.

There was a moment of silence between them, filled with glances to each other, never catching each other’s eyes

“I must say” Chat began, catching Marinette by surprise “I do have a question princess”

“What is it?”

“Do you have any feelings for me?”

“Chat…” Marinette’s face was bright red after the question

“No, I don’t mean it like that” He quickly moved his hands and took a step back, smiling “Truth is princess, I do have feelings for you and I’ve been hoping you’ll fall for my wonderful sense of humor, but I don’t want you to think just because we have some history together you have to have feelings for me now”

“I don’t know” Marinette sighed, defeated “I used to like this guy in my class, but now…”

“Now?” Chat urged.

“Now I’m not entirely sure I just see you as my friend”

Chat’s smile grew wide as he ran to Marinette lifting her off the ground.

“Wait!” She said, but couldn’t contain the laughter that escaped her lips as he spun her around.

“What about your civilian identity?” She questioned the second she was able to place her feet on the ground holding onto the railing.

“Do you want to know it? Plagg cl…”

“Wait!” Marinette stopped, earning a chuckle from the boy “Not right now”

“I’ll take that as an open invitation, I’ll let you know who I am princess. When the time is right, that is.”

Marinette kept the promise in her mind, thankful the hero hadn’t told her his identity, while she still pondered on the possibility of telling him her own. The truth was, she wasn’t entirely ready for that, but she was sure someday she would be.

Chat began talking about all the things they would someday get to do and the things they had already done. Marinette listened to his tale until the boy decided it was time to go, he then placed a kiss on the girl’s cheek before leaving. She stared at him until his shape got lost amongst the Parisian night.

.,-.-.-.-.-.-.

The first day after Christmas break, Marinette walked into the classroom, taking off her scarf when the warmth of the inside of the classroom reached her cheeks. She saw Alya greeting her from their seat out of the corner of her eye. Taking a step towards her usual spot, she then found herself stumbling forward.

Bracing herself for the fall, she looked up to see Adrien smiling at her.

“You need to be careful, princess” He whispered.

A smile reached Marinette’s lips as she stood up straight holding Adrien close.

[lycorogue]

Holy smokes guys, if you’ll indulge me, I want to tell you about the dream I just had. (*EDIT: I wrote this right as I woke up from the dream before I forgot most of it. However, I had to get ready for work, so I was only able to finish/polish/post just now.) Mostly because I only have dreams I can remember about twice a year (and I used to be one of those people that remembered dreams nightly when I was a kid. OTL), so I want to jot down as much as I can remember before I lose it. Plus, it has a lot of Miraculous Ladybug elements, and some of you might find it amusing.

My dream started off with my husband and I having a day off together, shirking our adult responsibilities for the day, and just having a date day. We drove into the nearby city and just had a day of goofing around as we window shopped (remember when it was safe for people to do stuff like this? *long sigh*) One of the places I distinctly recall us stopping was some sporting goods store where we checked out kayaks (they’re super big in our area; practically everyone owns one).

But then, as we were checking out the kayaks, my husband wasn’t my husband anymore, and I wasn’t myself. At some point my mind converted both of us into 18yo versions of Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng from the show Miraculous Ladybug.

We were just friends; hanging out; simply spending the day together. Just the two of us. We were still goofing around and window shopping, just as we were when we were still myself and my husband, but now there was this sort of unsure sexual tension????? Like, Adrien was very much Chat Noir flirting, but in a way that Marinette couldn’t quite tell if it was supposed to be flirting, and Adrien didn’t seem sure himself if he meant it to be flirting??? But there was a LOT of chaste touching of upper arms, lower backs (mainly to direct Marinette), and hand holding (mostly to pull her in a particular direction).

I can’t recall if it was a canon character or if my mind made someone up, but I do recall a random second 18yo boy kind of following us around. It could have been the show’s canon “Adrien Agreste’s #1 fan” Wayhem, but it also felt like it wasn’t supposed to be him? You know how dreams are like that? Where you can’t quite pin down who someone is supposed to be in them? To make life easier, though, we’ll just say it was supposed to be Wayhem. 

So, the dream became a sort of aged up version of the episode “Gorizilla” where Adrien (formerly my husband) and Marinette (formerly me) are running around Paris (formerly a US city nearby me IRL) just trying to have a good time window shopping together and goofing around while Wayhem is semi-stalking them? Now, canonically, after the incident of Wayhem chasing Adrien around Paris during “Gorizilla”, Adrien became Wayhem’s friend and was indeed willing to hang out with the kid, as long as Wayhem treated Adrien as a normal kid and not a celebrity that Wayhem was star-struck over. In my dream’s canon, this was still semi-true. Wayhem was more of an acquaintance of Adrien’s than a friend the blonde would hang out with regularly, but Adrien still made time to hang out with his fan. However, Wayhem in my dream could not wait his turn, apparently, and when he saw Adrien “in the wild”, as it were, he wanted to join in the fun. So a large portion of the dream was Adrien (Hubby) and Marinette (me; I saw the dream through 1st person via Marinette’s eyes, but I KNEW that’s who I was supposed to be) trying to ditch Wayhem. 

We ran around department stores, riding bikes through the toy aisles, and had shopping cart races where Adrien was pushing me (Marinette) around the store in the shopping cart with Wayhem behind with a giant stuffed animal in his cart. We snuck into movies at the cinema, only to try to sneak back out to lose Wayhem. I can’t recall what else we did, but we had a grand old time hanging out and screwing around in various stores while also trying to shake Wayhem (and, to be fair, Adrien did try to tell Wayhem that he was trying to have a day just hanging out with Marinette and will set up a time to hang with him, but the kid wouldn’t leave us alone. He was like a kid brother just following us around trying to play with us when we just needed our own time). 

Eventually, we did lose Wayhem, and we were back inside a department store. When we noticed we were alone, Adrien had this cheeky grin, and asked me if I’d be willing to go wait for him over in the women’s clothing department for a couple of minutes; he had something he wanted to do privately real quick. Shrugging off my curiosity of what he was up to (I like to be surprised), I agree and go wandering through the clothing racks. 

There’s this whole thing about a group of older teenage girls trying to pick out outfits that best accentuate parts of their bodies that they like, but other girls are debating that the first ones are just sexualizing their own bodies to be on display for men, and it was this whole thing about whether you dress sexy for yourself or because you want someone to find you attractive. @_@ Not sure why my dream got super philosophical in the middle there.

Anyway, Marinette (me) navigates around this crowd of girls debating and finds this cute white t-shirt dress with Jagged Stone’s logo (for those who don’t know, Jagged Stone is a canon rock star within the Miraculous Ladybug universe). While Marinette canonically wears almost exclusively clothing she designs herself, in my dream she also occasionally buys clothing with trademarked logos on them that she likes (because she can’t legally recreate them). So she (I) goes into the dressing room and puts the dress on. 

Then, wearing the dress as a tunic over the normal pink capris Marinette canonically wears, and carrying my (Marinette’s) shirt and jacket in my arms, I wander the women’s department some more to make sure Adrien can find me. As I do so, my cellphone rings, and my IRL uncle is calling me to see if my sister-in-law would like a DVD set of the show Lost, I believe? I can’t quite remember which show he was asking about. The odd thing is that my uncle is about 25 years older than me. My sister-in-law is about 2 years older than me. I don’t think they talk on Facebook, and I’m pretty sure they only met at my wedding. So I have absolutely no clue why my brain connected these two in a manner where he’d want to double check with me on a birthday gift (belated Christmas gift?) for her.

Anyway, I get off the phone with my IRL uncle, and my IRL job calls me with some sort of crisis that I can’t recall. It was a quick phone call as the owner of the store ended up in some sort of car trouble, I think, and the woman I was on the phone with had to quickly get off to help the owner. It was a bizarre intermission within my dream. Anyway, my IRL husband shows up (I’m still picturing myself as 18yo Marinette, btw) and checks in on the phone calls. We joke around a little bit, and POOF Hubby is magically Adrien again, and we’re back to the main storyline.

So Adrien gives a little “wow” and holds out a hand for me (Marinette) to take. He then has me do a twirl to show off the dress. He talks about how lovely it looks on me, but then kind of scrunches his eyebrows. He then kneels in front of me, like RIGHT UP on my left leg, and clicks his tongue disappointingly. He points out this huge stain along the hem just above my left knee. It’s about the size of an American half-dollar and almost looks like a blood stain: a dark reddish-brown center that fades into an off-white/light-yellow along the corona of the stain.

As Adrien plays with the hem to get a better look at the stain on the dress, his fingers brush against my knee (I mean, I still have the capris on, but still), and it almost looks like he’s worshipping me, and my heart CANNOT deal! I can feel it RACING and my cheeks starting to warm up. That’s when Adrien starts, like, HARD CORE flirting with me by again commenting about how good I look in the dress, and how well it fits my body shape, and how disappointing it is that this dress has a stain because he’d love to see me wear the dress a few more times. And he just slowly stands up, but doesn’t really move back before doing so, so I have to take a small step back so he’s not just sliding up my leg as he stands. And my heart is about to EXPLODE as he looks at me with those intense green eyes.

I swallow hard, and Adrien just kind of puts on this cheery smile like nothing just happened, and he suggests we look to see if there’s another dress in my size that doesn’t have the stain. I lead him to the rack and we riffle through it quickly. We do find another one of the Jagged Stone t-shirt dresses in my size, and Adrien takes it to fully inspect it. No stains. No loose hem-work. The print of Jagged Stone’s logo seems well done. The dress itself isn’t all that expensive. We got a winner. Adrien then suggests I go get changed back into my normal clothes, so I leave him as I enter the changing booth to put my shirt and jacket back on, and that’s where I wake up.

But I do so with the lingering knowledge that Adrien 100% bought Marinette that dress while she was changing, and his initial surprise (why he asked her to go to the clothing department to wait for him in the first place) was a little pastel-rainbow tie-dyed teddy bear that he wanted to get her to commemorate their day-long hangout. 

So.... yeah... that was my dream, and it was so intense at the end there that I legit woke up because my own, physical, IRL heart was RACING from all the Adrien flirting towards the end.

Just wanted to share that. Thanks for indulging me and reading all the way through.

(*EDIT: I’ve been lowkey thinking about that whole brushing Marinette’s knee while inspecting the dress thing all day. So guess who has yet ANOTHER plot bunny to try to wrangle. Thanks, Brain! 9_9 Care to actually help me WRITE any of these plot bunnies, or are you just going to plop more unexpectedly onto my lap and then just wander off? Oh! The latter? Great. >3>)

[lycorogue]

Tikki Must Have Talked to Him...

As a writer, I know the need to stress the importance of Chat Noir and Ladybug not knowing each other’s identities. I get the point of coming up with in-universe examples of the danger of others knowing: e.g. Mayura waiting for Chloe to get her miraculous back so she can intercept it, Hawk Moth using the Bourgeoises to try to manipulate Queen Bee, Rena Rouge calling out Chloe’s name instead of Queen Bee while in battle, Rena Rouge and Carapace succumbing to akumas because they’re too worried about each other’s safety, or Hawk Moth potentially using Marianne to track down Fu and the Miracle Box.

We get it. It’s not good for superhero identities to be known, and the fewer the people who know the better. Pretty much anyone who followed the Marvel comic run of Civil War could tell you the same.

HOWEVER! I still want to know how Plagg went from this:

Pic: Plagg and Adrien at the end of “Lady Wifi” with Plagg asking “That was the chance to find out who the love of your life really is! What were you thinking?”

And teasing like this:

Pic: Towards the start of the episode “Weredad”, Plagg alone in Adrien’s room, with Adrien near his bathroom door. Plagg loud enough for Adrien to hear says “I don’t see the problem in keeping two pots simmering on the stove,” and then finishes to himself with “Especially when there’s actually only one pot!”

To most recently panicking like this:

Pic: Plagg towards the start of “Chat Blanc” trying to convince Adrien that Ladybug isn’t Marinette. He tells Adrien, “You know you aren’t supposed to know each other’s secret identities!”

Like... if it was ALWAYS a concern of Plagg’s that Adrien isn’t supposed to know who Ladybug was, then why did he WANT Adrien to open the door in Lady Wifi in order to discover who she was under the mask? Why did he tease about Ladybug and Marinette being the same person with Adrien potentially within earshot?

While I can’t think of really any instances where Plagg might realize it’s safer for Adrien if he doesn’t know who Ladybug is, there are about seven different times where it would have been beneficial if the duo knew their partner’s identity; specifically if Ladybug knew Chat Noir’s:

Ladybug wouldn’t have been tricked by Volpina’s Adrien illusion

Ladybug wouldn’t have wasted time trying to hide Adrien from Riposte, or freaked out about Riposte potentially finding Adrien. (likewise, Chat Noir trying to hide Marinette from Befana and freaking out about her finding Marinette)

Plagg and Fu wouldn’t have had to throw Chat Noir under the bus in “Style Queen” in order to explain why he couldn’t help Ladybug

Ladybug wouldn’t have tried to give the snake miraculous to Adrien

Ladybug might have changed her tactic with Gorizilla if she knew the villain was after Chat Noir, instead of thinking she had to wait for him to show up.

Weredad might not have happened if Marinette knew Chat Noir knew her identity, because she wouldn’t have had to pretend she was in love with him, and he wouldn’t have felt the need to break her heart.

Prime Queen might not have happened because Ladybug might not have been so irritated with Nadja’s “proof” of their romantic relationship.

What I’m trying to say is that, while I enjoy seeing Plagg panic in “Chat Blanc” and “Kwami Buster” after Adrien instantly makes the Marinette-Ladybug connection, I’m also kinda pissed that he pulled such a 180.

Tikki must have said something to him....

[lycorogue]

Latest Writing Blog Post is Live

The Rogue’s Scribe: I Dive Too Deep Sometimes

Dear lord this post took forever to write. I just kind of rambled on for a WHILE, but at least you get a deep-dive into my thought process for writing????? I have no clue who wishes to actually know that stuff, but if that happens to be you, you’re in luck!

This week I talk EXTENSIVELY about:

The discourse over “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and how the original isn’t really as “rapey” as everyone thinks.

In truth, I didn’t go all that deep into this, but I did link to an article that does.

My latest D&D session and how Kriv is somehow a Fan Favorite among our playgroup, apparently. Win!

My writing process for Forever in Darkness.

My HOURS of research THE DAY OF (like a sane person >_>)

My struggles to figure out who my villain will be

My frustrations with formatting my story 4 different times to hit all 4 sites.

My stats for FiD

My actual shock at @discoveringmiraculouswriters almost instantly reblogging 4 of my stories after I tagged them in last week’s promotion

I have no clue why I was so surprised when I at-ed them right in the promo, but... *shrug*

My struggle with completing my story for @mlsecretsanta, and my determination to get my act together.

My devouring of the other works already posted for the gift exchange in hopes it inspires me

Some do, but not in a way that helps with the Secret Santa stuff... more to add to the Plot Bunny farm... 

Promoting stories that really stuck with me this week

Water Under the Bridge by @wow-girl1244

I'll Be Your (Wing)Man by @botherkupo

Two Hundred and Fifty-Four by Taliax

Secret (Hero) Santa by @livrever

Dissonance by @lyramae-archer

If you’re interested, get the full breakdown of all that craziness above in my epic of a blog post. The Rogue’s Scribe: I Dive Too Deep Sometimes