#New Beat mlb

[19thsentry-blog]

New Beat

Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic (Companion Story to Worlds Not Our Own, Friendship Fic)

Chapters

In The Shadows | Chp 1 | Chp 2 | Chp 3 | Chp 4 | Chp 5 | Chp 6 | Chp 7 | Chp 8 | Chp 9 |  Epilogue | Timeline

Chapter Four: Freedom (AO3 Link)  

Chapter Snapshot

Chat Noir's face split into another grin. It seemed to be an infectious reaction. "Nah, I don't own the color. What'd you do for her?" he asked.

Black Eagle slapped Chat on the back, slightly pushing him towards the intersection. "Come see." He led him out into the street to the green storefront with the curtains, and Black Eagle raised his eyebrows at the name of it but didn't comment on it. Instead, he pointed just inside the window. Chat peeked around Eagle's shoulder and could see the red-haired girl on a little stage, several people in folding chairs in front of her--it looked like she was reciting something, although he couldn't hear her from outside.

"It's a poetry club," Eagle said, tilting his head as he watched her with golden brown eyes. "Had a little bout of nerves. Just needed a confidence boost, is all." He stood up straight, brushing his hands off at a job well done. "Doesn't look like she needs me anymore, though. Got that shit on lock."

Chat Noir stepped back from the window, turning to the man next to him. If Marinette had known there was some other hero out and around Paris, she definitely would have told him about it--and since she hadn't, that meant this was something that only he knew about.

Adrien sat on his mattress, staring at his mother's photography. She didn't have a very discerning eye--she took pictures of anything and everything--but the framing was always interesting, and it was nice to see what she thought was worthy of her notice. One was a close-up picture of Amélie, just a profile of her nose and mouth, her platinum hair a curtain behind her face. She had a foxy smile on her face, one he knew better than he knew his own, because it was one of the things she and Félix shared. There was another, just a picture of a hole in a leaf, the slightly brown edges crisp in the lens of her camera where the rest of the leaf was spring green and bright. The last one he had pulled out was one of Nathalie's reflection in a mirror. He could see his mother laughing in the background while the more austere woman looked horrified at being caught with her hair down in an oversized plain T-shirt. 

Adrien grabbed all three and pinned them up on his wall with the photo hanger he bought at IKEA, and it felt like a fresh start, even though he moved out weeks ago. "What do you think?" he asked Plagg, turning to him with a proud lilt on his lips. 

Plagg came up to the wall and returned to the bed to shuffle through the rest with his paws. "Very good, I'm sure, but I think you missed the best of the bunch," he said, pushing everything away except for the picture he wanted to look at.

Adrien smirked, grabbing it off the bed. "Why am I not surprised? I think you need to branch out some, you know--it's good for you." Adrien pinned up the baby picture of him and Félix regardless. The two of them throwing fistfuls of cut-up spaghetti at each other was fuzzy in the image; the real focus was a wedge of cheese in the foreground. 

"Doing what you like is also good for you," Plagg said defensively, whiskers up and proud. 

"I'm still working on that, I guess." 

"That's why you have me to help you along," the little black cat said, landing on his shoulder.

Adrien gave him a scratch behind the ears. "Should we get going, then?" 

It was rare that Plagg looked eager to transform when there wasn't any trouble afoot and he was in a lazy mood (which was often), but tonight it was clear just how excited he was. Not that he'd say it out loud, but Adrien could see it in his eyes, green and light and mischievous. 

Kam wasn't home, so he didn't even have to worry about anyone seeing or hearing him transform, and in the blink of an eye, he was back in black and slinking out the window. Single and ready to mingle, he thought to himself with a grin, launching himself from his windowsill and flipping (just because he could) before he extended his staff and shot into the air. Becoming Chat Noir again felt good--he couldn't deny that. There had always been a distinct sense of confidence when he was a superhero, because it felt like freedom. He could be anything, anyone, and when he was Chat Noir, he felt as real to himself as he could get. 

But that had been before. These days, being Chat Noir instantly brought back memories of fighting his father. 

Even though the nightmare for Paris was over, it was still rampant in his head; every fight, every harsh word...every thought that he couldn't imagine who would be hateful enough to cause so much suffering. It was a hell he couldn't escape from, not like everyone else could. Ladybug--Marinette--had her own baggage with being the Guardian, and he'd always hoped she would share it with him. Now he was staring at a suitcase full of his own, and he wasn't sure how to carry it around. 

One day at a time, Chat Noir reminded himself. He launched through the air onto a rooftop, taking a moment to stare into the bright lights of Paris, the looming Eiffel Tower in the distance, and the hundreds and hundreds of people. He was one of them as much as he wasn't. Miraculouses were given out to make the world better, but as often as he'd saved them, he was starting to think it was really the other way around. He spent so much time recently wondering what his life would be without Ladybug in it that he hadn't stopped to consider what his life would look like if he'd never been given the Miraculous in the first place.

Would he have frozen in that house? Would he have just done whatever his father wanted forever, only rejoicing in the small moments of rebellion or connection he could get? 

Chat shook his head, extending his staff again to keep moving, keeping an eye out for any trouble. There wasn't any, but he did help a girl with pigtails and glitter jelly shoes find her mom again, although she'd only been a block away. It was still good to get out and get all the cobwebs out of his head. He was free to do what he wanted. He was free to be who he wanted (it felt a lot like a double-edged sword). 

Chat Noir kept moving through the city and soon found himself at a busy cross street. Five-story buildings stood up all around it, shops on the lower levels and apartments with slightly crooked window shutters above them. Narrow streets held lines of parked cars along the dirty sidewalks, plants and benches and cheery, colorful flags lining the storefront windows. One shop was painted a deep green, with yellow velvet curtains pulled back in the windows to reveal a cozy light coming from inside. 

He realized, staring at the sign above the front door, that it was named Au Chat Noir--and he felt that same kick of awkwardness in him as when he would see himself modeling on a billboard. Maybe he was being egotistical; it wasn't like his alter ego was all that unique…

A girl inside the shop noticed him, her smile lighting up as she moved toward the window to get a better look at him. Chat Noir waved but kept moving down the street on the rooftops, jumping the gap in the road to the next roof. A few storefronts away was a worn pizzeria with graffiti on the side of the building and several round tables and chairs. Two people were outside, a man and a woman. 

Chat perched on the rooftop, staring down below into the darkness--it was bright enough with all the lights that his night vision wasn't kicking in. One of them was a girl, clothed in a baggy yellow sweater, her red hair curly and frizzy all down her back. She worried a piece of paper in her hand, biting her lip and pacing lines in front of the tables. 

"There's no way I can do this," she said, more of a cry than anything. "God, this was such a stupid idea--I should have brought a second one just in case--"  

"Nah, no way." The man's voice was deep and reassuring. He was sitting at one of the tables, legs sprawled in front of him. "You've got this. You're proud of it, right?" 

The girl almost seemed to cave in on herself, but she nodded. 

"Then no sweat. I know it's scary, but it came from the heart. Passion resonates with people, and it sounds like you've got plenty of it." 

Chat Noir slid a bit to the right, trying to catch a better glimpse of the man talking. He was wearing a long black coat, feathers lining the collar, and on the back was an hourglass shape painted in white. The dark skin of his face was framed around his eyes with a white mask, a sharp yellow stripe along the bottom rim. He stood up, patting his palms on his thighs with a wide smile on his face.

"You just need a little help working up your courage, yeah?" 

She nodded ravenously now. "Please. I'm gonna barf. Or pass out. Or, uh, cry--maybe not in that order." 

He laughed, a genuinely happy sound. "Alright, we got this," he said, and a brilliant gold feather appeared in the palm of his hand. It floated to her chest, disappearing in a spark and flash, and her lips parted with a little "oh!" when she felt it. 

"Better?" he asked.

"Yeah--yeah, I think I've got this." She said, a slow smile spreading on her face--but then she gripped his coat sleeve, panic back on her face. "What if I trip? Does this help me not trip?" 

"Uh, it's more of a brain thing than a feet thing. But it's better than alcohol, which is still plan B--"

"Oh my god--"

"Just think you won't trip, and you'll be fine," he said, chuckling. He spun the girl around by her shoulders, her patchwork skirt flowing around her ankles, and started gently pushing her out of the alleyway. "Go get 'em, champ." 

Chat watched the girl jump up and down when the man's hands left her back to try to hype herself up, and then she ran-walked down the street, pausing at the same intersection Chat had been overlooking just moments ago. 

"So, Paris's top cat hungry, or does Tweety Bird here get off easy tonight?" 

Chat Noir nearly jumped out of his skin--the man had been watching him when he was distracted, and now he was smiling up at him with his hands on his hips. Chat grinned back. He wasn't sure who he was, but from the looks of things, he wasn't a bad guy. He took his staff off his back and extended it with a quick flick of his wrist so that he could slide down it into the alleyway. 

"Just a specter tonight, but I'll let you know if I get peckish. I've never seen you around," Chat Noir said, landing on his feet lightly.

The man nodded to himself, a smile still on his face. Beneath the jacket, Chat could see his shirt was white, the ends yellow where the white triangle ended. A talon was looped around his neck with a black cord. "Just pulled in a few weeks ago. They called me Black Eagle back home on account of, you know," he spun around, his black coat snapping around his ankles, the edges lined in red triangles. "But I don't want to step on any toes." 

Chat Noir's face split into another grin. It seemed to be an infectious reaction. "Nah, I don't own the color. What'd you do for her?" he asked. 

Black Eagle slapped Chat on the back, slightly pushing him towards the intersection. "Come see." He led him out into the street to the green storefront with the curtains, and Black Eagle raised his eyebrows at the name of it but didn't comment on it. Instead, he pointed just inside the window. Chat peeked around Eagle's shoulder and could see the red-haired girl on a little stage, several people in folding chairs in front of her--it looked like she was reciting something, although he couldn't hear her from outside. 

"It's a poetry club," Eagle said, tilting his head as he watched her with golden brown eyes. "Had a little bout of nerves. Just needed a confidence boost, is all." He stood up straight, brushing his hands off at a job well done. "Doesn't look like she needs me anymore, though. Got that shit on lock." 

Chat Noir stepped back from the window, turning to the man next to him. If Marinette had known there was some other hero out and around Paris, she definitely would have told him about it--and since she hadn't, that meant this was something that only he knew about. There was a certain "ah HAH!" thrill to that, but he wasn't looking to rub it in her face, not at all. 

...It did feel nice to be on the other end of it for once. 

"You want to hang out for a bit?" Chat asked. "I wanted to stay out for another hour or so anyway. I can show you around some." 

Black Eagle didn't hesitate, just swept his arm out in front of him towards the rest of the city. "Lead the way, my man." 

What started with easy banter and a slow circuit of the seventh arrondissement ended with a race to see who could get to the top of the Eiffel Tower first (because, well, they were dudes, and that's just what you did when you were a guy with superpowers, and there was no threat to fight, Chat supposed). Neither of them got very far up, though, because Eagle spotted a smoothie cart and quickly aborted mission. Fifteen minutes and an orange and blackberry smoothie later, they were dangling their legs over the Arc de Triomphe, watching the cars and scooters and pedestrians as they navigated the spider web of streets beneath them. 

"So, where's Red? I was under the impression you two traveled as a pair," Black Eagle said, slurping on the straw poking out of his plastic cup. Chat must've made a face because Eagle didn't give him a chance to answer. "Tch, you too, huh? Shit, these French women will cut you up." 

Chat Noir felt his face flush slightly, that same tightness in his throat coming back. "We weren't actually, y'know, together or anything--" 

"Yeah, that's why your face was pulling a full-on Tabitha. You twitched so hard you almost fell off just now."  

An over-exaggeration, but not by much. "She's got a boyfriend." 

"That sucks." 

"Yeah." They sat in quiet for a bit longer, a moment of silence for his gone-to-soon love life, until he couldn't take the quiet anymore. "Are you like us? You know, with a Miraculous?" 

Black Eagle nodded, mouth full of smoothie. 

"We didn't realize there were any other ones out there," Chat said. They'd known about the Snake and Mouse Miraculouses and had assumed someone had them before Luka came to Paris. But maybe there were others, people with miraculouses they'd never heard of. 

He shrugged with a devil-may-care smile. "It hasn't left the reservation in a damn long time, tell you that much. I'm half Lakota--my friend, she had it for a while. Passed it off to me when she felt the time was right, and here I am." 

He'd never heard of the Lakota, but given the accent of his French, he assumed he had to be from North America. Maybe it was one of the native tribes--that felt like it fit. "There's not a whole lot going on these days, but it's nice to meet you all the same. You should see Ladybug at some point, though. She'd wanna meet you." 

"What is this, the mafia?" 

Chat laughed. "No, but she's the Guardian of the Miracle Box, where all the other Miraculouses are stored. She likes to know these sorts of things." 

"Yeah, sure, man. She gonna cut me up like she did you?" 

Chat Noir stood up, wiping the condensation from his smoothie cup off his hands before grabbing it around the top of the lid. "I don't think she could cut anyone up like she did me." He couldn't help the resigned sigh that escaped his lips. 

"Funny enough, that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better."

He grinned. "Yeah, me either." 

Black Eagle shook his head while he hopped to his feet, that infectious smile still on his face. It seemed like it was permanently stuck there unless something particularly odd happened, but he was all big expressions and laughs, wrapped up in one easy-going guy. Even when he was still, his eyes sparked with life and the simple joy of living it. "I'll see you later then," Eagle said, giving him a punch on the shoulder. "Totally would've won that race, though." 

"Forfeiting doesn't give you the right to brag," Chat shouted, his new friend already headed in the opposite direction with a wild cackle. 

Job done for the night, Chat Noir stopped by a trash can to dump his cup and then headed back home, feeling much better than he had the day before. It did mean he'd have to call Marinette and let her know what had happened, but maybe that was a good thing. It gave them something to talk about--something that would allow him to get to a new normal around her. 

Chat Noir made his way home to his new apartment, keeping his eyes open for the new window that would hopefully become commonplace to him. He almost missed it the first time, but his neighbors had a set of string lights shaped like flamingos around their bedroom window, making it easier to tell which was his, like a flight path at an airport. Chat landed on the thin window sill with a self-assured thud--and then frowned when he heard a second thud coming from the left.

He did a double take when he saw Black Eagle staring right back at him, one leg almost entirely through Kamdyn's bedroom window, his mouth open like he was calculating the odds of it all. 

"Uh…" 

"Huh." 

They stared at each other for a second longer, and Chat swore he could hear a cricket coming from the deserted park beneath their feet. Black Eagle looked around awkwardly, mouth half open with several aborted attempts to justify why he was standing halfway through the apartment window. Finally Eagle sighed, dropping his chin to his chest, but when he looked up, he was smiling again--this time a little bashful. "Want alfredo for dinner?" 

Chat nodded, not sure what else to say. "Yeah. That'd be good."

"A'right. I'm cooking--I can't trust you for shit in that kitchen." 

"That wasn't all my fault--" Chat started, but Kamdyn was already gone, laughter floating out the window. 

Worlds Not Our Own: Chapter Six, You’re Not Him

[nullsleepy]

Villainess Short

Villainess Marinette!Au

“-how do you plead, Marinette Von Eden?” A voice awoke her from her trance, stirring her awake.

“..what?” Marinette whispered, looking up with her groggy eyes.

“Lady Eden! Were you even listening?!”

“Uh, who what now?” Marinette looked around, flustered. What is happening?

“What an idiot. Tt. Should have let me take care of her earlier.” Another, deep voice sprang out among the crowd that had formed itself around her.

“I’m sorry guys, but you must have gotten the wrong person! My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You get it? Dupain-Cheng not Eden!” Marinette cried out, her voice almost breaking while sweat dripped down her face. WHAT WAS HAPPENING?!?!

“What do you think you’re doing, Eden? You think claiming to be a different person will save you? We all know who you are!” A lighter, but still deep and gruff voice shouted, presumably from behind her. Speaking of which, there was something holding her arms behind her, aND THEIR GRIP KEEPS GETTING TIGHTER! IT HURTS!

“..owww.” Marinette bit her lips, looking in front of her with tear filled eyes. The pain was too real to be a dream, so where the heck was she?

“Stop complaining dimwit! Lillian had to suffer much worse because of you!” The man in front of her called out, holding onto someone. Wait… if she looked a little closer, didn’t that look a lot like-

“-Lila?” Marinette gasped out, eyes wide open.

“Ah!” The girl cried out, flinching away from Marinette’s stare. “Richard, I’m scared!”

“It’s alright, my little Lily. I’ll take care of this.” The man whispered to her. The men all around now glaring harshly at Marinette. “Look what you’ve done now, Eden! How dare you harm my Lila with your evil stare!”

“Uh-uh-Ehem.” Marinette panicked, squeezing shut her eyes. Ah, shoot. What should she do?

“Disgusting.” The man behind her tightened his grip even tighter, causing Marinette to react.

“NOPE!” Marinette kicked the man behind her in a- uh, very special spot, causing him to cry out. With her arms now released, Marinette made a quick plan. One that couldn’t fail. “See ya suckers!”

Marinette booked it out of the huge room, slamming into a door, before eventually finding a window to use to escape.

“Oi! Kaalki! I know you’re there, so come out and explain what the heck is happening!”

“Ehehehe, so…”

———————

Author Notes: Made this bc bored and trying to get motivation to write again. Am going to be doing a new fic soon(won’t affect the others I’m doing I swear, just need to get more ideas for them!) which I can’t wait to do with my friend! See you all soon, hopefully! Just trying to get the idea generator in the back of my head to start flowing again! Love y’all!

[keezychid]

Hi! (again)

I've metamorphisized (that's spelled wrong but i don't care)

I'm Keezychid! A spoonerism of Cheezykid, my @ on almost all other platforms

I'm still...

black

queer

trans

a mega Avatar fan (ATLA and James Cameron)

a good omens fan (don't mention season 2 I'll cry)

a minor (and I still make sex and potty jokes >:)

dating my 3-in-1 boyfriend <3

Still looking for moots! Add me if you think I'm cool

Now for some updates!

-I'm YELLOW now! -I'm mega questioning my sexuality so expect a lot of posts about that I'm on T! yay! (10 months) -I'm gonna focus my blog more on my art (I'm an aspiring painter) and content (I'm a writer and I have a small youtube channel that I want to focus on more, but it's a struggle given that I'm still in school) -I'm gonna talk a bit less about my political/social beliefs, but I will still very much reblog the things I find important. If you don't like what I reblog, deal with it or DM me; I don't want to litter my page with dumb internet arguments -I'm newly into the fandoms I have tagged in this post, so if you like those PLEEEEASEEE talk to me about them

Good to see y'all again :D

[darkonekrisrewrite]

Something I've noticed is that MHA and MLB (miraculous ladybug) is that they are similar in how their protagonists are blamed for the wrong things.

Like Deku constantly injures himself because no one taught him how to use his quirk, and is over a decade behind his peers, gets blamed for that. Or how the series seemingly gives him equal responsibility for him and Le Million not saving Eri right away, when he wanted to, Mirio overruled him, meaning he wouldn't get the support needed to push this and he's supposed to listen to his upperclassman.

Yet he isn't given any blame for his lack of critical thinking skills when it comes to heroes and morality. If they are a hero they must be good, and villains must want to be perfect heroes for the law, to be redeemable.

Endeavor says to his face that he only took him and Bakugou on to manipulate Shoto, after Shoto has told him he bought & abused his mom, and himself. Deku "oh it's so good that you are working on forgiving your dad," right in the same room as Natsuo who isn't. Then tells Dabi "Endeavor is such a good hero and mentor, you have no right to be upset"

Let me know if you want me to go more into the parallels of this

Yeah, Deku getting blamed for not knowing how to use his (very new) Quirk was wrong.

At that time, it made me feel bad for Deku, because anyone could see that those circumstances weren't really his fault.

It was the fault of UA and All-might for not giving Deku extra time and help in mastering OFA, even if there was some attempts at instruction, none of them ever cut Deku any slack for having completely understandable difficulties.

Not a very logical line of thinking...

The Eri situation was a little different because while Deku is supposed to listen to his senior for what to do, he did let a clearly scared little girl go off with overhaul, a man they knew was very dangerous.

Basically putting his orders above the little girl's safety, I didn't like that.

(Because Deku could have run off with Eri and Mirio could have taken overhaul out by himself if there was a fight.

Because if Mirio was able to fight for a while against overhaul in a fully enclosed space (something that heavily compliments overhaul's quirk), while he was quirkless...Mirio could have curb stomped overhaul while protecting any civilians that may or may not have been close.)

That was where my problem with Deku started I think.

Because Deku doesn't have anything to criticize about hero society or the victims it creates.

He says that he needs to extend a helping hand, not giving a single thought to the idea of preventative measures to stop people from falling to villainy in the first place.

And apparently, not giving them any real mercy or help either, other than a fist bump at their death.

All for the sake of protecting the "innocent" people who created the villains and who would have laughed at Deku's own suffering as a quirkless less than a year ago (canonically).

These are meant to be the ideals of the "World's Greatest Hero" btw...

So I guess it makes sense that Deku wouldn't be blamed or called out for this, since he's just doing what hero society needs to be "Normal" again.

Deku didn't even save the world technically.

Because if the same problems that created the Lov still exist, then all Deku really did was beat at a rising Ocean Tide, no different than what All-might was doing during his time.

As of yet, nothing has actually been accomplished or achieved.

All the endeavor and Dabi stuff ties into this too.

At this point, I don't think Deku will ever have any real negative feelings towards hero society, and thus never change anything.

(Despite all this, I'm still hoping shigaraki is alive and Deku conflicts with him more to prove me wrong 🤞🍀)

And yeah, more parallels would be cool 👍 thanks for the ask!

[felixisourayofsunshine]

Okay so I know I shouldn't laugh but what's up with the reveal in the Paris special like WTF 😂

C'mon it's been 5 f*cking seasons and we still ain't got a reveal and emoadrinette get theirs in just a few minutes into the special..

Aaand don't ya'll think we've got robbed off a potentially better storyline than the current mlb show??

Like c'mon I want they're backstory and what happens in their world after they get back, I wanna see them fall in love and beat the hell out of that supreme guy.

So c'mon Thomas and Jeremy I am begging you to make another ShadyClaw special or a new ShadyClaw series..

Oh and ahead is a fanart I found on Pinterest. Credits goes to the creator.

https://twitter.com/veggiebunbun :artist credit

[ulquichaan]

Miraculous Ladybug - my thoughts.

Hello!

It's been a while, I know. But I come back to rant yet again! I'm sorry for any mistakes in advance - its 2am and the thoughts won't let me sleep so I have to get them out there somewhere. If you don't want to waste your time - skip it. If you actually want to read it, I'll have a cookie waiting for you at the end of this. :3

My journey with MLB.

Miraculous was that one show that I got to know about through a parody of it on polish yt channel called Surreactor. I didn't know what it was about but it looked interesting and that was a point in time when season 3 was just starting to come out. Sooo, as the curious child I was - I gave it a go. And it captured me very easily.

At first all I wanted is for Adrien and Mari to finally get together. I never had big thoughts about it. Then I got bored between new episodes and just... forgot about it.

After some time however I came back to it. It was somewhere around 4th season airing. I returned to it, watched it all over again and it captured me yet again. I completely fell in love with Adrien as character and started to read loads of fanfiction about the two main heroes. I got invested, started to draw the characters in different settings and what not. I started even posting here on tumblr the rants that blew out about Adrien and about Black Cat holders as a whole just because I was frustrated on how little love he got or that I couldn't find any theories that would make sense.

I made new friend, started to plan stories more than I did before, returned to RP with my old friend through messenger and more.

It was a blow of creativity of mine at that time. You maybe you know of "Sky Is The Limit"? That was the point for me where I had so many ideas that I had to do something with at least one of them. Talking about an overload, right?

Season 4 finale - the best finale in this show in my honest opinion. Though I am based so who cares.

The point is - I deeply fell in love with this fandom for the most part.

And then... season 5 happened.

At first I was hooked. Really. I felt that it was going in the right direction and I even wanted to watch it later so I could see it in order.

Oh boy, did I get disappointed. Very disappointed.

I was never a Senti-Adrien fan, let's be real. But the execution? Even worse.

The finale? The fight yea, fun. But why cut out Adrien out of it???

Chloe as mayor? ARE YOU FOR FUCKING REAL? It's losing braincells more and more.

And I know the plot armor was always evident in this show and all.... but i feel like it was knocked up 10 times or more in season 5 to the point it could beat Game of Thrones seasons 7 and 8. (Yeah, I know what should compare two shows where one is fenomenal and the other has always been trash, but you can't argue with me that seasons 7 and 8 weren't rushed and had very poor execution)

To say that I was angry is an understatement. I HATED season 5 with every fiber of my existence. I still do, but I'm far more calm about it than I was originally. Believe it or not.

I saw all the drama in the fandom. When people complained about the show and other people came in to defend it. And I have to say - I can see where both sides are coming from.

To the people who enjoy it, all of it - I'm glad you do! I really am!

However.

I can clearly see where the hate is coming from and anytime I saw a valid critique I couldn't help but agree with it. There were some awesome responses to that critique even from people who do enjoy the show still, but there were always people who I'll call "white knights".

Aka people who will ride-or-die for the show and always say there is nothing wrong with it!

Oh how I hate this way of thinking....

Little message to those white knights - yes there are pure haters that hate just to hate, but in the spectrum of people who are critiquing the show are also people who loved it and got disappointed. When people are angry/dissapointed they usually feel the need to express themselves and forums like Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, are just perfect for ranting. I have spent fair share in the horse gaming community to know that every flop will have a retaliation and shutting up people will make them only more angry. :|

I stopped liking the show. Why am I coming back to it?

That's a question that started to bother me just as I was going to sleep.

I have watched Hazbin Hotel (Lucifer my beloved) and fell deeply in love with it. I always liked Vivzie's Hellaverse being it Helluva Boss and now Hazbin, but there is something that just came back to me.

I started yet again imagining Adrien and Marinette but in the helllaverse. Or what if I merged hellaverse and Miraculous together in some way. Or other crazy ideas that will never see the light of day.

It's always those two characters for the most part. But the moment those two show up, the rest of Miraculous cast does too.

I fell put of the show. I don't like it. Why do I keep coming back?

My thought is - the fandom and the work it did for the characters.

I have always loved to read fanfiction even it came to miraculous. And it's always SO MANY! With many different variants of the world or entirely different settings. Ofc there are some bad fics, but the good ones are those that captured my heart and made me love the characters even more.

Let's put in some examples (and recommendations if you want to check them out):

Happiness by Somewhere_Out_Here

Once a Thief, always a Thief by @saijspellhart

Bakery Enemies by @buggachat

Heaven in hiding by @livinglittlelie

I'll guess your heart, if you guess mine by PurpleHeartsOne

Chat Blanc's Moon Waltz by @rileyclaw

The comic dubs by PhantomSavage

The little comics like "Passionate Kiss" by @edendaphne

All of these are just very few examples from multitude of content I devoured when I was in the love stage for MLB. And those things are STILL SO GOOD. (You have to check it out if you haven't already)

The point is - the fandom fell in love with the concept and if not that, then the characters. Yes, they aren't perfect. Some would say they are very much Mary Sue-ish. Some would say they are badly written. While the fact is - the characters themselves aren't badly written, the plot is just badly handled.

I can see why people love Marinette, she is quirky, funny and her ideas, while absurd most of the time, they work. And that's fine! She is supposed to be creative and what not. A great friend to have in corner, that for sure :3

Adrien on the other hand is supposed to be a bundle of issues that come with living a sheltered life and the want to be free.

(The movie handled Marinette much better than the show, let's be real here)

Sad fact - the writers of the show couldn't handle all of the potential they set up. But the fandom could and that's what's beautiful in my opinion.

The show may not be a masterpiece but they made some aspects of it so enjoyable and investing (love-square) that other people decided to execute those good things in their own stories and create something else.

The characters are just so easy to put into other stories too. Because they are written in the way they are (even if poorly handled at times) the aspects of them are very flexible, which in turn makes them easy to incorporate into other AUs.

For me it proves that you don't need a very complicated and deep character to make your story memorable. Even tho that certainly helps depending on your story. Miraculous was really lucky it got that creative fandom in the first place.

And this is what is beautiful.

Ending, some plans of mine that who knows if they will see the light of day. :]

This is only for those who are interested what I have been up to and what do i plan with this blog:

I am not quitting tumblr, oh no. I'll be probably reposting some stuff that I like from time to time.

I am returning to write "Sky Is The Limit", however I am completely rewriting it for the.... 7th time? Something like that. I doubt I'll finish it anytime soon at this rate and if I get the need to draw I might draw few characters from there or designs I have planned.

I have a very big project in mind that I might probably make a new blog for. It's still just an idea but I getting closer to actually being made so stay tuned.

I will start posting stuff from Hazbin Hotel. I fell deeply in love with Lucifer's character and you can't unglue me from that duck man!!

Other than that I went to university and I'm enjoying my time here so yeah.

And here is your cookie for reading all that! You're a legend!

(I'm open for any discussions as long as they stay respectful. Feel free to DM me :>)

[neoncherryblossom]

WIP Tag/Ask Game

RULES: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Thank you @thousand-winters for the tag ❤️!

Surprisingly, not many that I haven't already mentioned so uhhh...

Am I never enough, to close the wounds that others opened? (Adrien+Plagg MLB)

Reflections are worthless, build and be strong (Felix MLB)

Our morals reflected in a shattered mirror (Metal Sonic)

Assassination attempt turned to late night cuddles (TOH)

Operation: Beat a Coven Head at his best game (TOH Hunter+Eber)

Hunter bleeds. A lot.

Why DogDay can't have anything on his own: An accidental essay by the Smiling Critters (Poppy Playtime)

(You can really see which ones I've actually worked on huh.) These are the only ones I have been actively working on but trust me, there are more.

Tagging but no pressure @trishacollins, @ninadove, @generic-sonic-fan, @no-white-dress, @possibly-a-table-or-just-gay

(I don't have enough again uggghhh.)

[justsomekpopstuff]

baseball!seventeen reacting to the new see-through uniform pants

A/N: THIS IS MOSTLY SFW I PROMISE! Taking a quick break from the D&D series to bring you this because it made me laugh. Credits to my girl @au-writer who helped come up with these

current masterlist | fic recs

baseball svt part 1 | baseball svt part 2

FOR CONTEXT: Major League Baseball (the MLB) recently switched over their uniform manufacturers. The new manufacturer is, quite simply, VERY bad. Not only are the actual jerseys terrible quality, but the pants that players have to wear are pretty much completely see-through. It is a (hilarious) disaster, and therefore, these headcanons were born. For more context, read HERE.

Refuses to wear the pants: Seungcheol, Joshua Seungkwan

Seungcheol, being the leader if of the team, sees all the issues with the pants and refuses to wear them out of rage. He runs a CLASSY team. He secretly also refuses because he knows one squat into his catching position and those pants will be ripped to shreds. He's the first to take it up with the players union and argue that the team will not be playing with those ridiculous pants. Joshua, while sometimes a chaotic gremlin, knows his limits, and he is not willing to let his mom see him do his job with so much visible because of the pants. He will still absolutely tease the hell out of the members who chose to wear the pants, but no way you are catching him wearing them himself. He is also taking bets on who rips their pants first. Seungkwan also refuses to wear the pants, echoing pretty much everything Seungcheol says with extra sass, like "YES" "YOU TELL THEM". He has dignity as well as personality and he intends to keep both.

Comes up with a creative solution to wear the pants: Wonwoo, Woozi, Seokmin, Minghao, Vernon

Wonwoo outright hates the see-through pants, and the only way he will wear them is if he wears his team-issued jackets around his waist for the whole game/practice. He doesn't care if its not regulation or if he gets fined. If he has to wear the pants, he will be doing it his way - jackets on. Woozi, while pissed, accepts his fate knowing that Seungcheol will probably fight the league until its fixed. Until then, he's doubling up on pants and underwear to try and keep some dignity. Seokmin will let out a horrified scream after putting on the pants and seeing that they are very see through. He will see that some of the others are doing double-pants and other various solutions and will join in, but likely with more flare. Like, it will be glaringly obvious that he is trying to hide how see-through the pants are. He will also be the first to rip through them. Minghao sees the complete see-through-ness of the pants and knew something had to be done, so he takes his pants to a tailor to get them reinforced and make them less see-through. Everyone else is jealous because they didn't think of that first. Vernon, being the chillest human ever, just decides to wear extra pants over the see-through ones, from other baseball pants to swim trunks - whatever he can find just to cover up for the time being. He will absolutely walk out to the field during their first spring training game wearing basketball shorts over his pants.

Wears the pants: Jeonghan, Jun, Hoshi Mingyu, Chan

Jeonghan decides to wear the pants because he knows that he's not going to be seen that much anyway, and honestly he's got other things to worry about than his pants being see-through (like his next bullpen cat nap or how to beat Joshua at cards during their next travel day) Jun, an unbothered king, just rolls with it. He's like "welp, another day of the baseball, time to get dressed" and embraces the see-through. Jun doesn't realize they are see through until he is out on the field doing warm-ups and by that point he's like "eh why not". He actually enjoys how breezy they are. Hoshi could be categorized with the "creative solution" team, but honestly he's just so excited to play that he really doesn't care about how see-through the pants are. He will absolutely try doing high-kicks and back-flips as a means of testing just how see through the pants are. He will also use this opportunity to push the horangae agenda with pride. Minimal shame is seen from him. Mingyu wears the see-through pants. He doesn't realize they are see-through at first. The team tries to convince him they are not see-through and it almost works. It gets to a point where he just says "screw it" and embraces the see through. He knows he looks good, but he will be shyly blushing the entire time. Chan, despite Seungcheol's protests and teasing from various teammates, wears the pants with (mostly) confidence. He's a grown man, he can do what he wants. If they are see-through, they are see through. He's there to play baseball, that's pretty much it. Jeonghan does try to get him to cover up, but he refuses.

[verfound]

FICLET: Plans (MLB, Lukanette)

Characters/Pairings: Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng; Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Rating: General Audiences

Summary: Marinette gets sick and has to miss Luka’s show.

Author’s Notes/Warnings: …I’m supposed to be in DC tonight for a concert, but covid said no, so I’m moping.

Read on Ao3

“Plans”

Glassy blue eyes stared out at him from the blanket cocoon.  Not even the distance and crappy wifi could cover that up, but he wasn’t sure if it was the illness or the tears she was barely suppressing.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“There will be other shows, darning,” he said, brushing his thumb across the screen like it was her forehead.

“…shut up,” she mumbled.

“You know it’s for the best,” he said.  Like something as silly as logic would make up for the fact that she was too sick to travel today.

“Luka,” she whined, dropping her face against the bed and pulling the blanket closer.

He settled back against the bench with a sigh, dropping his head against the cool glass window behind him as he let her cry it out.  He hated it, too.  He wanted to be there with her – he should be there with her.  Making her crappy canned soup and holding her hair back while she threw up and clapping her back when she got too congested.  You know, the sick stuff you did when your better half was too ill to be much more than a bed burrito.

…but he’d been travelling for about a month now.  Working on the new album.  Prepping for the next tour.  Bouncing between studios to collaborate with old friends.  He had a few shows lined up over the next two weeks, and then he’d be home for about a month before the summer tour started.

She’d been busy, too.  With a few needy high-demand clients and a charity event that all meant she hadn’t been able to travel much with him.  He was only two hours away tonight, but she had diligently been keeping that night clear on her calendar so she could meet up with him.  Grab some dinner before the show.  Grab some time after before the bus had to roll out the next day.

They’d both been looking forward to it.  It was the only thing that had kept him sane at some points over the past month.

…but she’d been pushing herself too hard.  Like she always did.  And Jocelyn’s allergies had been acting up, until Jocelyn had texted her about five days back saying it wasn’t allergies.  And then Marinette’s cold wasn’t just a cold, and she was fine.  She honestly was.  They’d been lucky.

…but it still wasn’t safe for her to travel.  She didn’t want to risk getting others sick, but more than that she wasn’t strong enough yet.  He wouldn’t let her.  As much as he wanted to see her, he didn’t want her to stress herself making the trip just to relapse.

“I’ll see you in two weeks,” he said, rubbing the screen again.  “It’ll go by in a flash.  And you’ll be feeling worlds better, and I can play you whatever you want –”

“You know it’s not the concert I’m upset about,” she moaned, raising her head to glare at him.  “I miss you, you idiot.”

It would have been more effective if she hadn’t started coughing in the middle of it.

“It’s a little bit the concert,” he teased, smiling softly.  Hoping to make her smile.  It wavered when she just glared balefully at him.  “Admit it: you needed the night out.”

“What I needed was a night in,” she whined.  She looked away as she started coughing again, and when she turned back the blanket was bunched up so only her weary eyes were visible.  “With my husband.  The past week in doesn’t count.”

“I know, darning,” he said.  “I need a night in, too.  But I need you to be safe more.”

“I was safe,” she grumped.  “Stupid Joce and her stupid not-allergies.”

“You love her, too,” he said.  She hummed, and he knew she didn’t mean it.  Besides, Jocelyn was already beating herself up enough over this.  “You look ready to drop, Mari.  Go back to bed for me?”

“I am in bed,” she mumbled.

“Sleep,” he insisted.  “I’ll check in before the show.  And after.  No encores tonight, I promise.”

“I love your encores,” she sighed.  She giggled, and it would have made him feel better if it hadn’t turned into another coughing fit.  “Remember…remember Jay’s face when you did My Marinette Is My Only Family?”

He did.  His dad hadn’t been able to finish the song, he’d been laughing so hard.

Good times.

“I’ll save them for when I’m home, then,” he chuckled.  He brought his phone up to his mouth and kissed the camera.  “Please, darning.  Take care of yourself.”

“I hate this,” she whined.  He swallowed.

“Me, too,” he said.  Her hand slipped, until she was barely in the screen and most of what he was seeing was their ceiling.

“Play my song for me?” she asked.  He nodded, though he wasn’t sure she saw it.

“Every night,” he said, chuckling.  He’d been touring long enough that she knew it was his closing number in every set.  “Get some rest.  I’ll be home before you know it.”

It was for the best.  They both knew that.

It didn’t make it hurt any less when he took the stage that night and she wasn’t waiting for him in the wings.

[spade-riddles]

So I was thinking about 🎃 and the riddle that suggested Taylor stepped up to stunt this time to spare Karlie. "Not her, take me instead." I think this Travis Kelce stunt is what Taylor agreed to do, but I couldn't figure out how the NFL played into it, or why Karlie might have been pushed to stunt to promote them. Karlie's stunt buddy has no connection to the NFL, right?

Right?

It took a while to find. (Hilariously, most of the responses for his name and "NFL" are those shots of him and Karlie "playing ball" on the street, where Josh isn't exactly beating the accusations, if you know what I mean.) But when I switched to "Thrive Capital", I found this.

https://www.gunder.com/news/thrive-capital-co-leads-fanatics-350m-series-e/

"Gunderson Dettmer represented Thrive Capital in its co-lead investment of Fanatics, a multi-channel sports merchandise retailer, in its $350 million Series E financing. Thrive Capital was joined by Fidelity Management, Franklin Templeton Investments and Neuberger Berman Group. Fanatics is now valued at approximately $6.2 billion.

Forbes reported that the financing “is expected to help accelerate Fanatics’ rights acquisition strategy and spur further M&A activity. Fanatics already has deals with the NFL, MLB, the NBA, the NHL, MLS, Nascar and European soccer clubs, as well as more than 300 individual teams.”

This was 2020.

Explains why Karlie is always being dragged to NBA games with him and promoting her fantasy football league, and why Taylor is being so over the top in making sure we understand promoting sports merch is a big part of this deal.

I wonder what they wanted Karlie to do, that Taylor seemingly felt this was the better option?

Interesting 🤔 Good research!

[literaphobe]

I’ve seen a lot of gender swapped mlb stuff where either one or both of their genders are swapped. How do you think any of those variations would change the love square dynamic or the characters in general, if they would change it all?

GONNA TALK ABOUT WLW LOVE SQUARE. other variations will be elaborated on if u come back and ask my sweet anonie <3

adrienette: i feel like fem adrien would give marinette so many more demons. i could go more in depth about my visions but ifl it would be really funny to see alya try and convince marinette that girl adrien TOTALLY likes her like its SO obvious and marinette is like IT DOESNT MEAN ANYTHING ALYA SHES NICE TO EVERYONE!! plus we dont even know if adrien likes girls!! and adrien walks by only overhearing the last sentence and is like oh! i do like girls :) and then after marinette’s recovered from her heart attack the new meta becomes OKAY BUT WE DONT KNOW IF SHES ATTRACTED TO GIRLS. MAYBE SHE JUST THINKS GIRLS R REALLY FUCKING COOL!! the next day the papers announce that girl adrien is in love w ladybug

ladynoir: chat noir has got the biggest crush on ladybug like she is so seriously gay like if she didnt already know she was gay if she was the most repressed gay girlie in this gay girlie world she would know what she was with ONE look at ladybug. ladybug has no fucking idea chat noir is in love with her. she thinks they are best friends. no one understands this life other than Her. one time some sleazy guy hit on chat and ladybug beat the shit out of him. he just so happened to be akumatized but she was so pissed off and violent about it. the dating rumors and the media are the same about it. aka incredibly invasive and ladybug is just as pissed off that they think they are dating. she gets so aggressive about it to the point where chat noir asks her what she thinks about the lgbt+ community. and chat is like im sorry like im a wlw and if u dont like gay ppl thats okay i just– and then ladybug like kisses her and is like im gay too u idiot its just weird of the media to speculate so harshly and then chat is just like FROZEN and ladybug freaks out shes like IM SO SORRY I SHOULDNT HAVE LIKE I MEAN I SHOULDVE ASKED and chat is like NO ITS OK UVE KISSED ME BEFORE ANYWAY and ladybug is like THATS DIFFERENT I HAD NO CHOICE BUT HERE– and then chat kisses her to calm her down (and shut her up) and pretty much just even the scales in terms of initiated kisses. when news about girl adrien x ladybug breaks out ladybug is like ???!!!!!!!! and chat is like um do u hate that she likes u i mean the news probably waaaayyyy exaggerated what they interrogated out of her and like um so overstretched it probably haha what do u think of blonde models and um adrien i guess like do u hate her do u think shes cool do u think you could fall madly in love with her and spend all your days together

ladrien: ladybug saves girl adriens life and shes like oh thank you ladybug… ur so wonderful 😍 like so clearly into her but ladybug is dense af and also nervous af she doesnt even believe the rumors!! shes like ur welcome girl adrien haha um yeah so um i saw the news but dont worry!!!! i know how the news exaggerates all the time like they always call me and girl chat noir a couple even tho we are not!! and adrien is like oh so like… ud never date chat noir? and ladybug is like uh… we are… friends and partners. do you.. want me to date chat noir? So the news really got it all wrong and you dont like me at all? and adrien is like I DO LIKE YOU… UM WHO WOULDN’T LIKE YOU? <- she has no idea how to save this bc she wants to date ladybug but doesnt know which identity to chase her with best and she thinks ladybug might not like EITHER of her identities so shes like confused at shit but also she very easily gets her hopes up and shes like maybe i should tell her???

marichat: ifl the events of glaciator will always be so inevitable for marichat. like marinette will always look so inviting on that balcony of hers staring off wistfully into the evening air and chat noir will always feel drawn to it when ladybug is nowhere to be found… what would be fun about wlw marichat guys

[19thsentry-blog]

New Beat

Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic (Companion Story to Worlds Not Our Own, Friendship Fic)

Chapters

In The Shadows | Chp 1 | Chp 2 | Chp 3 | Chp 4 | Chp 5 | Chp 6 | Chp 7 | Chp 8 | Chp 9 |  Epilogue | Timeline

Chapter Three: Yesterday (AO3 Link)  

Chapter Snapshot

"You think Gabriel's gonna be there?"

That was the question of the year. It was rare that he showed up for these sorts of things, but the media was going on like they expected he would, so Nathalie must have given them some kind of indication he would appear. It seemed odd, though, for him to start coming out of the house after everything that happened in the Fall. She had no idea how she would react if she did see him. To him, Marinette was just a girl he had written a letter of recommendation for, his son's school friend. To her, he was the man she'd spent a good year trying to defeat, and now that it was all over, she had no idea what to do with him.

"I have nooooo idea," she said, lifting what felt like 30 pounds of purple fabric in her arms like she was carrying a bride over a new threshold.

"What about Adrien?"

"Take that last statement and amplify it by ten."

There was a knock at the stage door. Juleka shimmied into her pants and jumped a few times to get them around her hips, buttoning them quickly. "Come in," she said.

Kagami peeked her head in the door, short hair falling slightly across her cheek as she looked inside. "Damn, I just missed it," she said, disappointment coloring her voice.

"Sorry, Rose usually likes me to greet people with my pants on. Kind of a rule."

Adrien was eating cereal in front of the TV when Kam came from his room, shoving his arms into a jean jacket. He pushed his locks of hair out of his face and then put his hands on his hips, looking at Adrien. 

"Alright, it's not like living in Oscar the Grouch's trash can hasn't been fun, but it's time to get some furniture so we can put some of this shit away. Want to come with?" 

Adrien scooped the last of his cereal in his mouth while he stood, nodding. "Yeah," he said, mouth still full, "Give me a sec." He didn't have work today, and he already felt a little lost on what to do with himself, so leaving the apartment seemed like a good idea. He hadn't wanted to take any of his bedroom furniture with him, and Kam had just moved overseas from the states, so he said he sold most of his stuff to make it easier. That did, however, leave both of them with the incomparable task of having to buy it all now. 

Adrien stuck the chipped bowl in the sink, rinsing it enough not to feel like an animal, and then navigated the hellscape of boxes and unpacked books, CDs, and other items that could only be described as "crap that piled up the longer you lived, even though you really couldn't say why you needed it". His room was about a fifth the size of his childhood bedroom, everything he'd bothered to take with him in glorious disarray. He grabbed Kim's old red hoodie from the pile of clean clothes he had left in his closet and tossed it on. 

Among the things that hadn't come with him was a vast quantity of his brand clothes. A lot of it had been designed by Gabriel, and he didn't want to think about him right now. Félix sounded like he'd made fun of him, calling whatever this was his "urban fantasy", but he was trying to think of it more as reinventing himself. He couldn't do that in his father's clothes. 

He hadn't even wanted to touch the money in his trust fund, but he needed some furniture and a way to pay for groceries and rent until he got his first full paycheck. Adrien stopped for a second longer, staring at a thick envelope on top of a stack of boxes by his bedroom door. Amélie had brought him his mother's photography collection, just like she'd promised, and gave it to him before the funeral. She had also impressed upon him that if he ever needed anything, whatever it was, to call her, and she'd be there. He wanted to see how well he could get along on his own first. 

Adrien laid one hand on the envelope, knowing that beneath it was Marinette's, and then turned to look at Plagg, who was resting on the windowsill. 

"Coming?" he asked. 

Plagg huffed a long sigh before stretching and flying over. "If you insist," he said, curling up in the hood of his jacket. 

Adrien suppressed a smirk at his ever contrarian companion and left his room, finding his shoes by the door. Kam was already ready, sunglasses tucked into his black shirt collar, combat boots on. "Wouldn't have minded shopping a bit more Parisian, but every time I look at one of these stores online I feel like I'd need to be knighted or some shit to shop there," Kam said, locking the door behind them. He had an easy-going air that reminded Adrien a lot of Alix, who always seemed to know what she wanted and didn't sweat the small stuff. He liked that.  

"So," Kamdyn said, clapping Adrien on the back. "We're going to the holy place." 

"What's that?" 

"IKEA." 

He'd never heard of it, but he let Kamdyn direct him down to the bus stop all the same. Nino had walked him through buying a ticket a few times, so he could at least pretend like he had done this plenty of times before. The woman driving offered him a smile and a greeting, rounded cheeks dimpling when he smiled and said hi back. They found free seats and passed the time on their phones, just like everyone else. Adrien realized belatedly he'd have to get his own phone plan sooner rather than later. There was so much to do, and taking care of it was overwhelming, and a voice in his head said there was no way he could do this on his own and that leaving home had been childish. It sounded a lot like his father. 

Adrien rubbed his forehead with his fingers, leaning over to stare harder at his phone as a distraction. The seat suddenly felt really hard beneath him. Adrien opened a different app, scrolling through the feed--a picture of Alix in her shop, one of Nino in hazy lighting with his turntables lighting up his face from below, Mylene and her current classroom of kids, Zoe smiling on her university's stage behind the curtains...

Adrien moodily clicked off the app to his home screen and stared at Kamdyn's shoe instead. His boots were scuffed on the toes, and the laces were tied haphazardly around the tops. He wondered how old Kamdyn was--definitely not over 25, but he clearly wasn't a teenager anymore. Not like him. Who decided that becoming 18 turned you into an adult, anyway? Even though Adrien had lived his life surrounded by adults--and thought for a good portion of his life he acted a lot older than his classmates--he now felt like a toddler in comparison. He wouldn't have the courage to move solo to a different continent as he was right now. 

"Stop should be coming up soon," Kamdyn said, not looking up from his phone, biting his thumbnail without really thinking about it.

Adrien nodded. He'd just have to take it one day at a time, like Nino kept saying whenever he got in these moods. That's all he could do. Live one day at a time, and eventually the rest would get sorted out as he went along. He turned the Cat Miraculous on his finger, around and around. The bus stopped again, letting off an old man with a cane whose tweed suit jacket looked like it was wearing him, not the other way around, and then a new batch of passengers filled on. 

He heard her before he saw her. 

"Been awhile since I saw you two ladies," the bus driver said, voice warm and deep. "On a lunch date?" 

"Yes, ma'am," Marinette giggled. "Dim sum!" 

Adrien shrunk, or more accurately, dove down in his seat by a solid two feet. Kamdyn jumped slightly, looking down at him with raised eyebrows. "Bro, why are you Benjamin Buttoning? Are you--" his eyes flicked up to the pretty girl with black hair and blue eyes and then back down at Adrien. 

Adrien shrugged, and his face probably looked guilty, but more likely terrified. Apparently, he wasn't as over Marinette as he thought. 

"Uhhh-huh. Alright." Kamdyn shook his head and turned it, trying not to let Adrien see he was definitely laughing at him.

Adrien could feel Plagg shoving up against the hood, an obvious indicator he was getting squished and did not like a single second of it, but this was life or death, so the Kwami would have to wait. Marinette never passed by, but he could hear her still, light chipper tones like a blue jay coming from the front of the bus. 

Kamdyn kicked his foot and leaned down, one hand resting on the seat in front of him. "Hate to ruin your subterfuge, but we're the next block up." 

Adrien gulped. "What are my chances of fitting through the window?" 

Kam closed one brown eye and appraised Adrien, then looked to the window, judging the size like a painter might judge distance or a focal point. "Depends on how hard I shove you through," he said finally. 

Adrien kind of wanted to make it work, but he was being silly. If he acted normal, everything would be normal, and he wouldn't wind up squeezing himself through windows to avoid her. He stared at the digital display near the front of the bus, "Rue de Rivoli" flashing in red letters. The bus slowed to a crawl, hissing and lurching slightly as it stopped, Adrien's heart and stomach moving with it. Kamdyn pivoted in his seat, raising his eyebrows again. "You ready?" 

Adrien nodded. This would be easy. It was just walking off a bus. Maybe waving if she noticed him, and that wasn't too hard, right? Yeah. Right.

So why did he kind of feel like throwing up?

If Plagg wasn't in his hood, he would have thrown it over his head, but that wasn't an option. Adrien gripped the seat in front of him and hauled himself up, mentally pretending he was Félix. If he was Félix, everyone around him was boring and beneath his notice. He could walk off the bus as easy as he could please, saunter away, and he wouldn't feel a thing. Félix pretended to be him dozens of times, and if Félix could do it, surely he could too.

That was working--definitely working, and it worked all the way until Sabine caught him in the peripheral of her eyesight, her eyes lighting in recognition. She said hello, and he said it back like he was supposed to, even though he didn't really register the interaction. Marinette turned around to see who Sabine was looking at, and Adrien's brain short-circuited; he booked it, heart lurching to his throat and his feet threatening to trip him while he ran down the bus steps. Adrien launched off the last one and could hear Kamdyn's wallet chain jangling behind him while he cursed and ran down the steps too, finally catching up with him several paces down the sidewalk. 

The bus had landed them right outside the storefront, and it was several stories tall, the word "IKEA" blazoned in bold yellow and framed in blue. Adrien didn't stop until he was through the big sliding glass doors, and even then it took Kamdyn throwing his hands down on his shoulders from behind to get him to slow down. 

"Jesus H, dude," he said, switching his hold until one solid arm was hung loosely around the back of Adrien's neck. "I'm gonna say this as someone who once climbed up a twelve-foot pine tree to avoid seeing an ex, but man, that was rough." 

"Yeah," Adrien sighed, "I know." It had not gone the way he wanted it to in his head, and he still didn't exactly know why. He thought he'd gotten over her--he had finally stopped thinking about her every hour of the day, which seemed like a lot of progress. He was beginning to realize how fragile that progress had been. 

Kamdyn patted him on the back, leading them to a wire bin full of giant yellow bags. "Unsolicited advice, but I recommend doing what all the guys do." He grabbed one of the bags, and with a loud crack and a flick of his wrist he shook it open, the steel and black rings on his fingers gleaming under the natural light. "Cry in the shower and listen to Boyz II Men, and after that, sit around in your underwear eating chips and frozen pizza. If you ain't gained ten pounds by the time you're done, you did it wrong." 

Adrien's lips involuntarily twitched in a smile, remembering just how sick he made himself at Nino's place. At least he was on track with something. "Well, I think I have gained the weight, but I've never heard of Boyz II Men." 

Kamdyn let out a tch sound, shaking his head, a few locks shaking into his eyes as he led them up the stairs to the top floor. "Man, you can't lie to me; I helped unpack your damn CD collection. No shame in it--judgment-free zone." 

His stomach dropped for a whole new reason. "Those were my mom's," Adrien said, trying to make himself sound lighthearted, gripping the stair rail a little harder. "I, um, still haven't listened to them. Not all of them." He had started to after the first funeral. His dad's reaction that night had put him off the idea for good, and he never returned to them. It was stupid, but when he wanted to feel close to her, he would sit on the floor of his loft and stare at the cover art of all the different discs. That, or he'd go outside to the courtyard to stare at her statue--maybe more accurately, he'd let the statue stare at him. 

"I'm sorry," Kam said, deep almond eyes looking like they knew exactly what he was going through, like they'd been settled with grief before, too. Adrien nodded, trying to get some kind of smile back on his face. He'd been through this before, hadn't he? The wounds had started to close, and he used to be able to smile when it came to his mom--now they felt just as fresh as they had the first time. 

Adrien stared out into the busy foray of the top floor, watching all of the different people walking around the unique living displays. Each item had a long white tag on it, and the spaces looked professionally put together, cozy or modern or elegant in turns, and each was meant to reflect a different personality. Because there were millions of people on the planet, probably a hundred in this store right now, all with their own problems, issues, and fears. He wasn't alone in that. 

"So, how far up the pine tree did you get?" he asked. 

Kam smirked, rubbing his hands together while the bright yellow bag shifted at his side. "Man, high enough I almost broke my neck trying to get back down. My buddies gave me shit for weeks. Uh--" Kamdyn stopped before he got to the closest floor display, his eyes wide as he looked down the stairs they'd just walked up. 

Adrien turned to look and realized Marinette was at the bottom of the stairs, panting. Her eyes were wild when they met his, and she waved both arms before realizing she was catching a lot more attention than just Adrien's. A bright red blush covered her face in an instant, and she drew in on herself, giggling nervously in the middle of the crowd. 

Kamdyn raised an eyebrow at him sympathetically. "Nearest pine tree is about 1 mile that way," he said, thumb pointing vaguely behind him. 

Adrien tamped down on the anxiety welling in his stomach, trying to remember he'd faced her about a million times before as Chat Noir knowing she didn't love him. It wasn't anything new. Maybe it was because she looked just as nervous as he did. "Wait for me?" he asked, trying not to sound like his head was under a guillotine. Kam nodded, walking over to pick up some little dog figurine sitting on a bedside table. He waggled it in Adrien's direction with an overexaggerated look of amazement, then turned around and pretended to look really interested in it. 

Adrien trudged down the stairs, trying to keep up the remnants of the smile. 

"Hey, hi, uh--c-can we talk?" Marinette squeaked. 

"Yeah--yeah, sure," he said, rubbing his neck. 

They awkwardly walked to an abandoned corner by the front, behind a display of sunny yellow deck chairs and a white table. There was a basket of fake daisies on the table, and it made Adrien think for Rose for just a second as if she was invisibly cheering him on, and then his focus was right back to Marinette. 

"I-it's, um, well, first off, it's good to see you," she said, wringing her hands. "I've been kind of cloistered recently with all the--" Marinette split apart her hands to wave them erratically, accidentally slapping herself in the face before stopping, and he couldn't help but feel the familiar well of affection that he long ago stopped pretending didn't exist. 

"Yeah, Alix told me." 

"Oh. Right." She cleared her throat. "I'm kind of here about, well, the different kind of work." She pointed to her earrings. 

Part of him was disappointed, but it at least made sense. 

"I've been thinking, kind of like we talked about, earlier. About us not just doing what we used to do, but kind of just…being there, for people." 

An older woman with a patterned scarf and a scowl came up to the display, checking the tags on the table and the chairs, and didn't look like she was interested in leaving any time soon. Adrien nodded. "I remember." 

Her eyes flicked nervously between him and the woman. "Cool. So, I was thinking maybe we could all kind of take turns. Just. Being there for people. And I wanted to know if you were interested." 

Adrien stuck his hands in his hoodie pockets, and he could feel Plagg slightly shift around in the hood. He hadn't transformed in ages, and as much as he thought he would want to give it up, Adrien suddenly ached to get back out there. Especially when he didn't have a lot going on right now. "Yeah," he said, smiling softly. "I think I would like that." 

Modesty died a long time ago with Marinette and Juleka. Nowadays, when they were tight for time or just plain lazy, it didn't matter to either of them just how much of Juleka Marinette saw. Juleka had been her model of choice since they were fourteen, and now that they were creeping towards five years of clothing changes, Juleka was more than comfortable throwing clothes on and off the floor without pretense. 

Currently, Marinette was trying to undo the pins holding her creation together without stabbing the willowy model in the back, fingers still a bit jittery from a lingering anxiety spike. Ms Janine had demanded to see some progress and to finally judge if her design was cohesive enough with the Lavigne style to show up on the runway, and she'd done it without any notice. Just to see Marinette scramble. She was a taciturn older woman who dressed a lot like her grandma, all leather with her silver hair in a sharp pixie cut, but she had absolutely none of the warmth and about two hundred percent of the intensity. 

Ms Janine had swept into the room, still with her sunglasses on, took a few turns around Juleka, then planted a hand on her hip and said, "It'll do." And that was it--she left Marinette to put herself back together again, somehow feeling overjoyed and still unworthy all in one go. It was an incredible opportunity--one that people loved to remind her was above her. Marinette could understand where they were coming from. This was a chance people would kill for, and she knew why it had been given to her. 

Ms Janine hated Gabriel Agreste. Not just a little bit of hate, like a whole lotta hate, hang his portrait in her office to throw darts at between meetings kind of hate. Marinette was a fun, new object of one-upmanship, because what better way to embarrass your enemy than by torturing the unwitting designer who'd asked for his letter of recommendation? She had a feeling Ms Janine hadn't actually expected her to come up with anything worth notice, and Marinette couldn't trust that this wasn't some kind of long-con meant to tank her in the end. 

Once again, her life revolved around one Gabriel Agreste, and she was damn determined not to let it stay that way. Marinette had already reclaimed the Miraculous, and now she was going to make something so incredible that no one could doubt her skill as a designer. Unfortunately, as a result, Marinette was barely a functioning human and hadn't gotten more than three or four hours of sleep a night. It was like having a newborn, except it wasn't the dress that was crying, it was her. 

"I might be sewing you into this thing come runway time," Marinette said. 

"Been there before," Juleka countered, entirely unbothered. 

"Have I ever mentioned what a champ you are?" 

"Once or twice. Oh, uh--I have news," she said. As confident as Juleka was these days, her voice still turned to a mumble whenever she was nervous, so it took Marinette a second to decipher what she'd said. She pretended it was because she had a pin in her mouth. 

"What's up?" she asked, then shoved the pin back between her lips as she worked another one free of the purple dress, more of Juleka's pale skin coming into view.

Juleka shifted a bit. "My, uh, Dad's coming." 

Marinette's stomach plummeted. "Oh." 

"Yeah." 

It wasn't that she hated Jagged--obviously not; he was Jagged Stone for God's sake. The only problem was that when Jagged was around, people tended to throw her at him like you would a squeaky toy at a dog; she was one of the only people who could keep him appeased for longer than .2 seconds. She could do that any day--that wasn't exactly how she wanted to spend her first real runway show experience. 

"Well, that'll be great!" Marinette said, smiling wide even though Juleka couldn't see her. "I'm sure he's excited to see you up there! And he always talks up my designs, so I'm sure it'll be--it'll be great!" 

"Smile any harder and you're gonna break a tooth." 

She dropped the pretense. "You caught me. It'll be fine, though--and it's not like I was lying." Marinette undid the last crucial pin and grabbed the front of the dress so she could lower it down slowly. All six feet of angsty model slithered out of it, hopping awkwardly to avoid stepping on anything. 

"You think Gabriel's gonna be there?"

That was the question of the year. It was rare that he showed up for these sorts of things, but the media was going on like they expected he would, so Nathalie must have given them some kind of indication he would appear. It seemed odd, though, for him to start coming out of the house after everything that happened in the Fall. She had no idea how she would react if she did see him. To him, Marinette was just a girl he had written a letter of recommendation for, his son's school friend. To her, he was the man she'd spent a good year trying to defeat, and now that it was all over, she had no idea what to do with him. 

"I have nooooo idea," she said, lifting what felt like 30 pounds of purple fabric in her arms like she was carrying a bride over a new threshold. 

"What about Adrien?" 

"Take that last statement and amplify it by ten." 

There was a knock at the stage door. Juleka shimmied into her pants and jumped a few times to get them around her hips, buttoning them quickly. "Come in," she said. 

Kagami peeked her head in the door, short hair falling slightly across her cheek as she looked inside. "Damn, I just missed it," she said, disappointment coloring her voice.

"Sorry, Rose usually likes me to greet people with my pants on. Kind of a rule." 

"Not that." Kagami closed the door behind her. "I was hoping to see you with the dress on." 

Marinette giggled a bit, laying the dress down on the table so she could try to get it back in the garment bag. "I didn't know you were going to be here today, or I would have waited for you." 

"It's alright--it was a last-minute decision. I was nearby." 

"I know it's not the same, but I do have pictures," Marinette said, double checking one last time that all fabric was out of the way of the zipper before working it up. "Are you out of here, Juleka?" 

"Yeah, got a photoshoot. But, uh, about that other thing. I'll do it--I'm sure Rose would too, so just give us a call or whatever and we'll…figure it out." 

"Thank you! I'll let you know." 

Juleka nodded and bowed out, waving once to Kagami before slipping out the door. 

"Business?" Kagami asked, walking towards her with her hands before her back. 

Marinette turned and smiled, feeling a little bit more put together. "Kind of! It's something I wanted to ask you, too. I was thinking now that things are, you know, settled, the superhero thing doesn't really have to be an obligation. But I wanted to do more. I want to set up some kind of, I don't know, rotating schedule or a team--just some of us to throw on a Miraculous and see what we can do to help people for the night. Or day. It doesn't have to be at night."

It was still a burgeoning plan. Letting Luka in to share her burdens as Ladybug and Guardian really had made things a lot easier. Hawk Moth had been the threat, but she hadn't made it any easier on herself with how she'd handled it. Marinette was trying to make up the difference now.

Kagami huffed a small, affectionate laugh. "Well, that does sound like you. I would be happy to. I'm unsure when time would permit--but after I return back from Japan, I would like very much to help." 

"Perfect!" Marinette grabbed Kagami's hands, holding them in her own. "That makes almost everybody! I haven't had time to talk to Marc and Nathaniel yet, but I will soon. And Adrien said he…uh…Kagami?" 

Kagami blinked away the momentary fury that stole over her face. "Yes?" 

Oh boy. "Is… everything okay?" 

"Perfectly." They stood in silence for a moment, Marinette still holding Kagami's hands in her own before her friend heaved a great sigh. "Very well, I'm not quite alright. But it's inconsequential." 

"Do you want to go somewhere to talk about it?" Marinette asked. She wasn't exactly made of time here--Ms Janine would come bursting through the door at some point, asking where she was and why she was loafing about--but she hadn't been able to spend much time at all with Kagami. It had been weeks since they'd last seen each other, and even that had been the time they'd spilled the beans on their identities; it definitely didn't count as "hanging out". So much for taking a break.

"No, It's nothing that can't wait," she said quickly, her small nose wrinkling slightly on her face. And then, she evidently changed her mind. "It's just that Adrien and I have some unfinished business. I couldn't give him a proper talking to, and there's been no time or place to do so since." 

"That…sounds kind of serious. What kind of talking to?" 

The nose wrinkle deepened, and Kagami went to lean against the side of the table. "He told me he'd marry me if I asked him." 

"He what?!" Marinette's mouth hung open.

"Yes, exactly that reaction," she said, vindication lighting up her eyes. "I'm furious, and there hasn't been a single moment where I haven't felt slightly guilty bringing it up. If I'm going to yell at him, I'd like to do it on a clear conscience." 

"But why would he do that? I-I mean, don't get me wrong, you're wonderful--I mean, I'd marry you, too, you're stunning and great, I just don't understand…" Marinette dropped off, but her brain kept the babble going. What happened to him being in love with Ladybug? Sheesh! She always knew Chat Noir could be a flirt, but this seemed a little much!

Kagami crossed her arms, a line growing to be the size of the Seine forming between her brows. "He was depressed and needy, and he felt the need to take it out on me, and I certainly didn't appreciate it. I suppose I started it; it was an inconsiderate joke to make, but still! He really should not have taken it so seriously. I won't feel settled until we have it out." Her finger began tapping a mad beat on her arm, dissatisfaction rolling off her in waves. 

She was kind of at a loss as to what to say here. It wasn't like there was much she could say, especially because part of her was hoping that if Adrien did decide to come to her show, the main event wouldn't be Kagami knocking him over the head with a chair. Before the river between Kagami's brows could deepen much further or Marinette could stick her foot in her mouth, Kagami's phone chimed in her purse. She dug it out, and the second she saw whatever was on the screen, her face smoothed out entirely, an utterly soft smile replacing the stoked fury of the dragon. 

"Good news…?" Marinette asked tentatively. 

Kagami blinked, shoving her phone back into her purse. "Ah, yes, of a sort. I'm afraid I should be leaving now. I simply wanted to see how you're doing. You're flourishing," she said, smiling without the super mushy look in her eyes but smiling nonetheless.

Marinette looked down at her fingers, feeling a bit of a flush coming on. She gobbled up praise like a prairie after a draught, but she still felt a little bashful about it. "Thank you." 

Kagami nodded once, standing to give her a quick hug. "I do intend to make a formal business associate of you, and soon, so if anyone gives you any trouble, know I'm simply a phone call away." 

"Well, before we do anything, we have to make sure I don't fall flat on my face here--I don't want to take you down with me." 

"You'll be fine. Better than fine, I'm quite sure of it. You deserve this moment, Marinette. I truly hope you're able to enjoy every second of it."

Marinette let her go, waiting until Kagami left to return to her dress. She really was putting her whole heart and soul into it, and she was happy that she was able to, but her brain was still somewhere halfway across the world with Luka. He had called her at midnight, her time, to let her know they'd made it alright--and he sounded fine. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Marinette touched the garment bag, running a hand along the slick nylon, listening to the slight whisper sound it made under her touch. Letting Luka handle the situation in New York was important--she couldn't keep piling things on her plate out of fear that if she didn't have a hand in everything, it would all fall apart. 

That instinct had nearly broken her and Chat Noir, and clearly she and Adrien were still paying the price for it. They could barely see each other without being totally weird about it. He'd practically run from her to get off the bus, and Marinette hadn't even said hello yet. I'm really, really looking forward to the day we can just be friends again, she thought to herself with a frown, picking up the garment bag to hang it on the hook on the wall. She would be happy with being able to hang out and talk with him like a normal person, although…

Marinette unzipped her purse, Tikki's face immediately coming into view. "You don't see my phone in there, do you?" Marinette asked. 

Tikki disappeared into the fray, digging beneath her emergency hairbrush, sewing kit, portable iron, Ms Janine's handkerchief and planner… "I've got it!" Tikki squeaked, trying to pull it out beneath the rubble. "Luka hasn't texted yet. I'd have heard."

Marinette smiled, helping worm the phone out without disrupting the rest of the contents. "I doubt he's even awake yet," she said with a laugh. She checked her texts anyway. Nope. Nothing.

But that wasn't why she got her phone out in the first place. Marinette clicked on Adrien's contact, scrolling through the text log for a minute. 

Tikki appeared over her shoulder, looking at the screen. "What're you looking at?" she asked.

Marinette tapped her forefinger on the back of her phone. "I just…I guess I just realized we don't…" she sighed. "Adrien and I haven't ever really talked. I mean look at this! A few texts from months ago when he was asking me where Alix's new shop was, and when we were going to all go see it. I sent him this picture of a corgi once, and he replied with an emoji--more chatter about when we're meeting up to see other friends, and that's it!" Marinette slapped her phone down on her thigh. "Have we ever actually been friends?" 

Tikki winced, "Well…maybe you could start…talking more?" 

It was a reasonable thing to say, but the idea of putting even more work into a friendship when she was drowning in work--both the Leader of A Hopefully Non-Disaster Superhero Team and Super Successful and Impressive Designer kind--was… Well, it sounded like a lot more work. Were friendships always this hard? How did she use to do it? She hadn't even texted Alya in a few days, and Marinette was up to her ears in worry-about-Luka vibes and sewing. 

Not only that, she still felt like she hadn't dealt with Gabriel properly. What the hell else was she supposed to do, though? She couldn't lock him up in some closet for the rest of his life, but she didn't want to involve the cops or lawyers, god forbid news agencies, and it wasn't like he was the only one who had misused the Miraculous. Amélie had stolen the Miraculous, too, but she was even less hesitant to do anything about that situation, especially since she'd been the one to give them back. They'd all kind of been through enough.

"I don't think I'm very good at this, Tikki," Marinette said, wedging her phone back into her overstuffed purse. 

Tikki flew from her shoulder, hovering in front of her face. "Good at what?" 

"Being…I don't know, an adult? I don't know how people do it." 

Tikki didn't have a chance to placate her--Marinette's work phone started vibrating like crazy on the table by the wall. She didn't have to look to know it was Ms Janine, and she was probably fuming. Tikki huddled up for a moment in the crook of her neck. "You can do it, Ladybug" she said, then zipped away into her purse. 

Marinette kind of felt like she didn't have a choice. She was either going to be forged in the fire, or burned into ashes. 

Worlds Not Our Own: Chapter Five, I’ll Be Good

[andydrysdalerogers]

Sliding Into Home ~ The Next Adventure

Pairing: MLB!Frank Adler x Abigail Hernandez (OFC)

Synopsis:

After a trade from Boston to Los Angeles, first baseman Frank Adler would seem to have it all. Money, women, an amazing niece, yes Frank should have it all. Except for one thing. One thing that left after a mistake five years ago. Los Angeles should be the chance to start over. Except she is supposed to be in Boston. Not his new medical director.

* A Frank Adler AU x Major League Baseball Story**

Warning: ANGST (i can't stress this enough), second chances, cheating, S~M~U~T!!, slow burn, drug use, abandonment issues, betrayal, domestic violence (i may have missed some), flashbacks

Dividers by me

I do NOT give permission for my work to be translated or reposted on here or any other site, even if you give me credit. DO NOT REPOST MY FICS. Reblogs, comments, likes, and feedback ALWAYS appreciated

Previous: On The Hunt For Mike Weiss

Sliding Into Home Master List Main Masterlist

Frank stood on first base, the sun beating down as he watched the batter, Johnny on the mound. He leaned in as Johnny let go of the baseball. The Yankee batter swinged and connected, sending the ball right to the short stop, Miguel Rojas.  Rojas scooped it up and launched it right at Frank.  He caught it, never letting go of the bag, making the third out of the inning.  He jogged with a smile towards the dugout, bumping fist with Miguel as they went in. He looked for Johnny, who was in the corner with his eyes closed.  

“Storm? You ok?” 

“Yeah, Adler, I’m ok.  Just frustrated.” Johnny popped a bottle of water and took a long drink.  “I’m in a slump,” he admitted.  

“What are you talking about? You’ve been pitching great.”  

“Not a baseball slump.  Watching everything that had been happening with your family, Susie’s been avoiding me, just... my mind is all over the place.”  

Frank patted his back. “I never did thank you for all of your support during this crazy time.”  

“It was nothing,” he shrugged off.  

“It's not nothing Johnny. My little Nugget asks me about you every day. Because she considers you her friend and her family. That’s huge for her man.”  

“Frank, I want what you have,” Johnny looked at him directly. “Well not the hard weird stuff, but the family, the home, the dog.”  

“You are not stealing Dodger. Worth more than my life.”  

Johnny scowled. “Asshole, you know that’s not what I meant.” He closed his eyes.  

Frank studied him. Johnny has always been a carefree spirit but lately he had notice he had become more subdued. It was starting to affect his game. And then it hit him. “Come to dinner.”  

“What?” 

“Come to dinner at my house.  Scott and Abby and mine’s new assistant are joining us, and Abby hired a chef.  We can talk after with a couple of beers.”  

Johnny studied his friend and saw the sincerity. “Sure man. Thanks.”  

“Best friend man. At least I hope I am.”  

“Best friend.”  

“Adler! You’re on deck!” The coach yelled down the bench 

And with a fist bump, Frank got ready to bat.  

Abby was talking in her office with her assistant, Katie, about the family schedule.  Katie had become Abby and Frank’s assistant in helping them keep their schedules and running the house for them.  They had offered the job to Scott but he wanted the freedom that came with Mary in school. “Katie, let’s make sure that security is aware of Mary’s extracurricular activities for next week.”  

“No problem. Any reason?” 

“Frank will be on the road trip, and I forgot that I need to be on that trip as well. It's just Scott as Mary’s guardian. Marco shouldn’t have any issues with the adjustments, but I just want to be sure.”  Abby looked up from her tablet.  “Oh, and let the chef for tonight know we have one more for dinner. Scott is bring a friend, he said.”  

“Ok. Is it still ok if I tag along?” 

“Of course, this is just an impromptu dinner, and I thought my exams with the team were going to be longer than I thought. Normally I would have cooked.”  She shrugged. “When I explained to Frank, he didn’t want me to stress about it.”  Her phone beeped and she looked at the message.  

Frankie: Johnny is coming to dinner too. He’s upset 

Abby: everythign ok? 

Frankie: Its fine Cricket, he’s just needing a break 

Abby: okie dokie, love you.  

Frankie: love you more.  

“Katie, sorry, its two more for dinner.” Abby sighed. “Frank is bringing a friend and with those guys, having more food is better than being short.”  

As Frank and Johnny approached the front door, Frank slapped Johnny’s back.  “C’mon pal, everything is going to be ok.”  

“Says the man with the perfect family,” Johnny grumbled.  

“Its not perfect. Look at all the shit we’ve gone through so far.  Just relax man, enjoy a quiet meal with friends.”  He opened the door and caught Dodger’s collar before the pup could make his escape. “Mary!” 

“Dodger! Come back!” Mary streaked into the entryway. “Thanks!” She took the dog in her arms.  “Hi Johnny!” 

“Hey Strawberry!” Johnny kneels down to her level.  “Whatcha doing with Dodger?” 

“Trying to teach him to fetch. Can you help me?” Mary batted her eyelashes and Frank snorted, knowing she was going to get her way.  

“Lead the way.” Mary took his hand and pulled him back to the living room. “Ok the first thing we need to do is...” he stopped when he spotted a strawberry blonde seated in the room, looking at the tablet. “Umm,” she looked up and recognition hit her face. 

“Hi, you must be Frank’s friend.  I’m Katie,” she offered her hand.  

“Storm, John, Johnny Storm, I mean...” he ran a hand through his hair.  “Hi, I’m Johnny.”  

She giggled. “I know. Best pitcher in the National League, with a 2.69 ERA, second in the entire league behind Othani.”  Katie blushed after she rattled off her knowledge. “Sorry.”  

Johnny’s mouth was open and when she blushed, he snapped it shut. “No, that’s impressive.” Johnny flashed her a smile. “I hardly ever meet a girl with knowledge like that. Mostly, they talk about their dress or makeup.” He patted the back of his head.  “Sorry, I’m...” 

“Its ok. I think the only other woman I know who knows baseball is Abby so I understand.”  

“Well, I’m just going to help Strawberry with Dodger, but we’ll move to the backyard to give you space.’ Johnny stepped back but never took his eyes off Katie. 

“Oh, what are we working on?’’ 

“Fetch,” Mary said. “C’mon Johnny.” She pulled his hand.  

“I’m done for the day, I was just catching up on my fantasy team.” She stood up and smiled. “Let’s see if we can get Dodger to fetch.” Her smile was bright, and it took everything in Johnny not to swoon. Frank watched from the doorway. Abby appeared next to him.  

“Huh, I did not see that one coming.”  

“Just like Susie and Marco?” Frank looked down at his wife, eyebrow raised.  

“No idea what you are talking about.”  She gave him a sly smile and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders with a laugh.  

“Love you, Cricket.”  

“Love you, Frankie.” 

A couple of weeks later, Frank had just come back from a road trip and was in bed with Abby, resting. “I wanted to talk to you about something Cricket.”  

“What’s up?” She put her book down and looked at her husband. He was scruffy, his hair a bit longer that suited him. His arm was behind his head, flexing his forearm. God, she loved those arms when they were around her, holding her tight. Pinning her to him as he railed her.  She got lost in the look of him for a second before she heard, “Perv.” She snapped back into reality.  “I am not a perv.  I don’t look at men like this.”  She booped him on the nose.  “Just you.”  

“Best you only be looking at me like this,” he growled. He kissed her gently and then moved down to her jawline and neck.  Abby slide down with him, moaning softly as he continued his assault. “Taste so sweet, Cricket.”  

“Frankie,” she moaned. “I thought... shit... I thought you wanted to talk.” She closed her eyes as his lips trailed over her collar bone.  

“We will, when I’m done.”  He moved to pull her chemise away and kissed the flesh of her breast.  She squeaked when he tugged on a nipple with his teeth, not hard but just enough to bring them to attention. When he’s done lavishing her breasts, he moves south, kissing and licking, tasting the skin that is his. “Always so sweet, Cricket.” 

Abby squirms as Frank kisses around her waist. “Frankie,” she mumbles.  

“So impatient,” he tsks. He gently pulls the scrap of lace she calls panties away from her body. He sees that she’s glistening for him. He kisses right over her clit, and she arches her back with a soft moan. “So sensitive.” He looks at her face as he teases her clit with his tongue. Thank fuck their room was on the other side of the house from Mary and Scott, because Abby lets out a loud moan from the action.  Frank grins and dives in, sucking and teasing her core, placing a hand on her stomach to keep her from moving.  

“Oh god, Frankie,” she cried out as he pushed her higher and higher. “Please, fuck, please,” she pleaded.  

He let a large finger get covered in her juices before he slid it into her entrance, pulling out and adding another, hearing her wail as he hit that soft spot inside her. “So tight Cricket, fuck, squeezing me tight.” Over and over, he hit that spot and suckled on her swollen clit before she shattered under hit, eyes rolling to the back of her head, a cry of pleasure leaving her lips.  He guided her through before he pulled away.  He licked his finger clean, giving her a moment to breathe before climbing on top of her.  

“I’m gonna fuck a baby into you, My Cricket.”  

And he thrusted home. She gasped, his thick cock still surprising her. “Frankie!” she moaned. “So Full!”  

“Yeah baby, you like that? Such a good girl, taking my cock so well.” He slides back and thrusted in again, feeling her walls clamp over him. “Fuck Cricket, my queen.” He was slow and steady, hard and deep.  

She cried out as he hit that spot that only his dick or fingers could find. “Frank, I can’t.”  

“Yes, you can my love. Give me one more. Let me feel you cum all over me.” Frank pumped his hips harder into her before reaching down and stroking her clit, causing her wail as she reached her peak again.  “Fuck yes baby! Ah shit!” Frank roared as cummed in her hard as she pulsed around him. He collapsed on her for a moment before getting on his forearms, keeping most of his weight off of her. He watched as he eyes focused again on him, the dizziness from her orgasm clearing.  He kissed her softly. “I love you, Cricket.”  

“I love you Frankie,” she whispered. She kissed his lips and then his cheek as he went to kiss her forehead. He pulled away gently, rolling onto his back. She cuddled into his side; his arm wrapped around her. There was silence for a few moments, just their breathing could be heard as it settled to normal.  

“About what I wanted to talk about,” Frank started.  

“Is it bad?” 

“No, I don’t think so.” He sighed, kissing her hair. “I’ve been thinking about our situation.” She moved to sit up, but he held her close. “No, not that. I was thinking that maybe we should talk to Mary.”  

“About what?” 

“About becoming her parents.  For real.”  

This time, Abby forced her way to a seated position, clutching the sheets around her chest. “Are you serious?” 

Frank could usually tell what his wife was thinking. But tonight, in this moment, he was lost. “Cricket, if you think it’s a bad idea or if you don’t...” 

“Shut up Franklin.” Abby’s eyes became shiny. “All I’ve ever wanted to do was make Mary our girl, officially.  She’s mine, she’s always been ours.” A single tear fell. “I just thought you never wanted to because of Diane.”  

“Baby,” he cupped her face a wiped the tears with his thumbs. “I didn’t want to before because I wanted to do it with you. You’re her momma.” He kissed her gently and Abby cried. “That a yes, Cricket?” 

“Absolutely.” She started to get out of bed.  

“Where are you going?” 

“To tell Mary.”  

“Its 1 AM Cricket. She’s asleep.” Frank pulled her back into bed as she pouted. “We gotta talk to Andy to make sure we can first.” He kissed her temple and pulled the covers over them again.  

Abby laid down and stared at the ceiling. “We still gonna try for a baby? Because, you know, I have to stop my birth control for that to happen.”  

Frank stilled, realizing what he had said in the heat of the moment. “I know.”  

“You still want kids with me?” Abby chewed her lip.  

“Cricket, I would have a baseball team with you, if you let me.”  He smiled. “But for now, let's just try for one more.”  

Abby smiled. “So, this is our new adventure?” 

Frank tilted her face up. “The next adventure.” 

NEXT

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[flightfoot]

Do you know any good fics where either Marinette or Adrien has other superhero partner?

Hm... those do happen, but it's rare.

Stone Streak by kingxuppu

Ladybug and Violet Tigress had been fighting the mysterious Duskwing for eight years now. Through the years, the two have grown stronger together and even gotten married, they are waiting until they finally beat Duskwing to start a family. At least, that was the plan. When Juleka gets confronted with the realization that her friends are starting families of their own, she realizes just how badly she wants to be a mother.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, Juleka and Marinette get the chance to adopt Juleka's young modeling friend Adrien.

Maybe they aren't quite a traditional family, but with magic, rockstars, and fame, normal was never an option.

Via Discovery: There are actually two terms of venery for tigers, depending on the makeup of the group. The first is a streak of tigers and this refers to a female tiger and her cubs.

Now this is a rare pairing, there’s not a lot of Julenette fics! Adrien and Rose actually have some ship tease going on, the whole kid group in canon got broken up into two groups here, one that remained around canon age (so like 13) which notably consists of Chloe, Rose, and Adrien, and then I think everyone else are adults in their mid-twenties. It’s weird seeing Adrien as Marinette’s and Juleka’s son, but hey it works! I love how Juleka really showed Adrien the ropes on modeling and became a Mama tiger for him, the fic’s mostly just very sweet, though with a surprisingly dark final act. 

---

Accidents Are Also Miracles by @liiinerle

After a few turbulent days where four new people discover her secret identity, Marinette loses faith in her ability to keep the secret hidden. Wracked with doubts and insecurities, she pleads with Alya to take over as Scarabella, but she still can't let those worries go. Especially not once Monarch starts taking a particular, and personal, interest in her.

Along the way, she also starts to date Kagami, and has to deal with changing feelings about herself, Adrien, Alya, Kagami, and the idea of being Ladybug. At the same time, Alya works to uncover Monarch's secret identity, while Kagami struggles against a controlling parent, and a girlfriend who seems bent on destroying herself - with or without Monarch's involvement.

Fantastic Marigami fic here! You’ve got three major POVs in this fic: Marinette, Kagami, and to my delight, Alya. I loved getting to see Alya cope with taking over as Scarabella especially.

But of course, this fic centers more around Marinette and Kagami, with Marinette struggling with Monarch targeting her, and Kagami struggling against her abusive parent, as well as both of them trying to navigate their relationship together when they know that not everyone will approve. 

There’s also some other plots going on in here, like Sabrina breaking away from Chloe and becoming more independent (and closer to Adrien in fact), as well as a Lila takedown plot, though thankfully not one that involves demonizing other characters. While there are conversations about people believing Lila and siding with her, no one’s actually attacked for it except for Lila herself.

Oh yeah, and while this fic may not have much focus on Adrien, he’s still treated fairly and with respect, even when he messes up. He can make mistakes, but people understand where he’s coming from, and are still kind to him and want things to be okay, and to help him escape his abusive circumstances.

---

Crepes and Petals by @fruitdragon1a

For MLB Femslash February 24! AND for nik's birthday! Happy birthday :D Day 26: Alya/Marinette 'idea', 'taste' Alya and Marinette have been friends ever since that fateful first day in collège. Scarabella and Lady Noire have been friends ever since they started fighting crime together at the age of fourteen. Alya and Lady Noire? Their friendship is newer-- and Alya wishes it were more.

---

Withered Wings by @11jj11

Nino wasn’t sure if anyone had ever willingly took the akuma butterfly before him, but with his mind completely open to this apparent son of Hawk Moth he knew that he couldn’t turn him away. Not someone that was so afraid, not someone who would be left at the mercy of Hawk Moth.

[into-september]

MLB Paris special

I've been saying it before and I'm saying it even louder now: these writers are good at self-contained episodes, it's serialisation they can't handle. This is yet another testament to the fact that when they get the time to flesh out their ideas and dwell on their details, this universe is brilliant.

That said, this is by far the weakest of the specials yet, thanks mostly to the way it falls back on some of the mawkiest lines this show has produced. Where Shanghai and NYC had moments of Our Heroes in genuinely dire situations, this one was essentially your normal akuma battle with a few extra bells and whistles, which they resolve by giving their emo counterparts a pep talk about how they can totally be good people like them, just look on the bright side of life! The lucky charm blatantly frames this as some sort of facing-your-inner-demons tale, which would have worked if

a) these had been doubts Marinette and Adrien had faced this very episode, but last time Adrien had a thought about the fact that he recently lost his mum in canon timeline was "Felix", and Marinette's experience in being bitter and alone was, oh yeah, never.

b) we had a bit more background on emoverse ladynoir than their telling us the reason they're angry

In essence: this brings about zero epiphanies to our ladynoir like the NYC special did, and emoverse ladynoir don't have the on-screen backstories like Fei for their turn-around to be narratively satisfying. Marinette's speech at Emobug reads like an inspirational quote our aunts post on Facebook; harmless, and true in essence, but ooooh boy the that's easy for you to say.

It works simultaneously better and worse with Adrien-Emonoir, where Adrien's side is A+ character moment and Emonoir's is jazz_music_stops.jpg because this boy lived better circumstances than our Adrien, but became a trigger-happy supervillain? and here I thought losing a parent and being neglected by the other one wasn't a sympathetic explanation for why you'd turn to violence against the world around you

Where NYC and Shanghai had my heart, this one was just sparkly, but sparkly at least in a way it's been a while since this show has felt.

(I mean, there's the "Gabriel Agreste is a hero at his core and deserved the statue" propaganda and "why yes, their team-up in the end can be taken as foreshadowing of Marinette's decision to side with Gabriel in the S5 finale being framed as a good and kind thing for Adrien", but I'll refrain from going into that wank. We're all strong independent adults capable of grappling with the unfortunate implications of a work of fiction)

Have some bullet points:

I called them "bells and whistles" but emoverse ladynoir carries this special alone, and boy howdy do they CARRY it

Some really nifty scenes here, with particular kudos to the slo-mo akumatisation of Cat Noir

ouch but the parallel akumatisation of father and son from different universes was an unfortunate one (see: "Gabriel is a hero at core" propaganda)

speaking of: ~Cat Blanc trauma~ died with "Jubilation" and this is the funeral

So much lore being made up just to justify the plot beats of this special, gotta love it

Excuse me, I got brainworms from emoverse ladynoir being physically marked by the damaged caused by their misuse of their miraculous and the way this never is compared to Gabriel's shiny new handprint

Or at least named as the reason why they're so desperate and bitter, rather than the diet coke explanation we got

I can't believe what a bitter old crone I've become to roll my eyes when Ladybug has a moment of shoddily set up "oh no I can't do it" so that Cat Noir can put a hand on his shoulder and look her in the eye and say "I always believe in you, milady". To be fair I think this would've touched me if it hadn't been like a year and half since "Strike Back" aired

On the bright side, this one episode does Alya more justice than all the rest of S5 did

did emoverse!Chloé have Sabine deported?

I can't believe Claw Noir didn't at least get rid of the mullet

I can't believe that trailer showed us all we were getting of emoverse Alya and Nino. ROBBED.

The emotional aftermath of "Destruction" really was ADRIEN: Plagg, I think I killed a man and that makes me uncomfortable PLAGG: Okay, but please consider: cheese

Why, IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, was this scene of Gabriel almost going into Adrien's room after the cataclysm not in the show proper

Adrien was so excited to talk about Nino's favourite film. It is now canon that Adrien is that person who genuinely enjoys avant-garde cinema

Best part: emoverse ladynoir teaming up with Hawkmoth to form a visual kei Team Rocket, complete with sarcastic nicknames

Monarch, sorry (something something you're giving into his power by acknowledging his self-proclaimed change in name), but I dig that they kept up the continuity of the fashion disaster he was for these early S5 episodes

Worst part: Superfluous multiverse jumping fanservice. If you needed to pad for time, it should've been spent on emoverse ladynoir flashbacks

I can't wait for the S6 reveal that Chloé personally caused the climate crisis, founded daesh and killed Mother Teresa

[k-evans-reads]

On Deck

Chapter 15

Summary: Although they grew up in the same small town, Chris and Sam had both gone their separate ways a long time ago. Chris moved up to become a MLB star, one of the best in the business, while Sam stayed stuck in the same small town. But when multiple injuries ended the Red Sox prodigy’s career, he winds up back in the same small town he swore he’d never be back to. The past may not stay in the past any longer, as old wounds begin to creep back up.

Pairing: MLB!Chris Evans X OFC Samantha “Sam” Merrick

Word Count: 3,248

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: None.

Previous | Main Masterlist | On Deck Masterlist

Sam squinted as the hot August sun beat down on her and Chris while they slowed to a stop at the crosswalk. “How is it that I’m out of breath and you aren’t?” She heard him practically pant, and he ran a hand through his sweaty hair as Sam stood still, her eyes on the small beach across the way. They were a few miles outside of town along the coastline of Connecticut, the cold Atlantic Ocean an enticing sight to her in this muggy summer heat.   

She shrugged, raising her shoulders as she felt her tight tank top cling to her heated skin. “Over a decade of waiting tables has given me a lot of stamina,” she admitted, a smirk on her face as he laughed.

“I’m familiar with your stamina.” 

“Well apparently yours leaves a lot to be desired,” Sam told him sarcastically, slowly moving as the light changed and falling into stride with Chris towards the busy beach. 

He gasped, looking at her with an amused and over dramatic expression, moving to the side as a small family passed them. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say that.” 

Sam grinned and nodded her head towards the crashing waves.“C’mon, we better take a break or I’m afraid you’re going to pass out.” 

He knocked his shoulder against hers then moved behind her as they descended down the short staircase, muttering, “I’m going to blame it on the fact I worked out so much the past few days in Boston.” 

“Whatever you need to tell yourself, bigshot,” Sam laughed cheerfully, then they kicked their shoes and socks off, making their way to an empty space near the water and sitting on the sand. She was quiet, letting the sun warm her skin before she gratefully took a sip from Chris’ water bottle. “I really missed you, ya know.” 

“I know, I missed you too.” 

And Sam knew how much he meant it. The two of them had settled into a routine over this summer, only becoming closer and closer as each day passed. Between their trip to Mexico nearly a month ago, Sam learning to trust and rely on Chris more, as well as Sam and Riley basically living at Chris’ apartment had then made them completely intertwined. But that had also made the five days apart this past week even more difficult, and also made the relatively short distance between their small town and Boston feel immeasurably large. 

When they had returned from Mexico, Chris had called Hank back at Sammy’s urging and told him that he wanted to come back the following season for the Red Sox, which had set a lot of things in motion. He went to Boston these past five days to have meetings for his upcoming broadcasting job, but had also scheduled a few consultations with doctors and physical therapists to check out his past injuries to see if coming back had even been feasible. 

Sam hated being apart from him but was relieved he finally was going to get checked out. His jovial nature had been subdued since they’d gotten home from Mexico, Chris being more down as he got in his own head and felt the stress and anxiety about a possible comeback. He had been going through all the ‘what-ifs’ of if he’d be able to play again let alone if he’d be any good. Then add on the stress of broadcasting, a totally new venture, and Chris had been unlike himself the past month. Sam had been eager for him to go get checked out, knowing that he’d at least have an answer then and she had felt herself warm from the inside out when he’d called her on his way out of the doctor a couple days ago, excitement in his voice as he told her the doctor thought he’d be able to play again. 

And while that elation was a welcome relief to them both, it was short-lived for Sam when she went into work each day. Things for her had become even worse, her boss still holding a grudge that she’d taken time off for vacation - for the first time in over a decade - and now was asking for a weekend off toward the end of summer so she, Chris, and Riley could go to Boston for a few days. Although she hadn’t mentioned it to Chris, her boss had been even crabbier and mean than normal, chewing Sam out for each and every misstep and yelling at her a handful of times every shift. She tried to push that from her mind though, not wanting to let it taint her time with Chris. 

“Being in Boston without you just didn’t feel right,” Chris quietly admitted to her, Sam turning to watch as he leaned back slightly, shutting his eyes and practically basking in the sun. 

Sam’s brows furrowed and she laughed slightly as she watched him, moving to pull her hair into a bun at the top of her head.  “I’ve only been there once,” she chuckled quietly. 

“I know,” Chris murmured. “But now it just feels weird to be without you for so long. I don’t like it.” 

Sam sighed and watched the way the waves crashed against the shore, moving towards their feet before the water receded. “At least I got the whole bed to myself without you snoring in my ear.” 

“Wow Sammy, I’m just here sharing my feelings about missing you and all you can say is that you were happy I wasn’t bothering your sleep! Some girlfriend you are,” Chris laughed sarcastically, moving closer to Sam and his eyes shifting to look up and down the shoreline curiously. 

“Well I’m just speaking the truth,” Sam confessed, her voice quieting. “You know I missed you. I felt like… I don’t know. I just felt like something wasn’t right with you not there.” 

“I love you, baby,” his low voice murmured as he squinted at her from under his long eyelashes. “And I want you to know that I really wanted dinner from that Italian restaurant I took you to when we were there but I didn’t get it. I’m saving it for when we’re together.” 

Her head tilted back as she laughed loudly, Chris joining in happily. “Good, because I don’t think I could forgive you if you cheated on me with that gnocchi,” Sam admitted to him. 

“We could have it when we go in a couple weeks,” Chris whispered as he reached a hand out to lay over her own. “Can Ify cover your shifts?” 

A deep sigh escaped her as he brought up the elephant in the room, telling him, “Yeah, but Ken has been all over me so I’m not sure if he’ll give me the time off.” 

“Sammy-” 

“I know what you’re going to say, but we’ve been through this Chris. He’s my boss and I can’t seem to get a job anywhere else so I just have to deal with it,” she interrupted, her voice firm. “But even if I can’t go, I hope you’ll take Riley with you. It would mean the world to him.” 

He looked at her with a frown on his face, silent for several long moments until he agreed quietly, “I will, baby.” 

Sam nodded, falling quiet as well. The silence that had fallen between them allowed the sound of the waves and the nearby groups to sneak into their space, and before long they heard the giggles of a young boy, Sam looking to her right. “Hey look at that little kid,” Sam whispered, nodding her head over to the group next to them, eyes trailing on the little boy as he dumped a bucket of water over his head, laughing loudly as he wiped the water from his eyes with a grin. “Look how cute he is!” 

She heard a small chuckle rise from Chris as he saw the boy, both of them quieting as they observed him for a moment before they returned their eyes to the water in front of them. Chris surprised Sam when he - as tentative as she’d ever heard him before - asked her, “...Do you ever want one of those?” 

Her brows furrowed in confusion, glancing back to the family next to him, seeing the boy working on a sandcastle and replied quietly, “A sandcastle?” 

He let out a short laugh, shaking his head as Sam turned back to him. “No, a kid,” he corrected.

She sighed, shifting uncomfortably. “I… I don’t know,” she admitted honestly, avoiding Chris’ eyes as she stared at the ocean in front of them. “I love Riley but taking care of him has been really hard.” 

Sam could see Chris nod his head out of the corner of her eyes, his voice soft as he sympathized, “Well it doesn’t help that you were a kid yourself when you were expected to basically be his mom.” 

She let out a large sigh, her brain racking through the fears that had been long-present in her brain. “Yeah, and I guess… part of me is afraid I’ll end up being a mom like mine was,” she confessed quietly to him.

“You’re nothing like your mom, Sammy,” Chris instantly said, his voice firm. “What you’ve done for Riley shows that.” 

“Thank you, Chris,” she smiled, moving her hand out from under his to rest on his arm, another sigh escaping her. “But at this point in my life, I feel unsure about it.” 

Chris nodded, shrugging and simply replying, “I can understand that.” 

The couple were silent, Sam nodding a bit before she furrowed his brows and asked, “...Do you want them?” 

“Honestly I haven’t ever given it a ton of thought. I think I’m focused on so many other things in life that I’m not wanting that, at least in the near future,” Chris shrugged before a smirk settled on his lips. “Besides, if we had kids then I’d have to share you and I don’t think I’m really into that.” 

“Oh so now you’re just openly admitting how selfish you are?” 

“Yeah basically,” he grinned with a loud laugh.

Sam laughed along with him but then moved her hand to lightly shove his shoulder with a smirk, telling him, “C’mon bigshot, I need to get you home before you burn that white skin of yours.” 

She watched Chris laugh before grabbing a handful of sand and tossing it at her, making Sam give him a light shove once he got to his feet. The pair pulled their shoes back on then jogged their way back to the apartment, saying hi to Riley who was parked on the couch playing video games as they passed by to go take a shower. Sammy got in and out quickly, much to Chris’ protests, before she tied her hair up and tossed some clothes on before hurrying out the door to get to another grueling shift at the diner. 

By the time she was finished, Sammy finally got a chance to look at her phone, seeing a text from Chris informing her that he and Riley had gone to the movies, leaving her an empty apartment for a while when she got home. But as Sam started the car and headed home, she passed by a familiar house with Lisa working in the front yard. 

Impulsively, Sam turned the car into the driveway and climbed out, finding Lisa on her hands and knees planting something new in the dirt flower beds that lined her house. She watched as Lisa smiled brightly at her, pushing herself to her feet and brushing the dirt off her jeans and hands before she pulled Sam in for a tight hug. 

“Hi honey, what are you doing here?” Lisa greeted her, her warm voice settling Sam’s stress from the long work day. 

Sam’s shoulders relaxed as they hugged, pulling back with a smile and shrugging, “I just was going home from work and saw you so I just wanted to stop in for a minute.” 

“You know I love it when you do. I wanted an excuse for a break anyway,” Lisa told her as she stepped back. “Where are Chris and Riley tonight?” 

“They went to a movie,” Sam told her, following Lisa to the backyard, her eyes moving over the beautiful garden beds. “I don’t think Riley will come out and say it but he missed Chris like crazy this week.” 

“Those two are thick as thieves now,” Lisa chuckled as she settled onto a patio chair, watching as Sam sat opposite her.  “Although with how down Chris has been, I’m sure having Riley around has lifted his spirits.” 

Sam’s brows raised and she bit her lower lip, asking the older woman, “So you’ve noticed it too?” 

Lisa nodded with a frown on her face. “I’m just glad he isn’t full on sulking like he was after his last surgeries.” 

“I hate seeing him so stressed about everything. I’ve been trying to think of ways to cheer him up,” Sam confessed, feeling thankful for the chance to admit this, especially to Lisa, who was someone whose opinion she held highly. “I worked doubles every single day that he was gone to save some money because I was sort of thinking about surprising him with a dog but I’m not sure.” 

Lisa’s brows shot up and a wide smile spread across her face as she enthusiastically said, “Oh Sammy, that’s a great idea! Chris always loved our dogs growing up and he’s wanted one for a long time but obviously couldn’t because of traveling for all the games.” 

“Do you really think he’d like it?” Sam asked, apprehension in her voice.

“He’d love it,” Lisa reassured her. “Do you have enough money? I’ve got some cash in the house.” 

“No, I really want to do this,” Sam shook her head and declined the offer. “Chris does so much for me and I want to be able to do something for him.” 

Lisa gave her a wide smile again, repeating the approval and telling her, “It’s going to mean the world to him Sammy.” 

And Sam sure did hope she was right. She felt filled with those nervous butterflies as if she was in junior high again as she drove to the shelter, looking through all the dogs until she found the sweetest pooch who practically begged for her attention. She knew immediately how perfect he was and it took her hardly any time to have the papers signed and the dog and all the supplies for him packed in her beat up old car on the way back to the apartment. 

The happy dog trotted alongside her up the stairs, his tail wagging wildly as he waited for Sam to unlock the door. When Sam pushed the door open, she heard the TV on and could see Riley on the couch. She saw him turn his head, Riley’s eyes going wide at the sight of the dog but when she held a finger to her lips, he stayed quiet. 

“Hey, I’m home!” Sam called, holding the leash in her hand tightly as she kicked her shoes off by the front door. “How was the movie?” 

Riley smirked, his eyes moving to look in the kitchen as he called, “I had to go out and get another popcorn halfway through because Chris ate it all.” 

“I was hungry, okay!” Chris’ voice was indignant, and the sound of a cabinet closing echoed into the front hall. He made his way out of the kitchen but he was facing Riley with a plate in his hand and heading to sit at a bar stool. “But it definitely wasn’t a good choice. I’m having a sandwich now to try to soak up all the butter. I think that-” 

Sam intently watched when Chris finally turned his head to look at her, but his gaze instantly dropped to the little innocent face looking up at him, making Chris stop all his movements. She could see the smile burst on his face as he exclaimed, “Hi puppy!” 

Instantly he pushed himself off of the stool and came over to kneel down on the floor, holding his hand out to let the dog sniff before he started scratching him and asked, “Where did he come from? Is he that new neighbor’s dog?” 

“Nope,” Sam replied, a small excited look on her face as she practically watched Chris’ energy level increase and spirits raise. “He’s yours.” 

Chris’ eyes were confused as he picked his head up to look at her confusedly. “What?” 

“He’s for you,” Sam repeated, eyes moving minutely to see Riley’s small grin as he hovered at the end of the hallway.

“For me?” 

Sam bent down, gently unclipping the black leash from the collar around the dog’s neck, smiling as he happily moved closer to Chris and began kissing his face. “I know you’ve been a little stressed about everything lately so I thought that maybe having a pal to take with you to Boston when I can’t, go on runs with you, or to hang out with you while you workout might make you happy.” 

Chris leaned his head back, laughing quietly as he scratched the dog’s ears and looked at her. “But I don’t… Sammy I just- did you use my card?” 

She shook her head and placed her bag on the coat hook, looking at Chris from over her shoulder as she answered, “He’s a gift which means you aren’t allowed to ask questions so just enjoy it, okay?” 

“Baby, I couldn’t love this more. I couldn’t love you more,” Chris admitted, shaking his head in shock practically. “I can’t believe you did this for me.” 

“Well I did, so get used to it,” she laughed, reaching to run a hand through Chris’ brown hair before she dug into her bag for the few toys that the shelter had sent home with her. “His name is Dodger.” 

“Hi Dodger, hi buddy!” 

Chris’ loud laugh echoed in the apartment as Dodger practically leapt onto him, eagerly licking at his chin which only made Chris laugh even harder. He brought the dog over to the living room, sitting down on the large rug where he took turns between rubbing him, tossing a ball around and playing tug of war with the excited dog. Sam just sat and watched, her heart feeling so full at seeing the pure joy on Chris’ face as he endlessly poured his attention and love on Dodger. It was in that moment that she finally understood what Chris meant when he said that he loved to do things for her. She had always felt like she’d been a burden and had that nagging thought at the back of her mind constantly that Chris felt as if he had to do some of the things he did for her. But now she got it. She finally understood how much happiness it brought to be able to do things for the person that you loved and although she did so much for him, as Chris often pointed out, it felt good to be able to give him something tangible. For the first time, Sam was starting to understand what it was like to be in a real relationship, rather than the unhealthy ones she’d seen modeled to her growing up, and she knew that after experiencing just how good it was, there was no going back.