#always thought it was weird how a miraculous healing needed two tries to work completely

[phoebonica]

I think the "men like trees walking" in today's entry is a Biblical reference, not a Shakespeare reference. It's from Mark 8:24. Jesus restores sight to a blind man by laying hands on his eyes, and the first time he does it the man says he can now see people, but they look like "trees walking around". So Mina's referring to how she can't see the people on the beach clearly through the fog.

I'm sure someone who's read the whole book more recently than me can pick out some interesting symbolism in this...

[emotionallyits2009]

deancas fic rec list!

hello everyone! happy christmas to those who celebrate it, my gift to you is my fic rec list that i said i would make like a month ago. the only thing it is organized by is canonverse vs alternate universe. tried to cover a variety of subjects but there are in particular many fics of the genre “postcanon where cas is human and he and dean live together and slowly finally get their shit together” because i know what i’m about, son. HOPE U ENJOY. and if you wanna talk about any of them or rec me other fics please do. :) 

Canonverse:

where the weeds take root by deathbanjo, 30k, explicit “Are you happy? Y’know. Just—being here,” Dean says, gesturing to the yard with his beer bottle. “Being with—I mean, you used to fight in celestial wars and—and save the world. Now you’re growing vegetables and talking about chickens.” There are many fics set in a post-canon universe where Cas is human and he and Dean live together and slowly fall into a relationship. Imo this one is the best of the best of that genre. This was one of the first fics I read back in July when I was getting Back Into Supernatural where I was like oh fuck I’m like in this. Dean builds Cas planters and bookshelves and a chicken coop and they fight and work through it.

Cuckoo And Nest by komodobits, 10k, explicit For a long time, Castiel thought that every earthly possession other than the immediately necessary was excess to requirement. But Dean – Dean who named his car, who keeps a photograph of his mother in his wallet, some thirty-plus years after her death, who still has the crumpled ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign with a sleeping pelican emblazoned on it from the Microtel outside of Roanoke where he first kissed Castiel, clumsy and unsure, under the unsteady fluorescence of an exhausted bathroom bulb – is sentimental. It puzzles Castiel, where Dean draws the line between what is meaningful and what it is worthless. Really Gets the dynamic of Cas doesn’t think Dean wants him to stay/Dean thinks Cas will leave the first chance he gets. Also a nice example of Cas thinking he’s not wanted if he’s not useful/powerful and being told otherwise. Another all-time fave!

lonely hearts by outphastthemoat, 4.5k, gen He thinks he might give up having his own anything just to be able to step foot inside the room next door and sit on the edge of Dean’s bed instead. This one is for the CAS GIRLS who know what LONELINESS feels like.

Helionneiros by aeli_kindara, 24.2k, mature In which Dean visits his mother, and Claire takes Cas on a hunt. I’m always on the lookout for more fic with Claire and Jack. Jack doesn’t show up until the end here but the relationship between Cas and Claire is really nice.

Crawl by aeriallon, 11k, explicit It’s been almost four years since Castiel left Kansas; he'd eventually settled in an island town where he has a job, a house, and a life without the Winchesters. Every winter, Dean drives down to the coast to see him. Another fic where Cas is human but in this one he took some time for himself and got some distance from the Winchesters! He gets to be competent and weird as a human and we love that for him. I must warn you all that this fic contains one use of the phrase “making love” which would normally put me right off but it’s still worth reading. The first of a three-part series.

home where you hold me by microcomets, 1.6k, gen Cas and Dean, in the moments between their battles, ache for quiet spaces. Technically this is a coda to 10x20 but you don’t need the episode for context. Short and very sweet.

Build a Home by domesticadventures, 20.1k, teen After they save the world, Dean expects Cas to come back to the bunker with them. He doesn’t. This one is so cute it’s like what if once they were done saving the world Sam and Dean actually invited other hunters to move into the bunker with them. Obviously Dean wants that to include Cas but doesn’t know how to use his words.

the taste of gravel in the mouth by deathbanjo, 22.4k, explicit This is what Cas gave up Heaven for: greasy diner food, shitty motel rooms with even shittier cable, long car rides spent in complete silence except for the same six tapes playing over and over again, and a burnt-out husk of a man who can barely hold a conversation anymore. Angst fic! They go on a road trip and Dean is severely fucked up post-Mark of Cain.

Unknown Quantities by xylodemon, 8.6k, explicit No one ever tells Dean anything. Another nice getting-together fic.

Creature of Habit by trinityofone, 5.2k, teen The more you love someone, the more you want to kill them. Or: How Cas developed some bad habits, and Dean coped surprisingly well. This one is ancient by destiel standards (written during season 5) but it manages to nail the married couple vibes they give off in later seasons. Cas is a bitch and Dean likes him so much. <3

The (Mostly Accidental) Courtship of Dean Winchester by Tuesday, 11.2k, mature Angelic marriage rites were never intended to go quite like this. Another old one that is a lot of fun! They get Accidental Angel Married and if you don’t enjoy dumb fanfiction tropes like that I don’t know what to say to you.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit by pyrebi, 4k, teen In which angelic marriage bonds are apparently stupidly easy to trigger, Cas wages multidimensional war in Heaven, Dean can't catch a break like ever, Sam rather enjoys being a dick, love saves the day, and nobody consummates anything. The OTHER accidental angel marriage fic written in 2010. 

Crazy Diamonds by pantheon_of_discord, 24.8k, explicit A week ago, Dean was pulled out of Hell. Now, he’s apparently woken up in 2018, and the angel that a mere twenty-four hours beforehand had threatened to chuck him back into the pit is sleepily pouring himself coffee and wearing Dean’s second-favourite Zeppelin shirt. It all seems like a perfect happy ending, but with Hell’s scars still so fresh, Dean can’t imagine how he could have possibly gotten there. At the same time, the Dean who went to sleep in the bunker, right next to Cas, wakes up on Bobby’s couch in 2008. He’s instantly bombarded with questions by a Lilith-obsessed brother and a man who’s been dead for years, and must decide between keeping his finally-perfect life intact, and the lives he could save by re-writing history. Regardless of these choices, both Deans are trapped in the wrong decade, and their only way back lies with a Castiel still very much under Heaven’s thumb – one who might find the future Dean describes difficult to believe. Time travel is FUN. There’s an excellent part where (minor spoilers) future!Dean is like, “Guess what, asshole? You like me so much you marry me!!!!!!!!!!!” to 2008!Castiel that made me laugh out loud the first time I read it. Also just a good reminder of how most problems in life are temporary and if you could go back in time to talk to your younger self you’d be like, “Hey man. Chill out. You get through it.”

The Path of Fireflies by museaway, 63.7k, mature After his humanity is restored, Dean wakes up in bed with Castiel, a wedding ring, and no memory of the past twelve years. There’s a lot of amnesia fic and djinn fic out there were Dean wakes up ~suddenly together with Cas~ but I like this one in particular because he’s initially very confused and kind of a dick about it until he acknowledges that being with Cas makes him happy.

take the long way home by dothraki_shieldmaiden, 95k, explicit Three months ago, when Dean decided to retire, he thought his life was going to end up differently. He'd thought that he might get to have it all, Sam, Cas, Jack, and nice little place to live. Instead he gets Sam and Jack off on their Summer of Love Tour, radio silence from Cas, and a never-ending road trip consisting of himself. Still reeling from the loss of his grace, Castiel travels the country in search of hunts. Driven by a need to prove his usefulness, he pushes himself beyond all limits of endurance. Together, with the help of a few friends, a crumbling Victorian house, and a stray cat, Dean and Castiel patch themselves back together and create a home together. Do you wanna read almost one hundred thousand words of Dean and Cas having extremely intense feelings but refusing to voice them aloud? Haha of course you do that’s why you’re here. There’s also a lot about Cas adjusting to being human and being depressed about it which might resonate if you’ve ever felt weird about having a body. To be honest the author could stand to use a few more commas but there were also half a dozen moments that made me put my phone down and drag my hand slowly over my face and whisper “oh my god” to myself which is like, the ultimate measure of a good fanfiction so it gets to be on the list.

like moses and batman and james dean by saltyfeathers, 31.6k, explicit dean used to turn tricks. over a decade later, he met cas. Have you seen the fanon (apparently pioneered by Mr. Jackles “Original Deankin” Ackles himself) that Dean used to prostitute himself to feed himself and Sam when they were younger? Are you interested in exploring that concept in fanfiction? Well, this is the only fic you need. Mind the tags on this one! It’s not what I’d call happy but it’s good.

Some Assembly Required by narrow_staircases, 47k, mature It’s September of 2005, and Dean Winchester, in an attempt to outrun old mistakes and painful memories, finds himself in southern Kentucky on a wild goose chase. He’s completely certain this weird religious movement he’s “investigating” is a hoax, despite the miraculous healings people report, and he’ll be back on the road in a day or two. Things are looking up when he meets Cas, an awkward (and gorgeous) graduate student who’s actually doing honest-to-god research into the local tent revival meetings. When that research takes a weird and personal turn, Dean’s left to face two very serious realities: one, this may be a real case after all, and two, he’s fallen way harder for Cas than he should ever have let himself. Stanford-era AU of Dean trying to avoid his father and getting in over his head on a case.

Alternate universe:

And This, Your Living Kiss by opal_bullets, 57k, mature Only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet Jack Allen is just Kansas mechanic Dean Winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. Not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen. Until, that is, a string of coincidences leads Dean to auditing a poetry course with one Dr. Castiel Novak. The  professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia's foremost expert on the poetry of Jack Allen. Mundane AUs in this fandom have to be really, really good to catch my attention and this one is! It’s exactly what it says in the summary and the characterization is spot-on. 

Out to Drift by deathbanjo, 20.9k, mature Dean drives a black car with a loud engine. He lies too easily. He keeps a gun in the back of his jeans, and Castiel isn’t sure, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Dean has killed someone before. Two people in fucked-up unstable situations meeting and forming a connection. Honestly guys I really just love deathbanjo.

[alyasgf]

its nice to have a friend

mlb fic masterlist

ao3

Summary- Marinette giggled. “Why would Alya do this? It’s just that this is the kind of thing I used to do when.... oh.” Marinette went silent as the revelation hit her. “The kind of thing I used to do when I had a crush on Adrien.”

—————

Alya not so platonically loves Marinette with all of her heart, and the oblivious girl is only just realizing this

Word Count- 3920

Notes- happy pride month enjoy my massive gay brainrot. i wrote the entirety of this with Bo Burnham’s Inside playing in the background and i regret nothing. also tumblr mobile is my hell :)

Begin

Ever since Alya found out about Marinette’s identity she managed to go from completely forgetting she knew to bombarding her with questions constantly.

Once, she had climbed the stairs to Marinette’s room to see Ladybug coming in from the skylight and immediately screamed out in shock. Marinette had to tell her parents it was a rouge spider and wouldn’t stop teasing Alya about it for weeks.

Another time, Alya spent the entire night that she was over asking Marinette even the most minuscule of questions.

“Who gave you the miraculous?”

“Does Tikki have organs?”

“Do you have to de-transform to pee?”

“Is your suit water resistant?”

“Do you get cold fighting akumas at night?”

Eventually they came up with a system. Alya could ask 5 Ladybug related questions a week. To make sure they were well used, Alya would write down every question she had and chose her 5 favorites every Friday.

It was times like these when Marinette was woefully reminded that Alya was in fact a reporter, and her inquisitive nature just came with it.

Her notebook was disguised as her reporter’s journal and if anyone found it they could assume it was just her random train of thought.

Marinette was never allowed to look in it, so as Alya wrote in it during class she attempted to sneak a peek. She tried to stealthily look at it through the corner of her eye, but Alya noticed almost immediately and laughed before she closed the notebook and nudged her to pay attention to class.

Not a second later, there a was a loud bang outside the school. Marinette tensed as Miss Bustier began to usher students out of the room and to the basement of the school for safety.

“Ayla you have to come up with an excuse for me.” She pleaded with big round eyes.

“Why?” Alya asked as Marinette facepalmed with a disappointed sigh. “Right right! Of course!”

Lately Alya seemed to be as absent minded and jittery as Marinette herself. Whenever the bluenette attempted to bring it up, Alya would redden and dismiss it entirely.

“Miss Bustier! I need Marinette to help me in the bathrooms.” Miss Bustier looked at them questioningly. “Lady problems!” Alya called as she dragged Marinette away before the teacher could respond.

Once they reached the bathrooms Alya didn’t let go of Marinette’s hand.

“Can I ask you a Ladybug related question?” Alya asked in an uncharacteristically small voice.

Marinette nodded and looked into her eyes, confused. Alya looked worried, her breath coming out in short bursts and eyebrows knit tightly.

“When you get hurt, as Ladybug, does the suit cushion the blow? Does the miraculous cure heal you?”

Alya’s hand shook lightly in hers as she said this. Marinette put her other hand on top of Alya’s effectively sandwiching her hand between her own.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it. The suit helps a bit, but there are some risks I just have to take. Besides, it not like I’m all alone out there. I have Chat Noir. I have a team if I need one.” Marinette grabbed Alya’s chin so that the girl would meet her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

Alya blushed and moved her chin from Marinette’s hand, as well as let go of her other.

“Okay.” She said, her voice returning. “Okay girl. Now go, you have a city to save.”

Alya pushed Marinette toward the door. Marinette wished more than anything she could stay and comfort her best friend, but Alya was right. So instead, she called out her transformation phrase and ran out the door.

As she left, Alya couldn’t help but sigh. Marinette always looked so graceful as she transformed.

After Marinette was gone, she waited a minute before running out behind her and whipping out her phone.

“Hi bugheads! An akuma was spotted somewhere outside of Collège Françoise Dupont and I’m here to give you the inside scoop.” And there she went, hoping to locate the akuma and her best friend as quickly as she could.

———————————

After the akuma, Marinette de-transformed and fed Tikki.

“I think that was sweet of Alya to care so much.” Tikki giggled as she took a big bite of her cookie.

“Yeah she’s been acting stranger than usual lately. Do you think it’s because she knows I’m Ladybug? She’s been nervous and timid and just the complete opposite of herself. Maybe she’s intimidated by me now?”

Tikki let out another giggle. “Oh I’m sure it’s not that. You know Alya. She’s not intimidated by anyone. I think it’s something else.”

“Like what?” Marinette questioned, feeling that Tikki knew exactly what it was and was holding back.

Tikki just silently munched on her cookie as Marinette glared at her.

Marinette heard the gravel crunch behind her and she ushered Tikki into her bag before darting around.

The sudden movement startled Alya who was directly behind her. Now that Marinette had turned around they were practically nose to nose. Marinette could smell Alya’s watermelon scented lip balm and Alya eyed Marinette’s lips before blushing and backing up.

“Hey girl, we should probably get back to class and apologize to Miss Bustier for disappearing.” She said quickly before grabbing Marinette’s wrist.

Marinette pulled her wrist away and crossed her arms stubbornly.

“No, first we need to talk about how close you were to that akuma.” Marinette huffed. “I was worried about you getting hurt and I couldn’t do a thing about it while fighting.”

Alya turned around with a cocky smirk on her face. Looking Marinette up and down, she couldn’t get over how adorable she looked when she was mad.

“Aww was the miraculous Ladybug worried about one measly civilian?” She teased as she walked back to Marinette’s side and threw an arm over her shoulder, attempting not to shudder at the warmth at their contact points. “I was fine. It was just Mr. Ramier again, and I’m not exactly scared of pigeons. Besides, it’s nothing your cure couldn’t fix.”

Marinette attempted to hold her resolve, but Alya could feel her soften under her touch.

“Still, I hate when you cross paths with the akumas, it’s like you’re asking for their attention.” Marinette let Alya lead her back to school, arms still crossed as Alya was draped over her shoulders.

“Makes great content though! Just wait until you see the action shots I got of you and Chat Noir. No way Nadia Chamakh could beat that!”

Marinette smiled as Alya gushed about the article she was going to write later that day. As Marinette put her arm around the small of Alya’s back she admired her. She could get so passionate about her blog, and that passion was why Marinette loved her so much.

———————————

“Are you sure you don’t want to hang out with Nino today? You’ve been with me almost every day for the last two weeks. It’s not that I mind, I love the company. I just don’t want to be stealing you.”

Marinette and Alya were out for juice after school. Marinette was nervously playing with her straw. She noticed how distant her friend was from Nino and figured this might just be the best way to bring it up.

“Actually Nino and I aren’t together anymore.” Alya replied casually as Marinette choked on her drink.

“I’m sorry, what?” She asked, after Alya patted her back a few times and she composed herself.

“We broke up a few weeks ago. It was mutual, neither of us did anything. We’re still friends.” Alya replied, taking a sip from her drink.

Marinette was confused. Alya and Nino were great together. Even after Marinette decided to give up on Luka and Adrien, they made her believe love could still be beautiful.

“Okay but why? I just don’t get it you guys were amazing together. Why didn’t you tell me?” Marinette couldn’t believe how nonchalant Alya was being about this.

“We broke up because, well, I have a crush on someone else.” Alya blushed. “Part of the reason I didn’t tell you is because there’s another thing I’ve been working up the nerve to tell you.”

Now it was Alya’s turn to nervously fiddle. She brought her hands beneath the table and picked at her fingers as she but her cheek.

“What do you need to tell me?” Marinette asked softly, in an attempt to ease Alya’s nerves. “You can tell me anything, you know.”

“Marinette I-“ Alya’s voice broke off as she lost her nerve. “Marinette I’m bisexual.”

Marinette’s heart warmed at the confession. She still felt like Alya was holding something back, but the fact that she trusted her enough to come out made her giddy.

“Oh Alya!” Marinette stood up and crossed to the other side of the table to throw her arms around her. Since Alya was sitting, Marinette placed herself in the girl’s lap so she could throughly smother her.

“That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

Alya let out a deep breath she didn’t realize she had been holding in.

“You aren’t weirded out?” Alya asked, even though she knew Marinette to be the most accepting girl in the world, it was still terrifying.

“Of course not.” Marinette said as she climbed off Alya’s lap and returned to her seat. “It’s not like I’m entirely straight either.”

Now it was Alya’s turn to choke on her drink.

“Really?” Alya exclaimed with wide eyes. “Why haven’t you said anything?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t really feel the need to come out. I’m not sure what I am, but I’ve definitely had my share of girl crushes.” She said it like it was no big deal and Alya couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well god, if I knew that I would’ve just told you sooner.” Alya sighed.

Suddenly Marinette got a look in her eye that made Alya uneasy. It was a familiar look of determined curiosity with a smile that made her stomach flutter with butterflies.

“Sooo,” Marinette began. “You mentioned a crush?”

Alya immediately regretted her words.

“Now that I’ve given up entirely on my love life it gives me plenty of time to delve into yours. Schemes, plots, you name it, I can do it.” Marinette moved her now empty drink to the side and out her elbows in the table so she could lean closer.

Alya blushed, Marinette was so close she could count the freckles along her nose. She wished she could kiss every one as she did, but she immediately pushed that thought away as she tried to focus on the situation at hand.

“I... uh... it’s... well...” Alya tried and failed to get it out. It was just too much. She could smell Marinette’s perfume (strawberries and a hint of chocolate), see Marinette’s soft pale skin so close to her, and her mouth felt as though it were filled with cotton.

“Hey it’s okay.” Marinette returned back to her normal position in her seat and reached for Alya’s hand on the table. “You don’t have to tell me right now. When you’re ready I know you will.”

Alya swore Marinette was trying to kill her. Her hand was so soft and warm against her own and she wished more than anything she could just tell her. Instead she gave a small gratuitous smile to the beauty across from her.

“Now, I know it’s Friday, so what do you say to spending the night at your place and you can ask all of you questions?” Marinette proposed once she noticed Alya had finished the last of her juice.

“Sounds great.”

————————-

“Have you ever used your powers for personal gain?” Alya read from her notebook.

They were cross legged on her bed after dinner and Marinette had just gotten out of the shower.

“Is that seriously what you’re gonna use your last question on? Kind of a boring one don’t you think?” Marinette raised an eyebrow questioningly.

She looked adorably cozy, with her oversized pink hoodie and pink sweatpants to match. Alya shook her head slightly to clear her mind.

“Answer the question!” Alya pouted.

“Okay okay!” Marinette said begrudgingly.

And so Marinette told her about Adrien’s party. The Bubbler had played music for Adrien and Chloe to slow dance to and the lucky charm helped her change the song.

Alya loved hearing Marinette’s point of view of Ladybug related things. Stories about akumas or patrols were always so interesting as she told them. She was just so smart and quick thinking, while still being the same clumsy and kind hearted girl that Alya adored.

“Alright well that’s about it.” Alya said as she closed her notebook. “I’m gonna go take a shower and then maybe we can watch a movie?” She suggested as she climbed off the bed.

“As long as it isn’t anything scary!” Marinette called to the girl descending the stairs.

Once Alya was gone Tikki came out from whenever she was silently eating.

“Hey Marinette why is your name covered in hearts all over this book?”

Marinette turned to see Tikki looking through Alya’s notebook.

“Don’t touch that!” She said as she snatched the book away. “Some things are private!” She hugged the book close to her chest and gave the kwamii a pointed look.

Still, her curiosity got the best of her and she pulled the book away from her chest to look at the page. Sure enough, it was filled with random questions as well as doodles of Marinette’s name all over with little hearts.

Marinette giggled. “Why would Alya do this?” She asked Tikki, who was looking over her shoulder beside her.

Tikki couldn’t help but sigh at how oblivious her holder was. “I don’t know Marinette, but you should probably put that back before Alya gets out of the shower.”

“Alright I won’t look anymore. It’s just that this is the kind of thing I used to do when.... oh.” Marinette went silent as the revelation hit her. “The kind of thing I used to do when I had a crush on Adrien.”

“Sorry, did you see where I left my hair tie?” Marinette yelped and immediately threw the notebook away from her as Alya entered the room.

“Yeah it’s in the lamp by the dresser! I mean by the lamp on the dresser!” She squeaked out.

“Okayyy....” Alya said confused by her friend’s behavior. “You good?”

“Yep! Never better! Just me... hanging out with Tikki... like I do sometimes.” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck and looked around the room, avoiding her friends eyes as she turned bright red.

Alya just shrugged before leaving the room.

Marinette let out a sigh before grabbing a pillow and burying her head into it to scream.

———————————

The rest of the night was... odd to say the least.

Marinette couldn’t understand why she couldn’t look Alya in the eye anymore. What had changed? She could do it easily hours ago. (She knew exactly why. Alya liked her... and she... well she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt.)

In the end, Marinette was glad they had decided to watch a movie. While Alya was deeply invested in the movie Marinette put on (“What do you mean you’ve never seen Ponyo!?) Marinette couldn’t help but focus on how Alya’s body pressed against her, every point of contact setting her nerves on fire.

They were laying comfortably on Alya’s bed, and under the glow of the television they settled into their usual positions. Alya would lay down and the smaller girl would lay in her arms on her chest.

Before, Marinette would think nothing of it and quickly fall asleep, but now all she could think about was her racing heart and how calm Alya’s sounded throughout the entire movie. Over time she calmed down, laughing at Alya’s comments and supplying a few of her own.

“Marinette.” Alya whispered, in case she was asleep. The movie credits were playing in the background and Marinette had just began to drift off.

“Mhm?” Marinette replied, coming back from her nearly asleep state. She removed her arm from around Alya’s waist to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“Did I wake you?” Alya was still whispering which brought a warmth to her chest that Marinette couldn’t understand.

“No.” She lied. “What’s up?”

“I’m bored, can we do something?”

“Alyaaa” Marinette whined, snuggling deeper into her side, “it’s so late.”

Alay laughed and rubbed Marinette’s head. “It’s barely 10, you just sleep too much.”

Marinette grumbled before begrudgingly pulling herself up from the warm embrace. “Well fine, what do you want to do?” She crossed her arms over her chest while Alya detangled herself from the covers.

“Do my makeup?” She asked, walking over to turn off the television.

Marinette blushed at the thought of such close contact. It’s not like they hadn’t done this before, but Marinette wasn’t a fool, she knew what the fluttering in her chest meant all too well.

“O-okay.” She got up quickly, hoping she could hide her reddening face.

As Alya climbed up onto her bed, Marinette went to grab the makeup bag.

Alya hadn’t mentioned anything about her odd behavior so far, and as much as Marinette would’ve liked to attribute that to her amazing acting skills, she knew it was just because Alya wouldn’t want to do anything to make her feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.

And so they sat across from each other for about 20 minutes, joking and laughing while Marinette played around with her makeup.

“Marinette I swear, if I look in the mirror and don’t like what I see I’m going to kill you.” Alya said as Marinette reached for the black eye pencil.

“Oh be quiet you always look cute, besides I saw someone do this in a video I wanna see how it looks. Now stop talking, I can’t do your lips if you keep moving them.”

“I’m sorry, you’re putting that on my lips?” Alya asked with a shocked laugh.

Marinette joined in on laughing before shushing her yet again.

As she lined her lips, she couldn’t help but admire them. Round, full, and so magnetic. She then made the mistake of looking up into Alya’s eyes.

They were bright with laughter, but the minute they made eye contact they softened. Marinette swore she felt the energy in the air around then. She cursed to herself in her head before giving in.

Since they were so close, she didn’t have to lean far to meet Alya’s lips. At first, Alya let out a soft breath, almost like a gasp, before slotting her lips between Marinette’s.

Marinette could taste the hint of toothpaste and something unique to Alya. Her lips were softer than they looked and it felt so so good to give into the thoughts that had been going through her head for the last few hours.

Marinette’s hands went up to cup Alya’s face and Alya brought her’s up to cover them.

After a minute Alya pulled away slightly, hands still holding Marinette’s in place.

For a second they just sat there, Marinette caught her breath while admiring how pretty Alya looked with her freshly kissed lips. She looked up at Alya’s eyes to see them dancing along her face. Eventually their eyes met again.

Alya was the first to break the silence.

“That was... wow. I mean, wow, but what was that?” Alya slowly removed her hands and sat them in her lap, face going from blissful to what Marinette could only describe as confusingly lovesick.

“I read your notebook earlier.” Marinette blurted out. “I didn’t mean to I swear! It’s just that Tikki saw something and showed it to me and- well” Marinette took a moment to steal herself. “Alya am I the crush you didn’t want to talk about?”

Alya wouldn’t meet her eyes and Marinette could see a blush. Her heart swelled.

“I knew it.” Marinette tilted her head to catch Alya’s eyes. “It makes so much sense! The way you’ve been acting lately. I- I think I like you too”

Alya’s eyes widened in shock, still she said nothing.

“I didn’t realize that I did, but we’ve always been so close I never really thought about how good it felt to be around you. How all I wanted to do was be close to you, as close as I could get, always.”

There was a beat of silence. She cupped Alya’s face again, this time to turn her head to face her.

“Say something?” Marinette asked, nerves setting in after baring her feelings so openly.

“I didn’t want to say anything because you’ve been dealing with so much. With Adrien, with Luka,” Alya looked down as Marinette’s hand returned to her side. “With being Ladybug. I’ve been in love with you for a while, I didn’t want to admit it to you, admit it to myself, I didn’t want to scare you away.”

“Alya-“

“I need to finish. If I don’t do it now I don’t know if I’ll get the nerve to do it again.” The girl laughed nervously. “I’ve never felt this way so strongly before. Usually I don’t have any trouble telling anyone anything.

So imagine how confused I was when every time I tried to tell you I could barely breathe. It hurt so bad, so I pushed it down, I helped you with your boy problems and for a while I could ignore it.

I convinced myself the feelings were gone. I started dating Nino, and for a while everything was okay. But then you broke down, after you told me everything, we got closer, and it just felt like all my walls broke down. I love you Marinette.

I love how insanely clumsy you are. I love that cute little face you get when you’re annoyed, or how you will go out of your way to help anyone, even Chloe. I love your eyes, I love your smile, I love you.”

Marinette just sat there in shock as Alya poured her heart out. How had she felt this way all along, and how had Marinette not noticed sooner?

“I understand if you don’t feel the same way, or if we can’t be together because of everything you’re dealing with, but I just had to let it out.”

The minute Alya finished talking, Marinette pulled her into her arms and held her as tight as she could.

“The reason I can’t be with anyone else is because I can’t be honest with them. Alya, I can tell you anything and I wish you knew sooner that you can do the same. Even if I didn’t feel the same way, I promise it wouldn’t have hurt our friendship.

But I do feel the same way. I can’t imagine being as close to anyone as I am with you. I can’t believe it took me this long to realize, but I love you too. I really do.”

She felt Alya’s arms tighten around her, and they sat like that for a while, listening to each other breathe, enjoying the feeling of the other in their arms, no longer holding back any feelings.

Marinette pulled away to look at Alya, and she laughed.

“You’re right, that eyeliner in your lips doesn’t look as good as I thought it would.”

Alya let out an offended laugh. “Last time I checked, you said I always look cute.” She teased.

“I never said you didn’t still look cute.”

This time, Alya was the one to lean in for the kiss.

———————

End Notes- sorry i havent been writing that much, ive been hating everything i write so i have like 5 unfinished fics in my drafts😅

[quicksilversquared]

The Substitute Ladybug: Chapter 5

After Lila takes things too far and Marinette ends up with a broken leg, Paris is going to have to deal with a different superhero arrangement for a bit. Having to share her superhero identity with her parents before Hawkmoth can be defeated isn’t something that Marinette had planned on doing, but- well, it might end up being a bit of a blessing in disguise.

links in the reblog

"Why do you always put Sass away when you get Tikki back for the evening?" Mrs. Cheng asked curiously one evening as she and Marinette worked together to make dinner. "Surely it wouldn't be that hard to have both of them out, would it? They seem to get along just fine."

"Wearing more than one Miraculous tends to drain the energy out of whoever is wearing them," Marinette told her mom. It was still weird to be openly talking about the Miraculous like this, even two weeks after her leg broke, but Marinette was slowly getting used to it. Besides, despite how strange it felt, it was nice to be able to talk with someone besides Tikki about the Miraculous again. "I've done it before, of course. For only a couple hours is fine, but I don't want to risk slowing down how fast my leg heals at all."

Mrs. Cheng's eyes grew wide, and she stopped chopping up vegetables for their dinner, slowly setting the knife aside. "Oh, my. Yes, I can see where you maybe wouldn't mess with that."

"Marinette has worn over a dozen Miraculous at once before," Tikki said proudly, settling down on Marinette's shoulder next to Sass. "And handled it throughout an entire akuma fight! Most people would collapse and lose consciousness at once."

"Most people would collapse with far fewer Miraculous," Sass agreed. "It was really impressive!"

"That sounds dangerous," Mrs. Cheng fretted. "Who knows what that could do to your health in the long-term?"

Tikki giggled. "As long as our holders aren't multi-wielding long-term, it's fine! We give our holders enhanced healing abilities, since it's never good for them to be out of commission for long. So maybe people are tired in the short term, but they start healing as soon as they go back down to one Miraculous."

"And if they take on too many Miraculous and pass out?" Mrs. Cheng worried, glancing at Marinette. "And can't take the Miraculous off? Could the kwamis-?"

Sass shook his head. "No, not unless they had given us express permission before collapsing."

Mrs. Cheng looked even more worried. "Have- have people died from that before?"

"I was careful, mom!" Marinette protested, knowing what her mom was so worried about. After all, Master Fu had been concerned as well, and had insisted on checking in with her every day for a solid two weeks after the Kwami Buster fight. "Splitting myself with the Mouse Miraculous made the effects a lot more spread-out and easier to bear. And Master Fu was there when I put them on, he could have pulled off some Miraculous if I couldn't take it!"

"It's a sign of a strong spirit," Tikki said proudly. "I'm very proud of her."

"We are, too," Mr. Dupain boomed cheerfully, bursting into the room with a basket of leftover loaves of bread. "What exactly are we discussing here? Marinette, of course, but specifically?"

Marinette tried not to sigh as her mom and the kwamis filled her dad in. Her parents had always been proud of her, but now that they knew about her double life as Ladybug- well, they were impossibly more proud not and they weren't at all hesitant about showing it. That she was able to juggle even more than they had originally thought and still be managing as well as she had- well, they had been impressed.

"Papa, what's the bread for?" Marinette asked as soon as they had finished talking, eyeing the basket. It wasn't unusual for her dad to bring up a single loaf or a few buns for them to have with their dinner, but this was more than their usual amount unless they had company. "Are there people coming over?"

"No- oh, I forgot to tell you, dear, I'll be going out on a bit of a patrol with your partner this evening. Not late, since I need to stay on a baker's schedule, but if Hawkmoth is going to scale back to only harder attacks, I need to get in more practice." Her mom smiled. "And Chat Noir loves it when I bring snacks, of course. He's a growing boy who's getting plenty of exercise. Did you know, the last time I brought treats, he managed to identify what bakery I had gotten things from just by taste? I had made sure that I didn't bring anything that had our logo on it, but apparently he's familiar enough with the bakery that he can pick out our products just by tasting them!"

Marinette blanched. "Maman, what about secret identities?"

"I didn't say that we had made them, just that I brought treats and then he guessed where they were from. I'm being careful with secret identity stiff, dear. It's really more your partner who isn't, but- well, I won't share too much of what he's said." Her smile turned sad. "Not all of it would be mine to share, either."

Marinette blinked, considering that, then decided to push it out of her mind for now. She had known for a while that Chat Noir didn't have a great home life- he had never said anything specific, but there had been a good number of hints and offhand comments- but she didn't want to pry.

"That's very cool that he knew where you had gotten things," Tom said, nodding in approval. "A lot of people go 'oh, if it's just bread, there's no difference'-" he made a face "-but he must be one of those people who slows down and properly enjoys his food enough to pick up on what makes us different." He shot a sly look towards Marinette. "I don't suppose you've changed your stance on making Chat Noir our future son-in-law? Absence is meant to make the heart grow fonder, after all!"

Marinette promptly turned bright red. "Papa!"

"To be fair, Adrien also seems to really enjoy what we make in the bakery," Mrs. Cheng chimed in, only making Marinette's blush grow worse. "And what we cook at home, too."

"Ah, yes! That's a fair point." Her dad tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe we should expand the range of things that you bring with you to share with Chat Noir. I know he liked the things we made for brunch, but he didn't gush like Adrien sometimes does."

Mrs. Cheng huffed. "Oh, the boy was just nervous and put on the spot! It's not fair to compare them, really, is it, Marinette?"

Marinette could only bury her face in her hands and groan, already looking forward to dinner being over and being able to escape this whole conversation by hiding in her room.

It was weird enough for her parents to know about her double life. For them to apparently be so shipping her- Ladybug-her- with Chat Noir...

Seriously, when had her life gotten so strange?

  Two and a half weeks into her superhero sidelining, Hawkmoth appeared alongside Mayura and both a sentimonster and an akuma. Marinette considered that, considered the odds, and then took the temporary chair lift they had installed- a rented one, courtesy of Lila's bank account- down to the bakery to fetch her dad. It was nearing the end of the day, so it wouldn't be hard for one of the back bakery workers to cover the counter for ten minutes- five for the superheroes to move on-site, five for the actual fight- and then Marinette could take over until her parents returned.

A Turtle Tom would be-well, no one in their right mind would want to cross him.

"I'm sending the Bee, too," Marinette told her dad, pressing a second box into his hands. "Chat Noir has done fusions before, he can handle it. Then you guys can take one fighter out in one shot and have it be three against three instead of three against four."

"And you don't just want a fourth fighter out there?" her dad asked. Marinette shook her head.

"It's too many people to keep track of. That, and- well, Queen Bee was Chloe, and she never should have been a Miraculous holder in the first place. I just went back to her because she had experience." She made a face. "But with the hissy fit she threw when Chat Noir and I told her no more- when she joined Hawkmoth for the day without being akumatized first- she ended up revealing almost all of our teammates' identities. So we're definitely not going back to her. And I don't want to have two completely new people out there at once."

"Solid logic," Mr. Dupain said cheerfully. "All right, I'll deliver the Bee to Chat. I'll see you- no, sorry, hear you out there?"

"Of course, papa!"

Marinette watched him leave- he was going to find an alleyway to transform in, since he would be a bit too noticeable leaving the bakery already transformed- then took the chair lift back up to her temporary room to transform, taking several deep breaths to steady herself as she did.

This was going to be the biggest fight that she had guided as Vipera. There were going to be a lot of moving parts to remember and keep track of, and that was pretty intimidating. The akuma and sentimonster were the biggest priorities- she knew from experience that once those were defeated, the supervillains tended to flee pretty fast- but she had to make sure that whoever was fighting Hawkmoth and Mayura stayed safe, too.

As soon as Vipera pulled out her lute to get set up, she could see her three teammates were out. Her dad was still moving, racing to catch up with Coccinelle and Chat Noir, who were clearly waiting for instruction. Vipera hastily pulled up her video feeds, doing her best to catch up on the situation as fast as she could. Soon enough, the news would break that the superheroes had been seen out and about and where they had last been spotted, and they would lose part of the element of surprise.

"Ah, nice choice on the Bee," Chat Noir said cheerfully as soon as Tanker arrived and handed over the box. There was a crackle of static as he transformed. "A very a-bee-ling choice."

Vipera groaned. "No."

"And I look un-bee-lievably handsome," Chat Noir continued, the smug grin clear in his voice. "In fact-"

There was a muddle of muffled words on the other end of the line and then mercifully, the puns stopped.

"Right, so use the Bee right away to take someone out," Chat Noir said after a moment. "Got it, my Lady. Are we ready?"

Vipera took a moment to breathe, falling into her normal state of- well, focus, but also connection with the Snake's powers. "Ready. They're moving south- if you can circle around to the north, you might be able to surprise them. Da- Tanker, maybe hang back a little. You're a little more. Uh. Noticeable."

Tanker laughed. "Okay. If you say so."

Onscreen- thankfully, Sass had been more than fine with accommodating her request for more screens, so that she could have multiple views plus a map of Paris with where her partners were all up at the same time- the akuma and a sentimonster raged on. Hawkmoth and Mayura were staying largely to the side, sometimes not even visible. Clearly they were banking on the superheroes not seeing them- or perhaps they were assuming that Ladybug was out of town and so the superheroes wouldn't have access to the backup Miraculous, so in turn it wouldn't matter if they knew about the supervillains being there. Coccinelle and Chat Noir would have to come out either way, after all.

The supervillains were going to regret that assumption soon enough. After all, the trio out in the field was carrying not one but two extra Miraculous with them in their initial push, something that rarely ever happened. Normally Ladybug ended up retreating to grab an extra Miraculous or two mid-battle, since she and her partner could generally handle the akuma battles themselves.

Hopefully it would give them a serious edge this time. It probably wouldn't be able to happen often, since Marinette was often at school when akumas attacked, but this one time everything just seemed to come together perfectly.

"Getting close," Chat Noir murmured in his earpiece. "And- oh! Sting!"

Vipera bit back her already? when she spotted her partner on-screen He had managed to sneak up on Mayura and, as she watched, slammed his trompo into her back. Mayura froze up with a cut-off squawk. Hawkmoth let out an angry yell, and Chat Noir was forced to dodge away from Mayura as the akuma of the day wildly shot beams of light in his direction. As soon as he had an opening, Hawkmoth dashed over to Mayura and grabbed her up, hauling her stiff body away over the rooftops as the akuma covered his escape.

Vipera blinked. Well. That was one way to kill two birds with one stone. Now they just had to finish up the fight with both the akuma and the sentimonster before Hawkmoth could stash Mayura somewhere out of the way and come back.

"I see the possessed item- it's the belt!" Coccinelle announced, peering over a rooftop. "Vipera, can you activate the timer? I want to know if our weapons and deflect those blasts, and that's the safest way to do it."

"Of course. In five, four, three, two, one- set." Vipera gave a sharp nod to herself as she set time zero. Onscreen, her teammates surged forward, weapons spinning or- in Tanker's case- simply held out in front of him. The akuma fired, and several seconds later, Vipera hastily reset.

"Okay, the weapons do deflect the beams, but then they reflect off wildly," she told them as the surge repeated. "Dodging is better, so you don't accidentally send the beams at each other!"

Chat Noir snorted out a laugh as he dodged straight into a roll. "Let me guess- last time, we did just that?"

"Yeah, two of you were taken out." Vipera winced at the memory. "That wouldn't have gone well- Chat, dodge left!"

With three on-site fighters and only the sentimonster and akuma to deal with, it only took a half-hour's worth of corrections to turn the battle into a four-minute smackdown. Most of those corrections had to do with stray reflected beams- those were just annoying to deal with, she didn't envy the superheroes out there- and because of that, most of her comments had to do with ducking at certain times.

"That was great," Chat Noir said cheerfully, once everything had been set to right with the Cure. "Really good job, my Lady. These fights are going so smoothly- or at least on our end they are. Did that take many tries?"

"Not really," Vipera told him. "Nothing awful, at least, and I really only had hints that were easy to remember this time." It really was sweet of him to worry. Her mom had mentioned more than once before how concerned Chat Noir was about her using Second Chance, and she could understand why. If the full five minutes- or almost full five minutes were reset again and again and again, that could add up to a lot of time, time that only she really remembered.

...somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if it would be considered abuse of the Miraculous if she used the Snake in the morning to snag a few more minutes of sleep after her alarm went off.

(It probably wouldn't work.)

"And really good job with that Sting first thing," Vipera added quickly. "That was smart thinking, taking Mayura out. I thought you would go for the akuma or the sentimonster, honestly, but what you did was much better."

She could imagine the small smile and the slight blush on Chat Noir's face as he murmured, "Thank you, my Lady."

Praise almost always made him strangely bashful, or at least when it was coming from her. It was pretty adorable, actually.

"I don't think I was really needed at all," Tanker commented with a booming laugh. "Better safe than sorry, though, I suppose, and it was an interesting experience to be able to jump from roof to roof. I don't think that I would want to do that on a regular basis, though."

Chat Noir laughed. "I'd say it grows on you, but I actually really enjoyed it from the start, so..."

"I want to be out running on the rooftops," Vipera said grumpily. It was funny, really- when she had very first started being Ladybug, she hadn't wanted anything more than to be back on solid ground as soon as possible, her feet solidly under her and not dressed in magical spandex. Now? "Or running at all. Crutches are getting old really fast."

"I'd offer to carry you on a piggyback loop around town, my Lady, but your parents have already forbidden it," Chat Noir told her. "Something about the jostling probably not being good for your leg?"

Vipera pouted, then sighed. Even with as antsy as she had been feeling, it wasn't worth risking injuring her leg further. Her parents were right. "I'll survive without it." Her Miraculous beeped again, and she added, "I have to go, but good job, everyone."

"And to you, too!" Chat Noir chirped again before her transformation finally gave out. Marinette grinned at Sass, handing him a treat before hauling herself out of bed and reaching for her crutches. She had to get downstairs and cover the counter fast, before her parents' employees started wondering about them.

As she did, though, her mind returned to the problem she had thought of earlier, before the fight really started. Today they had been lucky, and she had been at home to fetch the extra Miraculous. If she had been at school instead...

Well, maybe she could have called her mom up, but that depended on Mrs. Cheng not having left yet. Coccinelle could always turn around and go back to the house, of course, but... well, it was probably better if they minimized the number of times that Coccinelle returned to the bakery while transformed. The risk of someone seeing her...

Maybe that should be a last resort sort of thing.

Marinette frowned in thought. Really, she needed to be able to get to the Miraculous Box quickly, and then get whatever bonus Miraculous they needed to her teammates so that they could either double up or bring the Miraculous to a temporary holder. And that would be impossible-

-except it wasn't. After all, the Horse existed. She would have to charge up between portals, of course, and then her mom could bring the Miraculous back after the fight. All Marinette would have to do would be to always carry the Horse- in a super-safe spot, of course; even if Lila was no longer at the school, she didn't want to risk Chloe or Sabrina digging through her bag, or Alya accidentally stumbling on it- and she would be able to get back to her room right away.

Another bonus: not having to direct a fight from a random closet or study room. It would be much safer and more comfortable to sit at her desk.

It would probably be less risky if she made a secret pocket in her bag, maybe one protected by a small lock. Marinette could make that tomorrow, probably, and have it in place by Monday. Then she would really be ready for anything.

Marinette smiled to herself as she took over the bakery counter, her mind already whirring with ideas of how to install the pocket without it being obvious. She had fabric that would match the lining of her bag, so that was easy enough, but she would have to hide the stitching from the pocket on the outside of somehow. Maybe some applique flowers would be just the thing, a fun little touch to really make the backpack personalized while hiding the seam lines and distracting from any odd shapes in her bag. Add in some embroidered vines that would twist and turn between the flowers, and any odd seam stitches left visible would soon be forgotten. It would all have to be hand-stitched, since her sewing machine was upstairs and it would be difficult to use inside of the backpack anyway, but that was fine. The stitching would be even easier to hide that way.

Hopefully her parents would get back soon. Marinette was already itching to get upstairs and start sewing.

[sweetness47]

Faith & Soul

Pairing Alpha!Sam x Omega!reader

@spndarkbingo : Challenge – First Kiss & Amara

@heavenandhellbingo : Faith healers

@spnabobingo : revered omega

@samwinchesterbingo : first time

Word count: 1936

Warnings: smut, abo dynamics, unprotected sex, MATURE 18+ READERS ONLY

5 years ago…

I woke in a forest, no memories, no nothing. Just a voice in my head.

“YN, I have chosen you. You have a gift of healing, and I can teach you to use it to help the people of this world. I will protect you and keep you safe as long as you follow two simple rules.

1.       You can never tell anyone about me.

2.       You must remain a virgin forever. To give a man your innocence would be to defy my help. You will forfeit your gift should you choose to walk that path.

I frowned. “Who are you? What are you?”

The voice said calmly, “I am God’s sister. My name is Amara.”

Present day…

“Please don’t crowd. All who need healing will be taken care of.”

I watch the people line up, all here to see me. Elderly people with severe arthritis, cancer patients, paraplegics, and I have the power to make them all 100% better. There are no side effects, no gimmicks, no tricks, no deals with the devil, neither is it witchcraft or parlor tricks.

I was always able to do things like this for as long as I can remember. I kept as low a profile as I could, but I travelled all around the world, never staying in one place too long. I had acquired some body guards, one male and one female, who never left my side. They were paid to watch me 24/7 to ensure I remained alive, and to ensure my virtue remained intact. Bathing, showering, eating, sleeping, even using the restrooms one of them was always there. They took turns sleeping and eating when they could, but remained ever vigilant during the rest of the day.

Then came the day my life changed forever, well more specifically, the day he entered my life and changed it forever. Sam Winchester and his brother Dean had heard about the ‘faith healer’ and had come to investigate the stories of miraculous healings. I’m pretty sure that if sin could have a picture in the dictionary, it would be those two. I’d never been near a man for anything other than work, but I’d seriously consider it for them. Amara felt my thoughts and immediately crushed them.

“YN you must stay away from the Winchesters. They are dangerous hunters, and they are trouble.”

My hormones screamed in protest, but I didn’t push. Just watching them walk toward me had heat pooling between my legs. I swallowed hard but remained in perfect control.

“Prove to them you are real child. The tall one has a wrist that was broken and never healed properly. It is the left one. It aches and bothers him when the weather changes, but he has never told anyone.”

I raised a brow and stepped forward. “Greetings gentlemen. My name is YN. How can I help you? I can heal any injury, illness, even remnants of old injuries.” I turned to the tall brother. “Your left wrist was broken some years ago, and it aches when the weather turns cold or precipitation comes.”

The tall brunette’s jaw dropped, even as his brother tried to change the subject. “I’m sorry miss, we aren’t here for…” Then he noticed Sam’s face. “Seriously Sam? Why did you never say anything?”

I held out my hand and Sam placed his left hand into my palm. Sure enough I felt the ligaments that had never fully healed, the aching he experienced regularly, even the pain from the original fracture.

He looked at his brother. “It wasn’t a big deal Dean. Yeah it aches once in a while, but it’s manageable.”

I looked between the two brothers. “Can I have a moment of silence please?”

Both men apologized and quit arguing. I placed my other hand over his and closed my eyes. A bluish white light came forth, bathing his large hand and wrist in it’s warm glow. I could feel the shock Sam experienced as he watched the healing. But I felt something else, a pull, a deeper connection to him that I couldn’t explain.

I finished and his eyebrows shot up in unbelief as he tested his range of movement, and then he looked from me to Dean, then back to me.

“How?” he said to me. Then he looked at his brother. “It’s gone Dean. The ache, the discomfort I’ve had for years is gone. I have full range of motion again.”

Dean looked at me. “So are you a witch or something?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I am simply someone who was born with this healing gift to use as I see fit. I chose to help people with it whenever and wherever I can. So that’s what I do.”

“And how much do you charge people?”

I shrugged. “Whatever they want to pay. If they don’t have any money, I help them for free.”

“Free.” Dean scoffed. “Just like that.”

“Yes. Just. Like. That. No tricks, gimmicks, contracts or promissory notes. Free.”

Both men’s jaws dropped to the ground.

I looked at them. “Will that be all?”

They nodded and left. I was still reeling from that weird connection I felt from Sam. And once evening came and I was done, I closed my eyes, called for Amara, and asked her about it.

“What the hell was that? I didn’t want to let Sam go. Why did I feel that? You said they were dangerous.”

“Yes child, I did say that, because they pose a danger to you, or, more specifically, Sam poses a threat to your pact with me. He’s an Alpha, and your soulmate.”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, he’s WHAT??”

Amara sighed. “You are an Omega, and while it is my blood that flows through your veins, the power is stronger when you are a virgin. That means you can never mate as long as this deal between us exists YN.”

My mind was reeling tons of new and surprising information. I struggled to try and process, even as my anger flared at the deity who has just admitted to being my mother.

“Why didn’t you tell me all this? Shouldn’t I get a say in these kinds of decisions?”

“Things were easier if you knew nothing of what or who you are. Every decision I made was to protect you my child. Your vitamins contain herbal suppressants that keep your heats in check so no one can hurt you.”

“I kind of get that, but I had a right to know! It’s almost as bad as lying Amara…Mom…!”

Her eyes flashed white and her anger rose. I stopped my tantrum. “My daughter, do not push this! I’m sorry you feel that way. But you were created to become a healer, to help cure disease, illnesses. That was your destiny right from the day you were conceived. To give all this up is your choice YN, but it will cost you the gifts and the immortality you currently possess.”

I narrowed my gaze at her. “So let’s see if I understand this correctly. As long as I remain innocent and follow your rules, I’m golden. But if I decide to go my own way, you take away all my gifts and my immortality, basically forsaking me? Huh. Not very motherly Amara, considering how much you supposedly care.”

Pain shot through my head as Amara displayed her displeasure, a very strong warning that I had almost pushed too far. This was the first time I had angered her like that, and she made sure I knew it.

Then there was nothing. Silence.

I reached out but felt nothing from her, just eerie quiet, like she never existed.

I cried.

A knock sounded at my door, and Sam peeked in. “Hey YN. Uh, I just wanted to thank you again.” He stopped as he saw my tears. “What’s wrong? Are you ok? Did I come at a bad time?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. Just having a disagreement with my mother.” I wiped my tears and cleared my throat. “Your welcome. I’m glad I could help.”

He reached for my hand before I could stop him. There it was again, the spark, that connection I had felt earlier. I looked at him, and I realized he felt it too, he had before as well. His hand caressed my cheek.

“You’re an Omega, aren’t you? And you felt that spark between us, both just now and earlier. You’re my soulmate YN.”

My mouth fell open. He smiled and my heart skipped a beat. Desire stirred within me, and one glance from him told me that he noticed. Then for the first time ever I caught the scent of an Alpha’s rut.

My Alpha’s rut.

Caramel cheesecake and chocolate invaded my nostrils, taking my rational thought prisoner.

OH! MY! HEAVEN!

I whimpered. He came close to me, lingering around my scent gland, then his hot tongue licked a trail up my neck to my ear. “Omega!” he whispered.

And, in that moment, nothing else mattered except Sam.

No Amara. No healing power.

Just HIM!

That argument I’d had with my mother was forgotten, and I was in Sam’s arms, admiring his gorgeous hazel eyes and that soft brown hair. He lowered his head and his lips brushed gently. That spark reignited between us and suddenly his mouth was devouring mine as he tore at my clothing.

I was in the same frenzied state of mind. I couldn’t seem to remove his clothes fast enough. I’d never done this before, but the need and the instinct led me to what I had to do. He traced his fingers along my skin and found my heated core, wet and ready. He slid two fingers inside and I moaned, gasping at both the intrusion and the new pleasure that spread through my body. Then he moved them and I cried out as my first orgasm hit, coating his fingers in my slick.

He repositioned us so I was now straddling his lap, and his hard tip was slowly sliding inside me. He hit my barrier, and glanced at me for any signs of rejection, and found none. Instead I nodded, and in one thrust he dove inside, breaking the wall and filling me completely. He stopped, waiting while my walls stretched and adjusted to his size. My eyes rolled back as the new sensations took over, spurring another orgasm. Sam growled and began to move.

His tongue left wet trails along my neck, stopping to nibble on my ear. Pleasure coiled once again in my abdomen, another pending orgasm ready to spring. Sam stilled then, his knot was swelling, depositing loads of cum into me, then sinking his teeth into my scent gland. The pain mixed with the pleasure caused my climax to hit hard. It was his name I cried out as he licked the claim mark, sealing it.

Yeah, as my mother had said, my power decimated, reverting to it’s original levels. I never heard from Amara again, until I discovered I was pregnant. That was her cue to insert herself into my life once more, so she could get to spend time with her grandchildren. She was good with them, and never pushed further than was necessary in any area of my life.

I finally had the normal life I had always wanted.

[iwroteinapastlife]

Does it still count as Chlonath Day 5 if I haven’t slept?

A bunch of family came into town today so I wasn’t able to start this until it was already midnight x_x But here it is nonetheless!

AO3 link here! Enjoy! <3

Day 5: First Kiss/Holding Hands

My vision was filled with beautiful, sparkling red as it rushed all around me, miraculously healing the scratches on my body. Even the blood that had dribbled down the side of my head and matted some of my hair completely dissipated, leaving my hair fresh and clean as they rushed off to fix the next byproduct of the fight. The miraculous ladybugs hadn’t so much as cleared my vision when it was filled anew with yellow and black, the somewhat familiar scent of honey lavender flooding my nose. The scent stirred something in the back of my mind, another time I had smelled this exact fragrance very recently, but I couldn’t quite grasp onto it, because just as soon as it had come, it was gone, blasted away by…her kiss. Queen Bee’s lips were all of a sudden on mine and her fingers had my shirt balled into fists and she was kissing me with such a furious need that I was absolutely dumbfounded and could do nothing but stand there and take it.

I ought to have pushed her away and told her to stop. I ought to have told her that I had a girlfriend and that I was very happy with her and that I couldn’t allow her to kiss me, even if she was a very beautiful superhero who I’d be lying if I said I didn’t admire.

But I didn’t. I didn’t have to. Because it was Chloé. It was my girlfriend who I had just started dating previously that week and wow, kissing her was everything that I thought it would be and more.

I wish I had pulled her back when her head had snapped away from mine, gloved hand immediately coming up to cover her lips, bright beautiful blue eyes blown wide in shock. As if she’d realized what she’d done.

I was just about to say something to her, maybe that I had a girlfriend and so I couldn’t accept her feelings, but she was gone before I could. With tears still trapped in the corners of her eyes—had she been crying over me? Had she been worried because of the akuma?—Queen Bee fled, disappearing from my sight faster than she had initially arrived.

Mere seconds later a hand clapped down on my shoulder—

Nathanaël jolted awake, his whole body jumping and his heart racing in the aftermath of the sudden shock. The fog from his mind slowly parted, letting reality flow back in. It was the middle of the night, and he was in his apartment—not on the roof of his old school in midday.

His girlfriend groaned beside him, shifting in the bed so that she was facing him, eternally cold hands making smooth contact with his chest as she curled up to him. “Nath,” she deadpanned. “I am trying to get my beauty sleep for tomorrow. Can you not.”

He huffed a small laugh, still distracted by the strange way his dream had recalled that akuma attack from his teenage years. “Sorry, Chloé.” He turned and kissed the top of her head. “Go back to sleep.”

She sighed. “No. You’re too awake. I can hear it. If you don’t look pretty in our wedding photos because you couldn’t sleep the night before I’ll never forgive myself.”

He chuckled. “I’m an insomniac, Chloé, I can deal with sleepless—,”

She shushed him, lazily smacking her hand down on his face to cover his mouth. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

He kissed her hand as she retracted it. “It’s nothing. I just had a weird dream about an akuma attack.”

“There haven’t been any akuma attacks in years.”

“I know. It was a memory, actually. Of one that happened years ago. Do you remember The Glassmaker?”

Chloé’s body shifted the slightest bit, pulling him closer against her. “Yeah,” she said bitterly. He could practically hear the need for blood in her next words. “She nearly sliced you to bits.” He smiled and hugged her with the arm that was acting as her pillow. Even though he’d experienced her wrath toward any akuma who dared hurt him several times, he still felt incredibly warm every time he was reminded of that protective nature of hers. “Is that why you woke up? Because you were remembering the attack?”

“No, actually, I was remembering what happened right after it.”

She sighed, and he felt her muscles quickly relax. “Our first kiss.”

“What? No, I… Well actually, it was really weird because in the dream, it was like Queen Bee was you. You know how dreams can be weird like that sometimes, where there can be one person, but they’re also someone else, but like for some reason it makes complete sense even though later you’re looking back and—,”

“Wait,” she interrupted, suddenly sounding very serious. “Nathanaël, tell me what happened in your dream.”

“Oh, Queen Bee kissed me. That actually happened. I don’t know if I ever told you that. She never did it again, but she does still seem to be flirting with me whenever I see her. I’ve tried to tell her I have a girlfriend several times, but I never get a chance to and for some reason she always shows up right as you’re not around and—hey, w-what’s up?” Nathanaël paused in his rambling as Chloé sat up, leaning over the edge of the bed to turn the lamp on. She was staring at him with what looked like some sort of incredulous look, as if he was speaking a foreign language or something, laced with just the slightest bit of anger. He sat up in the bed. He wasn’t sure if he should be asking what’s wrong or cowering in fear. Or both. Probably both.

He grew more and more nervous by the second. She was just sitting there glaring at him, eyes slowly squinting more and more as if she was trying to solve a ridiculously challenging puzzle. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again. She tried again. Nope. Soon she reached a hand up and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose between forefinger and thumb.

“Is…Is something wrong?” She wasn’t angry that Queen Bee had kissed him, was she? He knew she had quite the jealous streak sometimes (always), but that was years ago, and they had only just started dating when it had happened. Maybe she was upset that he’d never told her. It wasn’t like he was specifically trying to keep it a secret, it just hadn’t really come up, and he didn’t think about it that often so he never really thought to—

“Nathanaël,” she finally said, eyes still closed as if she was fighting off a headache.

“Y-Yes?”

“When and where did we first kiss?”

“U-Um, a couple days after the Glassmaker incident, at the park after school?”

“Oh my god,” she groaned as she curled in on herself. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this!”

“W-What?”

“I mean, I know the magic is strong, but this????”

“C-Chloé?”

“This whole time you haven’t known!?” She shouted, finally looking up at him. He flinched back into the bedframe, more than a little frightened by her in that moment.

“K-Known what?”

And then she was squeezing her head between her hands. “Oh my god. You don’t know. We’re getting married tomorrow and you still don’t know. How is that even possible? Oh my god.” Her hands had balled into tight fists and he was beginning to fear that she would pull out her own hair. He tentatively reached out and covered her hands with his.

“Chloé, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“POLLEN, TRANSFORM ME!”

Nathanaël fell backwards as the room was suddenly lit up with yellow-gold sparkles and black lightning. His girlfriend’s powerful blue eyes were suddenly staring at him from beneath a yellow and black mask. Her silky blonde hair, which had been slightly matted only moments before, was suddenly pulled up in a perfect ponytail, and her simple tank top and shorts had been replaced with a full body black and yellow striped spandex suit.

Nathanaël screamed.

And fell off the bed.

“Nath, shut up! You’re gonna scare the neighbors!”

“Y-Y-You’re—! But—! But you—! I-I-I—! Wh-Wha—?!!!?”

She sighed and reached down, effortlessly lifting him from the floor bridal style and putting him back on the bed. “Jeez, I would have put it more delicately if I knew you were going to react like this.”

React like this?? How was he supposed to react!? And how could she be so calm at a time like this!?!?!?!?! “B-But how!?!?”

“I’ve been Queen Bee since before we started dating, Nathanaël, honestly.” She had her head in her hand again and was shaking it from side to side as if he was the one being a fool here.

“W-We’re getting married tomorrow!!”

“Yes, yes we are!”

“How could you never tell me!?!?”

“I thought you knew!!!” she exploded, arms flying up in the air. She suddenly dropped them as a beep sounded off. “Oh, shit, she was sleeping.”

That shower of gold sparkles and black lightning filled the air once more as the transformation was dropped, Chloé reappearing exactly as she had been only moments before. That was when he spotted the bee that was way too big to be a bee. He nearly fell off the bed again as he wildly sprang backwards. “W-What the fuck is that thing!?” The not-a-bee plopped down in Chloé’s open hands and she looked up at him in surprise. The not-a-bee turned toward him and he shrank under its big blue gaze.

“This is Pollen. She’s a kwami, and the source of Queen Bee’s powers.”

“A-A kwa-what now?”

The not-a-bee looked up at her. “Aren’t you two getting married tomorrow?”

“IT SPEAKS!?”

“I thought he already knew!” She replied, completely ignoring him.

“You two really need to work on your communication skills.”

“I guess. I could have sworn I had already told him. I mean, where did he think all our sugar cubes were going?” Sugar cubes? What??

“Speaking of—,”

“In the cabinet by the fridge. Just restocked.”

“Thank you!” And with that, the not-a-bee flitted off toward the kitchen. Chloé’s eyes finally turned their attention back toward him and he tried not to look as absolute 100% scared shitless as he was. He failed.

She sighed, reaching out to take his hand from where he had it hugged close to his chest. “Please don’t be mad. I honestly thought you knew.” She tugged his arm away from his chest and he was forced to drop a bit of the tension in his muscles.

“You’re…You’re Queen Bee.”

She smiled. “Guilty.”

“You kissed me that day.”

“Guilty again. And proud.”

“You’re the one flirting with me every time you fly by.”

“Thus the reason why I’m never around when it happens.”

“Because you’re…Queen Bee.”

“Honestly I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it. So I’m a superhero, are you really all that surprised? I mean look at me.”

He did.

He looked at her.

And looked.

And looked.

And then he kissed her, the two of them nearly toppling over with the sudden force of it. She smiled against his lips. “Does this mean we’re still on for tomorrow?”

“I’m marrying a superhero,” he said, arms snaking down around her waist.

“Yes, you are.”

“Are you still going to make me get my beauty sleep? Because I really don’t think I’ll be able to go to sleep now.”

She hummed, considering his words, and then put on a flirty smile. “I’ll let you stay up, on one condition.”

The way she had her head tilted was drawing him in, lips a mere breath’s width apart from hers. “What’s that?”

“You make love to this superhero.”

“Anything for you, my queen.”

[theajaheira]

Bravery (23/?)

the end is legitimately in sight. i repeat: the end is legitimately in sight. i think i have to write two or three more chapters and then i will be officially done with bravery which...what the heck am i gonna do with my life then. for serious.

(it’s also on ao3)

“I’m sorry about beach day,” said Ms. Calendar as she got into the front seat of the car. “In my head, there was less drama and more of you two enjoying yourself.”

“It was definitely memorable,” Xander tried. Ms. Calendar looked back, giving him a wry, affectionate smile that made him feel like he’d somehow managed to do something right. It was a little weird, but in a good way. “And hey, the first fifteen minutes were pretty good. I have some great pictures.”

“What were you talking about with Giles?” Willow asked, buckling herself into the driver’s seat. She seemed to have regained her energy enough to drive them home, which Xander was glad for; as much as he liked Ms. Calendar, he didn’t exactly want to put the drive home in her still-healing hands.

Ms. Calendar hesitated, then, “That’s something we need to talk about when we get home.”

Willow turned, looking at Ms. Calendar with a strange expression. “You never got your iced coffee,” she said.

“What?”

“At that diner place—you never got your iced coffee. And then you came out all weird, and drove straight to make sure you could see Giles before we headed home.” Willow seemed to be working out some equation that Xander hadn’t even considered. It was a little disconcerting, but judging by the nervous, guilty look on Ms. Calendar’s face, it was also accurate. “What happened at the diner?” Willow finished, looking up at Ms. Calendar. It wasn’t at all accusing, just inquisitive and worried.

Ms. Calendar drew in a breath. “Look,” she said. “I made an executive decision, and I hope that it’s not one either of you will resent me for.” She hesitated, looked down at her hands. Looked back up at Willow. “Buffy’s okay,” she said. “She specifically asked me not to tell anyone where she was, and I’m trying to respect that.”

This was not at all what Xander had been expecting. “Wait,” he said slowly. “You saw Buffy?”

“At the diner, yes,” said Ms. Calendar, her voice careful and detached, the same way it had been back when Buffy was mad at her. “She isn’t ready to come home.”

Xander felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. So Buffy was okay. Buffy was okay, and while they’d been worrying about her, she’d been hiding in some random LA diner because she didn’t feel like coming back to Sunnydale. Did she ever even care about them at all? Why did she keep doing this? Waltzing off over the summer without a word to any of them. It was like they were only a part of her life when it was convenient to her.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Willow’s high, nervous voice. “Ms. Calendar—”

Xander looked up. Ms. Calendar was looking out the window, her eyes fixed on a distant figure on the beach. “I keep on wondering,” she said, more to herself than anyone else, “if he’d be doing better at this than me.”

“You’re the best,” said Xander fiercely. He wasn’t sure if he meant it out of a genuine appreciation for Ms. Calendar or out of spite for Buffy and Giles, but at Ms. Calendar’s startled, gratified look, he felt determined to stick by it. “They didn’t stay. We did. That’s what counts at the end of the day.”

Ms. Calendar nodded, but Xander got the sense that she hadn’t really heard him.

“I’m not crying over Buffy,” said Willow from the driver’s seat in a somewhat choked-up voice. “Crying while driving is a hazard.”

Ms. Calendar looked over at Willow with a small, tired smile. “Very conscientious,” she said, closing her eyes. “You can take all the time you need.”

“It might get dark,” Xander commented a little nervously.

Willow sniffled. “Good point,” she said. “Ms. Calendar, are my eyes clear enough to drive?”

Ms. Calendar actually laughed. It was a startling sound, cutting through the somber mood of the car. “I think so!” she said, pressing her fingers to her mouth and visibly trying to tamp down her smile. “God, sorry, Willow, I really am taking you seriously, it’s just been such a—weird day.”

Willow smiled too. It was wobbly and watery, but still there, which made Xander feel a little better. “It has,” she agreed, and started up the car.

Xander fell asleep in the backseat. Jenny couldn’t carry him, so she had to wake him up and get him to come into her house. She wasn’t having him go back to his parents’ house tonight—which, incidentally, she was going to seriously look into that next year; from what little she’d heard, that didn’t seem at all like a good place for a kid to live. Granted, Xander was closing in on eighteen, but she still thought it was important to get him out of there as soon as possible.

“Just—couch,” she said, waving her hand ambiguously in the direction of the living room. “Willow, you get the bed.” She was very glad that Willow was too tired to argue with her about the ethics of taking her bed. It was barely sunset, but the day had been exhausting on a lot of levels, so it would be nice for her to have some alone time while the kids napped.

Jenny made herself tea. She’d gotten good at it over the last few weeks. Rupert used to tease her about how she always let the leaves steep too long, but she’d all but perfected her timing now. It was strange, thinking about the fact that now there was an aspect of her Rupert didn’t know, and that it was almost definitely going to stay that way.

She’d left the necklace with him because some selfish part of her wanted to make sure he didn’t forget her. If he didn’t go through some miraculous change of heart, that moment on the beach was the last one she intended to have with him, and she’d wanted to make sure he had some part of her to keep.

So, yeah. She was still in love with him. But that didn’t change the fact that she had more important things to do than get hung up over some guy who had been gone for over a month anyway. She was moving on, which was sad, but it was also freeing.

The teakettle went off, and Jenny hurried to turn down the water. As she poured out the tea, she heard footsteps, and then Willow’s sleepy voice saying, “Is there enough for me?”

Without turning around, Jenny smiled. “More than,” she said. “Always planning for unexpected guests. You warm enough?”

“I borrowed one of your sweaters.” Willow sounded a little guilty.

“Cool,” Jenny replied easily, turning around to look. “Looks better on you than me, to be honest. You can keep it if you want.”

“Ooh, really?” Willow grinned at her. “Thanks!” She sat down at the kitchen table, adjusting the sleeves of the plum-colored sweater. It was just a touch big on her, but it really did compliment her hair quite nicely. “How are you?”

“Doing better.” Jenny handed Willow one of the mugs of tea before sitting down next to her. “You get enough sleep?”

“Mmm.” Willow shrugged noncommittally. “I was—thinking.”

“About?”

“I-if Giles isn’t coming back, and Buffy isn’t ready to and might never be ready to—”

“Hold on, that’s not a given,” Jenny said immediately, more for Willow’s sake than her own. “Buffy could still come back.”

Willow smiled a little sadly. “But she might not,” she said. “And if she’s not, we need to start really preparing for this year.” She put down her mug. There was the beginning of an excited light in her eyes that warmed Jenny more than the tea possibly could. “Like, really preparing. Not just fighting, because we can’t all be Buffys. We need to consider all of our strengths and use them to our advantages.”

“Okay,” said Jenny carefully. “Still not sure what you’re trying to say here.”

Willow hesitated. “I—didn’t mean to snoop,” she said, “but you’ve got lots of books in your bedroom. Magic books. And—”

“Whoa, hold on.” Jenny held up a hand, feeling a sudden spike of worry. “I know you’re a smart girl, Willow, but magic isn’t something anyone can jump headfirst into without instruction.”

“I know.” Willow was still smiling, but there was a touch of shyness to it. “I was hoping—” She twisted at a loose thread on the blanket. “Maybe you could teach me?”

Jenny blinked. “Willow, I—” She looked down at her mug, somewhat embarrassed. “I’d love to say that I’m a qualified teacher, or a good spellcaster, but it takes a natural affinity for magic to be able to use it efficiently. I’m not skilled enough to do that.”

“You’re Jenny Calendar,” said Willow with a fierce pride. “You stood up to a vampire twice, and you translated a soul spell when you said it couldn’t be done.”

“You know, I broke up with Rupert for idealizing me,” Jenny said, trying to make it sound joking. It fell somewhat flat.

Willow shook her head. “That’s not my point,” she said. “Anyone as brave and smart as you is completely qualified to teach someone magic. And if I don’t have a natural affinity for magic, or—or whatever else it takes, then no harm, no foul, right?” She had a hopeful, nervous look on her face.

Jenny didn’t answer, considering this. Willow did have a point. It wouldn’t really hurt to try and teach her what she knew. It could actually be pretty helpful to give Willow a general sense of the magical world, especially if they were fighting demons who might use magic against them.

“I mean, obviously you’ve been through a lot lately, and I wouldn’t want to pressure—”

“Willow.” Jenny gave her a patient smile. “I’d be happy to try and teach you what I know. I just don’t want to get your hopes up when it comes to you blowing things up or setting vampires on fire with your mind or whatever. It could take years to hone whatever natural talent you have, and by that time you may have already decided to leave Sunnydale behind, you know?”

Willow nodded thoughtfully. Then she said, “I don’t think I could leave Sunnydale if there’s no one here to protect it.”

“There’s me,” Jenny reminded her. “And Xander, and Oz, and Cordelia once she gets back from—where did she go?” Willow rolled her eyes and made a face. “Helpful,” Jenny quipped, and took a sip of tea. “I can tell you’ll be a model student.”

“So that’s a yes?” Willow inquired eagerly.

“It’s an I’ll try,” Jenny replied gently. “I can’t promise more.”

Willow beamed at Jenny over her mug of tea. Jenny lightly bumped Willow’s shoulder with hers.

[ghostmiracles]

Reika Athanasia Titov, the Warlock

Age: 18

Birthday: 3rd Week of Winter

Height: 5'7”

Weight: 150 lbs

Academic Ability: Above Average

Athletic Ability: Average

Favorite Foods: Coffee Jelly, Matcha Tea, and Shadows

Blood Type: O

Animal: Bat

Fun Fact: You thought your family would be happy with you for freeing them from the shadows beneath the shrine. Oh how wrong you were!

Arc Traits:

[Blue] Wounded Angel (The Thing Beneath the Shrine) 1

[Silver] Troubled (The Darkweaver) 1

[Blue] Gatecrasher (Walking the Dark Paths) 1

[Red] Creature of Delirium (Shadow-Eater)  0

Skills:

Domestic Skills 3

Dark Ways 2

(Superior) Dark Paths 2

(Magical) Titov Family Magic 1

[Obstacle 1] appear stable and calm while experiencing a psychotic episode

[Obstacle 1] attract someone or something to you that you need

[Obstacle 1] know what you can offer a person to assure their willing cooperation

[Obstacle 2] know what you can offer someone that would make them not merely willing to cooperate but unwilling to betray you under any reasonable duress

[Obstacle 2] infuse an object with emotional meaning – make even an ordinary work into great art that gives a sense of freedom or peace, or a simple knickknack into a gift that brings great joy

[Obstacle 3] create a new person from the earth, if there is no one that your magic may summon in answer to a specific need

Bondflictions:

Bond: I must consume people's shadows to maintain my physical form. 2

Bond: I am the Darkweaver, a being of darkness and fear. (Title) 2

Affliction: People tend not to like me.  0

Other Stuff

Bonus XP Action: Shiver of Wonder/Terror

Basic Quest: Void-Touched

There’s something going on. You think it means... you think it... it relates to the shadows inside of you.  You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (though only once per scene/15 minutes) by declaring that you can feel the touch of it, the thing, the it, the miracle, the strangeness, the dissociation, the unnameable, the it, the thing —you can phrase it another way; just give some indication that you’re triggering this quest condition— and then free-associating for a few moments about what your character is experiencing, feeling, thinking.

Miraculous Powers

[Green] Sickly: Being filled with shadows hurts. It's not a fun experience at all.

[Red] Shadow's Embrace: You are a being of the shadows, who always exists there.

[Blue] Lurk: You can appear to someone when they stand in the dark.

[Red] Eyes of the Beyond: You can see hidden information about people when they're in the dark.

[Red] The Life of a Dark Walker: Once per chapter, you can do some stylized, illogical things.

[Blue] Shadow Crafting: You can make some pretty amazing things out of shadows.

[Blue] Shadow Binding: You can bind yourself to various sources, primarily shadows. In desperate situations you can bind yourself to your own wounds. This hurts you, but it gives you strength.

[Blue] Regurgitate Shadow: You can regurgitate bound shadows when you've gotten all the power from them that you need, and release the bindings on your wounds, allowing yourself to heal and regain your strength.

[Blue] Blasphemy: You have consumed the shadows beneath the Titov shrine, taking them into your body and binding them to yourself. If you die, they will escape and corrupt everyone with their evil thoughts and intentions.

[Silver] Mythic Regalia: You can summon the regalia of a dark walker.

[Silver] Whisperings: You hear things while you lurk in the darkness. The shadows whisper.

[Blue] Walkers of the Dark Paths: You walk the Dark Paths. You can show other people the way.

[Blue] Understanding Twisted Places: You understand twisted spaces and shadows.

[Blue]Shapechanger: You are a shapechanger, whose body can shift and change to avoid injury. The darkness will repair your damaged body.

[Blue] A Dark Walker's Blessings: All Dark Walkers can run along the surface of water and along the sides of buildings, survive for weeks without sleep, and enter the dark pathways.

Later...

[Red] Shadow-Eater: You can pull the shadows out of people and things and consume them to fuel your body. They can be regurgitated from your body later when you've used them up, and put back where they come from. Each shadow you're holding inside your body manifests somewhere on your person as a silver key.

[Red] Shadow Puppets: You can communicate with and command your vessels.

[Red] Catharsis: Your miracles are strongly emotionally-affecting. They can change lives.

[Red] A Tangled Mass of Strings: You have vessels that you didn't even make, or that you made off-screen. Sometimes people just lose track of their shadows and fall under your power, usually through having their shadows stolen by other entities. With some effort, you can call to a large group of such people.

[Red] Metamorphosis: You can use the shadows inside of you to transform people and banish them to the Outside to wander for seven days and seven nights.

[Red] Operator: You may draw upon the power of stored shadows to do amazing things. At Arc 4+, you can use shadows for wishes.

[Red] Creeping Corruption: You can corrupt people slowly while performing some sort of action against them (typically extracting their shadows).

[Red] Fate Reevaluated: You can declare the fates and destinies of your vessels.

[Red] Long-Range Extraction: You can wish to make anyone your vessel, pulling out their shadows at even extreme range.

Story Stuff

Arc 1: The Melancholy Villain

This Arc is about Reika making herself the villain, and trying her best to see it as something amazing and cool. She goes through lots of failed schemes, lots of villainy that ends up more heroic, that she tries to justify through some vague stupid excuse that makes it seem like she's not just doing it to be nice.

But she starts to get sick of that whole thing. She starts to process the fact that it really isn't for her, even though she wants it to be.: But she starts to get sick of that whole thing. She starts to process the fact that it really isn't for her, even though she wants it to be.

Arc 2: The Dark Hero

So then Reika tries her best to be nice. She tries her best to be more like a hero, even though society is trying its best to make her be a villain. She just wants you to like her! That's all she really wants! But it's all hard.

During this Arc, she befriends a boy around her age named Mikhail Nemetov. His family is abusive, and Reika empathizes with him, and spends a big portion of the Arc trying to help him get out of his bad situation. They kind of have a bit of a romance, and Reika really connects with Mikhail. He becomes her only friend.

And then Mikhail reveals his true intentions. He isn’t a sweet, shy teenage boy. (Well, he is still a teenage boy, but...) He’s a powerful enemy of the world, an Excrucian Deceiver, who created a family for himself to create a situation to lure Reika in, to gain her trust, so that he could do his best to convert her to his cause, to recruit her into a war against the world.

Arc 3: The Corrupted Girl

Reika to traverse a literal labyrinth in this Arc. It's a representation of her tangled-up emotions, the way she's majorly torn between two ways of life – the life of a hero and the life of a villain, the Reika who is and the Reika who the world expects her to be. Mikhail is trying to corrupt her, and make her into a villain, which symbolizes in a way the world’s expectations of Reika.

She reaches the center of the labyrinth, defeats Mikhail, and then she decides to just be who she wants to be, even if that's not totally something consistent, and even if she can't figure out how to make it work. She decides to just live for herself instead of listening to what people tell her to be.

Arc 4: The Seeker

Reika embarks on a great quest, something very very upwards. I am leaning towards something that other heroes and villains are striving for as well. Something very mythic and Greek. She's decided that this is the sort of thing she does these days. She's decided that this is who she is. But what she's not letting on is that part of her motivation is that she wants people to see her as a hero for doing this. She wouldn't admit it, but somewhere in her subconscious, that's the reason why.

Reika reaches the target, completes the quest, is the one to complete it, before anyone else can, and because of it, she starts to become a bit more confident in herself, in her decision to be who she wants to be. She starts to get a bit more sure of herself, and returns home with her prize (which I'm conceptualizing as some sort of artifact or something).

Arc 5: The Warlock

Reika thought the hero-quest would make people like her, thought that they would start to see her as a hero because of it, but she was wrong. She'd been telling herself she was going to just do what she wanted to do, but she can't help but get all caught up in what people think of her. She gets really depressed, and during this time has some weird, dark adventures that are a metaphor for her mental state. She gets hurt a lot, and fails a lot, and several times nearly dies.

Then she actually dies, and is brought back by an outside force, then has to work to recapture her Blasphemy, shove it back inside of her and save everyone.

After that transcendence of death, Reika takes a new lease on life. In the afterlife she saw something that really changes how she viewed things, that really changes how things work for her. She finds something there that allows her to actually live for herself and be happy. I think it's likely rooted in the fact that she has a circle of friends already, but doesn't really realize it. She has people who care about her. She just hasn't noticed that they all actually care deeply about her. She's had these people for a while, but her own thought processes have been holding her back. So then she lives for herself, and take care of her friends, and is happy.

[quicksilversquared]

Cookies and Croissants: Chapter 3/3

As a superhero, saving the world is standard fare. It’s practically expected. But saving one’s civilian friend from her best friend’s off-target assumptions?

Somehow, that’s almost harder.

links in the reblog

If it hadn't been for Marinette and Nino, Adrien probably would have assumed that- somehow, impossibly- Alya hadn't heard about Ladybug and Chat Noir's visit to the mansion. For once, she had clearly put a lid on her curiosity and restrained herself from interrogating Adrien about what the superheroes had said. Alya hadn't stopped theorizing, of course, but she wasn't doing it in front of Adrien, or even in places where Adrien might 'accidentally' overhear.

"She's pretty dead on with her assumptions," Marinette told Adrien as they planned their next "meeting", two days after the first one. It had seemed a bit soon to both of them at first, like they were desperate to be seen, but- well, it made sense that Adrien would want frequent updates. A lot could change in two days, at least theoretically. "She guessed that they were probably just keeping you updated and that there wasn't much to report yet."

Plagg cackled. "Technically, she wasn't completely accurate," he quipped. "As I recall, you tried and failed to talk about the weather, too."

"Okay, yes, but- hey, it's what we intended to have people think!" Marinette protested. "It's what we would have said if we were actually doing the meeting. And I did give an update and there wasn't much to report yet."

"Yeah, that's a bit- well, maybe I had my hopes too high that the Order would be able to help Mom really fast," Adrien sighed, leaning into Marinette's side. She leaned back, solid and comforting, and he relished in the contact. They still had to be careful with how they acted around each other most of the time- whenever people might pop in on them- so the moments when they could be close were fewer than Adrien really would have liked. "I mean, I know they're doing their best, and I really appreciate that they're working so hard to be careful so that Mom doesn't get worse, but today's update was still 'stabilizing and starting research'."

"They did tell us that it could take a while," Marinette pointed out quietly, pulling him closer to her side. "There's a lot of possibilities of what could have gone wrong, and how the magic could have affected her. Acting on the wrong assumption could make it harder to heal her properly once they figure out what the real problem is." Her chin rested against the side of his head, and Adrien couldn't help but smile as she nuzzled him. "D'you want to come over tonight as Chat? My parents commented yesterday that they hadn't seen you around recently."

Adrien perked up. Did he want to come over? Did he ever. "I'd love that."

"I figured you might." Marinette gave his hair an affectionate ruffle, and Adrien gave into the urge to lean into her hand and purr right away. "I'll get out the blankets when I get home."

"Oooh."

"But that's later, and we still have to do today's 'visit'." Marinette peeled herself away from Adrien (who absolutely did not whine at the loss of contact) and reached into her bag, pulling out a small box that Adrien recognized as a Miraculous box. "It's pretty much the same time as the last visit, and regularity is probably a good thing."

"Right, we won't have to do as much to get people to come and look." Adrien glanced over at Marinette. "You know, if you wanted, we have a study room that overlooks the courtyard. You could just transform and stay in there and be able to get a pretty good view of what's going on."

Marinette considered that, then shook her head. "Not this time. I need to be able to be pretty sure that there won't be any surprise pigeons that could disrupt the illusions on their way over. Once I don't have to really catch people's attention, then that would be nice. I'd just have to remember to include a bit of illusion in front of the window, so that no one sees me looking out."

Adrien hadn't thought of that. It was really smart, though. One glimpse of anything Fox-related, and Alya would be on them in a second. With a sigh- he didn't really want to get up- Adrien pushed himself to his feet. "Okay. I'll go out to the steps. Meet you back here afterward?"

"Of course."

Their second 'meeting' went much like their first. Adrien frowned at the gawkers by the gate more openly this time- seriously, didn't any of these people have common decency? Or something better they could be doing?- but only a very few people skittered away.

"We could try to get the Gorilla to shoo them away," Marinette suggested afterwards. She was flopped on Adrien's lap, idly playing with one of her hair ribbons. Her one undone pigtail was splayed out over one of his legs. "Mention that it's annoying to have people taking pictures and trying to listen in. Honestly, it would probably just add to the realism, don't you think? After all, why would anyone bother staging something fake if they didn't want anyone else looking?"

"Except he might do too good of a job." Adrien twisted his fingers through Marinette's loose hair, happy to be able to play with it. "And we still need to get you in a picture or two with Ladybug. Maybe we can do that if people pick up on the schedule and we get, like, bigger crowds or something. He'd probably pick up on it on his own at that point."

"Mm. Right."

"D'you want to add yourself to the illusion sometime next week?" Adrien suggested after a minute. "We can ramp up the closeness at school a bit, so it's not a surprise that you would be over here. Then we can get a picture or two with you and Ladybug out."

"Yeah, sure. I don't think it'll take much, honestly." Marinette leaned into his hand, and Adrien didn't miss the opportunity to brush his thumb across her cheek. "Alya knows that we've hung out together without her and Nino before, and not just when they 'subtly' ditched us."

Adrien had to laugh at that. Now that all of their feelings were out in the open, the truth had come out about their friends' not-so-subtle attempts to set them up had come out, too. And now that he had more context for the weird behavior- the weird behavior from all of his friends, not just Marinette- and he wasn't wondering what he was missing or doing wrong, it was all pretty funny.

"Are we taking bets on if the Ladyblogger is going to start up the matchmaking again soon?" Plagg asked, zipping around to join them now that his cheese was finished. "Or do we think that she's still off on her assumption that Pigtails is dating Chat Noir?"

"I have a name, Plagg," Marinette said with a sigh. She started to sit up, only to stop and flop back into Adrien's lap with a huff of amusement when he let out a whine automatically. "And it's hard to tell what Alya's thinking about that at the moment. She's stopped with the hints and pointed questions and whatnot, but it's hard to tell if she's dropped the idea completely or if it's just that there's so much else going on and there's more important things to worry about."

Adrien worried his lower lip. That probably made things more difficult, then. Marinette would be the one who would have the best idea about what Alya was thinking, and if she didn't have any idea of what Alya thought…

"My guess, though, is that she hasn't forgotten," Marinette spoke up again after a minute. "She's not had any truly conflicting evidence yet, so she hasn't had any reason to drop the idea fully."

"Unless she's realized that her jump to conclusions didn't exactly have any evidence, either," Tikki chimed in. "Isn't that a possibility?"

Marinette snorted. "You're talking about the girl who was convinced that Chloe was Ladybug. No."

Adrien turned red and glanced away. He had been thrown off by Alya's suspicion, too, at least briefly. In his defense, thought, he had assumed that she would have good evidence if she was willing to risk Chloe's wrath. "Uh. Right."

"But I guess it doesn't really matter, not right now," Marinette said. She grinned up at Adrien. "We'll see what happens later, after the other meetings and after Ladybug and Chat Noir start dating."

Adrien grinned back. "I can't wait."

  The next several meetings went smoothly, now that they had gotten into a groove. General public curiosity seemed to have largely dropped off- after all, there were no dramatics and they couldn't hear anything anyway- but a couple tabloid reporters could be counted on to always show up, peering through the gates and snapping a few photos of Adrien and the superheroes before they could get chased off by the Gorilla. A few times, paparazzi had even managed to snap pictures of a girl with Adrien, standing at his side and listening in on part of the conversation before excusing herself to head indoors and give him a bit of privacy with the superheroes.

Alya pounced on Marinette after that, dragging her off to the locker rooms to interrogate her about what she had heard. She was a bit disappointed to hear that Marinette hadn't stuck around long enough to hear anything of interest, but had to admit that it was probably smart to do it that way.

And despite the regular- and frequent- meetings, no one suspected the Fox's involvement at all. Ladybug was good at keeping her illusions safe and far away from anything that might disturb them. On top of that, she had decided one day to add on an illusion of pigeons flying right past Ladybug and Chat Noir, making Chat Noir 'sneeze' and almost giving Adrien a heart attack in the process because she had forgotten to warn him that she was going to do that beforehand. He had been convinced that all of their hard work to separate their identities was about to go up in twin puffs of orange, pigeon-scented smoke, and for it to not do that…

Well, it was lucky for both of them that Adrien hadn't slumped to the ground in relief once the illusions landed safely. That would have looked pretty suspicious, though it was possible that they would have been able to chalk it up to the news: Mrs. Agreste's condition had been fully figured out, treatment had started, and she was already making great improvement with her recovery.

And then, a day after they got the news that Mrs. Agreste had woken up, Ladybug and Chat Noir were seen looking very close in public. Paris went mad when Madam Chamack managed to get her hands on a photo of the two superheroes sharing a kiss over what looked like a midnight picnic.

And Alya was clearly left confused, if the multiple texts consisting entirely of question marks that she had sent Marinette was any indication. Marinette had just sent question marks back, playing dumb about why Alya would be anything besides ecstatic that the superheroes were clearly dating now.

Next to her, Adrien had snickered at the exchange. He had come back to the bakery with her after their picnic (not, of course, without a fair bit of teasing about going home with her on the first date) to help put things away, and he had lingered long enough to watch the entire exchange.

"I would have thought that you would be over the moon about Ladynoir actually happening, Alya!" Rose exclaimed the following morning, when her eager 'Alya! Alya, did you hear?' was met by a long face. "You've wanted it to happen for ages now? What happened?"

"Oh, I, uh…." Alya started, clearly taken aback at being questioned by anyone, and Adrien snickered quietly from his spot next to Marinette. He knew as well as she did that Alya couldn't exactly admit to thinking that Marinette was dating Chat Noir without explaining why, and even with Hawkmoth behind bars she wasn't supposed to tell anyone about her secret identity just in case- but clearly she couldn't explain that she was hoping that she was right about Marinette dating Chat Noir so that she could figure out his identity. And now, since they weren't dating, her dream of finding out who he was that way had gone down the drain. "Uh…"

Neither of the two superheroes felt at all guilty about the destruction of that particular dream. Alya shouldn't have been trying to ferret out their identities in the first place, she shouldn't have been jumping to conclusions, and she shouldn't have been bothering Marinette about the "relationship" at all, even if it had been confirmed instead of just speculation.

"They're so cute, I don't know how anyone could be anything but thrilled!" Rose gushed, apparently not willing to wait for Alya to finish muddling through her half-baked explanation for why she wasn't thrilled about the superhero development. "A midnight picnic on the rooftops of Paris, how romantic! Did you see the candles in the photos? A candlelit midnight picnic!"

There were murmurs from their classmates. Mylène nodded in agreement, clasping her hands together just like Rose. "It's so cute! I do wonder about the timing, though- do you think that they wanted to date before, but didn't let themselves because of Hawkmoth? And then now that-" Mylène caught herself, ducking her head sheepishly as she glanced at Adrien and then away again. "Anyway, now it's safe, and everything's being dealt with, so they can relax and date!"

"Or they were already dating and they were just keeping it secret, like in a novel!" Rose beamed at the thought. "I mean, there were pictures and videos of them kissing and flirting before, but they just denied that they were in a relationship and that things were taken out of context. Maybe that was actually just when they slipped up!"

There were murmurs at that, and then the gossip exploded as people chimed in with interactions that they had seen themselves, if they thought it was romantic, the likelihood that the superheroes had actually been trying to hide a relationship…

The general consensus, from what Marinette could make out in the babble, was that the superheroes would have done a better job of hiding their flirting if they had actually been dating in secret. She supposed that that was about as good as she could hope for.

At least her classmates had some faith in her and Chat Noir. Marinette would have been super embarrassed if they decided that the superheroes just didn't have enough common sense to be able to hide their relationship properly.

"How are you doing, dude?" Nino asked, appearing at Adrien's side. "Let me know if you need to, like, step out or anything."

"I'm good," Adrien assured him, smiling. "I've gotten used to- to everything. And it's not like I'm not interested in Ladybug and Chat Noir anymore or anything. I think it's sweet that they're dating."

Nino looked supremely unconvinced. "You, the ultimate Ladybug fanboy, are totally fine with Ladybug dating Chat Noir instead of you?"

"Chat Noir knows Ladybug, though," Adrien pointed out reasonably, though his cheeks had turned pink. "Way better than anyone else in the city. Are you really going to think that I would throw a fit over someone dating my celebrity crush?"

Nino considered that, then shrugged. "Nah, fair point. I always think of celebrity crushes on being on famous people that you've never met, I guess, and you've definitely met Ladybug. But I can see how that's different!" he added hastily. "Or how meeting Ladybug is kind of like doing meet and greets with bands or whatever. You don't really get to know them, just meet them. They're not, like, suddenly obtainable because you've met them once."

Adrien nodded, a little too fast and jerky. "Yup! Exactly."

Nino narrowed his eyes suspiciously at that, but didn't comment on it, simply shrugging and moving on. "Did you know about it before the news broke? I think you're the person that the superheroes have been in closest contact with."

Adrien blinked. "I… don't follow?"

"Were they being obvious flirts, I think he's asking," Marinette cut in before Adrien could give away anything potentially incriminating. "Which they wouldn't be, right? They always seemed pretty down-to-business from what I saw."

"Yeah, they pass on what they know and then they're off," Adrien agreed. "After answering any of my questions, of course. They have lives to get back to, after all, and they probably have to make excuses to go out and talk to me."

Nino considered that. "Okay, yeah. That's true. But speaking of which…" He glanced around to make sure that they had some privacy- all of their classmates seemed to be caught up in the gossip and speculation about Ladybug and Chat Noir, and Marinette could overhear Alix and Kim tossing the word 'bet' around- and then leaned forward, genuine curiosity and concern on his face. "How's that going? Any word on your mom yet? I heard she woke up."

Adrien grinned. "Yeah! So yesterday, the superheroes told me…"

  Mrs. Agreste returned home once she was fully recovered, accompanied by a police escort to keep away gawkers and people who might have some misplaced anger at her because of Mr. Agreste's actions. Adrien met her at the mansion, with Marinette at his side.

They weren't dating as their civilian selves, not yet. The delay between the superheroes' announcement and theirs would hopefully be a good buffer of time so that people wouldn't associate the two fledgling relationships too closely, and so people wouldn't be so suspicious about the admittedly odd timing of them starting to date right after Adrien's father had been arrested and his mom had been found in a coma. It would also allow time for Emilie Agreste to return to Paris and reunite with her son before also having to adjust to the idea of her only child dating. Adrien thought that his mom would be delighted- despite being married to Gabriel Agreste, she was a romantic at heart- but Marinette was a little more cautious.

She didn't want Adrien's mom to dislike her just because she came back to everything changing too fast and Marinette was an easy target to blame for some of that change. Maybe that wasn't likely, if Adrien was to be believed, but it was better to not make waves. Mrs. Agreste could meet Marinette as Adrien's Very Good Friend, notice the romantic vibes between them, and get eased into the idea of Adrien dating someone a little more slowly.

Tikki thought that it was a good approach, too. Adrien had groaned about it for a little bit- after all, with his mom home, it would be far harder for him to slip out as Chat Noir, so he wouldn't get to do rooftop dates with Ladybug as often- but admitted that it was probably smart. If his mom was having a really hard time adjusting, they could always tell Marinette's parents that they were dating in secret and be able to cuddle there until Mrs. Agreste was more ready to accept their relationship.

Hopefully it wouldn't take long. Having to sneak around wasn't much fun, not after months and months of sneaking and excuses and flat-out lies so that they could go fight akumas. Even though it wasn't serious sneaking- they could probably just tell his mom that they were studying together- it was just…. well, a little exhausting after everything else.

The gates swung open, silent and imposing as ever, freshly oiled by the Gorilla just that morning, and the Agreste family car turned in. Two police cars pulled in neatly behind them, but Mrs. Agreste paid them no mind. She burst out of the car as soon as it pulled to a stop, dashing up the steps towards Adrien with a beam on her face.

"Darling!" she called, scooping him up in her arms. "You've grown! My goodness, you're going to pass me soon at this rate. You look so good! What have you been up to? No one has been able to tell me much. And who is this? Are you Adrien's girlfriend?"

Marinette blinked as the human hurricane that was Emilie Agreste turned to her. "Uh…"

She- she hadn't been prepared for Emilie to be completely eager for Adrien to have a girlfriend. Or- or maybe she wasn't, but she was just excited and so everything was exciting and fine with her and once- well, once everything hit her and she started getting readjusted to life in Paris, maybe she would be less fine with everything.

"Mom, this is Marinette- she's one of my best friends from school!" Adrien told Mrs. Agreste before Marinette could pull herself together. "She wanted to make sure that I wasn't waiting for you on my own, because I definitely would have gone crazy from anticipation."

"That's so sweet of you!" Mrs. Agreste exclaimed. "I'm glad that Adrien has made such great friends at- at school, right? I think I heard something about that."

Adrien nodded, and for the first time, Marinette saw some hesitance there. He had mentioned that his mom had been the one in charge of his homeschooling, at least for the earlier years, so she might be less than pleased about his move to public schools. "Yeah. I wanted to get out and go to classes and- and make friends. And it's been great! I'm learning a lot, and not just school stuff, either! There's a lot of social stuff that I've learned- that I'm still learning-"

"All good things," Marinette added hastily, before Mrs. Agreste could start jumping to conclusions about what kinds of things Adrien might be learning. "Dupont is a really well-behaved school, everyone- well, most everyone- is really nice."

"There's the odd bully, but everyone else is fantastic," Adrien added on. "It's really great, getting to experience group projects and proper presentations and, like, not being the only one answering questions. There's so many different points of view that people bring to the table!"

"I suppose that as long as the school is a quality one, it's probably fine," Mrs. Agreste decided after a moment's pause. "And normally I would assume that it had been properly vetted by Nathalie, but- well, I suspect that she's been a bit distracted. I'll want to have conferences with your teachers. When I get the time, that is." She sighed. "I suspect that I'll be quite busy for a bit. And- well, you're going to be entering lycée soon, I suppose I had better get on researching schools for that, too."

"My parents can send you some materials for the schools that most of the Dupont students end up going to," Marinette offered before Mrs. Agreste could get too wrapped up in lycée worries. "They're good schools, really- well, there's one that's not fantastic, but my parents won't have stuff for that school anyway."

Mrs. Agreste perked up. "Oh, that would be lovely, dear. Yes, yes, I suppose it wouldn't make much sense to look at all of the schools in the city anyway."

"Right," Adrien chimed in. He glanced at the waiting policemen. "Uh, should we see what they want…?"

Mrs. Agreste glanced that way, too, and the policemen took that as their cue to jog up the steps to join them. They smiled at Adrien and Marinette, then turned to Mrs. Agreste.

"We want to let you get settled and caught up with your family, of course, but we just wanted to let you know that the Paris police department is here for you," the shorter of the two policemen told Mrs. Agreste. "Let us know if people give you any trouble or if you need help with anything while you're settling back in. We started the procedure of undoing your status as a missing person as soon as the superheroes found you, so hopefully you won't have too much trouble as far as paperwork goes."

"Thank you," Mrs. Agreste told him. "And thank you to your entire department for arranging my flight home! It was so nice to have someone accompany me and make sure I didn't get lost in the airports on the way home!"

The policeman smiled. "Of course. And we do apologize that we couldn't just magic you back and you had to go through the flights in the first place. The superheroes wanted to use the- the Horse Miraculous, I believe?- to just magic you back home, but unfortunately that just couldn't be done."

Adrien and Marinette winced in unison. Using the Horse had been the plan originally, but somehow the Tibetan government had caught wind of the whole situation and stepped in. They had been none too thrilled with the idea of people magicking themselves over their borders unannounced and unmonitored and had ended up banning it. Which- well, a ban wasn't going to make the magic not work, but it was probably a good idea to act like they were going along with it. After all, Ladybug and Chat Noir would be popping over to the temple when they could for training in the future. If they resisted the government's order for Mrs. Agreste to travel the normal way, that could result in the temple being closely monitored and it would be impossible for them to slip in undetected.

So Mrs. Agreste had flown back to Paris.

"Oh, it's fine," Mrs. Agreste assured him. "I understand, and it wouldn't have made sense to cause an international incident over me. The important thing is that I'm back now!"

The police smiled at that, then quickly said their good-byes and piled back into their cars. They pulled out, and Marinette watched as the gates smoothly swing shut behind them. There were a few gawkers that had been near the gates, but they didn't linger long when the police cars paused.

"Well, now we're on our own," Mrs. Agreste announced, pulling Marinette's attention back to her. She was beaming at her and Adrien. "Why don't we all go inside? I want to hear about everything."

  Marinette and Adrien ended up waiting for two and a half weeks before they decided to "start dating" publicly, but as their civilian selves this time.

And, much to their relief, it went over well. It went over really well. Marinette's parents and their classmates had been waiting for it to happen, that much was obvious, and Mrs. Agreste….

Well, Mrs. Agreste was smugly satisfied with herself for having called it "literally the second that I got back, Adrien, I just knew that you were going to start dating that girl!".

The satisfaction, from what Adrien had told Marinette, was because she had been concerned that she wouldn't know Adrien like she had before and he might seem like a stranger to her now. The fact that she had picked up on the 'strong romantic currents' between the two right away had apparently been incredibly pleasing to her.

Marinette had laughed at that, but it had honestly been worth waiting a couple of weeks to "start dating" just for that reaction alone. It had helped Mrs. Agreste feel even more comfortable than they had anticipated, and that was definitely a good thing. Every time Marinette had seen her Mrs. Agreste had seemed a bit on the flustered side, trying to catch up with everything while still spending as much time with Adrien as she could. With the confidence that her son wasn't a completely different person and hadn't grown into someone unrecognizable- well, everything else didn't seem to be so daunting.

And- well, Mrs. Agreste's obvious approval put both Adrien and Marinette at ease, too, so it was a win on both sides.

Marinette smiled as she joined Adrien in front of the school, twining her fingers with his before they started up the steps together. A lot had changed recently, but- well, it had all been resolved really well. Adrien had a caring (if perhaps a little overly involved) parent at home again, he and Marinette were dating, and their secret identities were safely- well, secret. There were maybe a few odd ends that had to be wrapped up at some point- after all, Chat Noir had been coming over on a fairly regular basis and then suddenly stopped, and Marinette's parents were bound to wonder what had happened to their friendship at some point unless they did something about it- but for now, everything was in a good place.

"Where do you want to go for our lunch date?" Adrien asked, pulling Marinette out of the first musings about what, maybe, they could do about the whole Chat Noir-Marinette friendship situation. "Anywhere in particular?"

"Oh, there's a lovely little place down the street that sells these really good wraps," Marinette said at once, remembering the small store. "And we could either eat there or in the park. It's supposed to be really nice out today."

Adrien nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Yeah, that sounds good. I like that idea." He squeezed her hand lightly, sending her an adoring look that she automatically returned and- yeah, maybe it wasn't that much of a surprise that his mom had managed to pick up on their interest in each other. "I like this whole getting to go out on dates publically thing. No more secrecy, no more sneaking around."

Marinette nodded, rolling up onto her toes to press a quick kiss to his cheek, because she could do that now, and it was amazing. "Me too."

Paris was safe, and now- now they could be normal teenagers again.