#and hes chatting idly even as his fingernails gently brush across your scalp and hes explaining what each thing does

[steaksex]

I NEED TO THINK ABOUT CODEPENDANT TOXIC GAY SEX WITH MY OCS RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

[leswansong]

Ladynoir July - When Tomorrow Comes

Day Five: Babysitting

[ A03 ]

AN: I know this is extremly late but life happened and I'm only just getting back into writing, -Swan

            Marinette hastily descended the stairs to the door leading to the streets, the constant, panicked knocking had awakened her from deep slumber four stories above and the windows dotted around her home informed her that it was still night. Her fingernails scratched at her scalp and at the large knots that had formed in it during her slumber. She yawned and stretched before she opened the door.

            Much to her surprise, she opened the door to Alya standing there, her hair was a mess just like Marinette’s, fresh tears were in her eyes and her cheeks were a bright red. Marinette pushed open the door wider and pulled her friend inside for a tight hug. The dam broke and Alya erupted into tears against her shoulder, she glanced over her friend's shoulder to see her younger sisters standing there.

            She pulled away from the embrace in exchange for quickly ushering them all inside, she checked the streets before closing the door, they didn’t need spies to be watching. Alya and her sisters started up the stairs past the closed bakery door and towards the third floor.

            She locked the door to the kitchen to make sure they weren’t interrupted before she found out what had brought her friend to tears. She snatched two cookies from the plate as she passed through to the small seating space, the sister's eyes grew wide as they took the small baked biscuits from her, a few small thankyous were sent her way before they took a bite of the sweets.

            Marinette smiled and turned to her shocked friend, “Where did you get the money for that?” Alya asked.

            She shook her head, “It doesn’t matter,” she replied and changed the line of questioning, “Alya? What happened?”

            Her friend looked to the floor in defeat then at her younger siblings and choked back a sob, Marinette frowned, Ella and Etta understood what their sister was asking and quickly made themselves scarce. Marinette watched them run up the steps to her room, the trapdoor shut gently and the room was once again filled with silence with the occasional sob from Alya.

            She waited patiently for her friend to speak, “They came for Papa and Nora this morning, I-” Marinette’s heart dropped at the words but Alya continued, “They also came to take me, I couldn’t leave Ella or Etta there. I- I- I need you to look after them, they’re after me not them, I just need a few days to find a route out of Paris for them, I have an aunt east of here, near the coast, she’ll take us,” Alya explained wiping away a few remaining tears, “I need to go, the longer I’m here, the more I put you and your parents at risk.”

            Marinette tried to protest but her friend was already heading towards the door.

            “Alya…” she called, “don’t you want to say goodbye to them?”

            Her eyes met the floor and she shook her head. Marinette heard the lock click and Alya threw open the door, her feet hurried down the steps and Marinette’s ears picked up on the front door being shut.

            Marinette sighed and fell back onto the sofa, out of the corner of her eye, the first few rays of sunlight slowly peaked their way through the clouds. Her eyes flickered over to her still closed trapdoor and another sigh escaped her lips, she stood up and headed up to her room.

            The trapdoor let out a loud creak and it hit the floor, Marinette winced slightly at the loud sound before continuing up the last few steps.

            Her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkened room, she fumbled to find the small handle of her door but she made sure that it was closed gently.

            She located the girls on her chaise, they didn’t move when she called their names, she shook them slightly and still didn’t get a response. Slowly she turned on her heels and shuffled over towards her desk, she tried to remember where she had left the candle the night before, in her haste to finish her sketch and return to the small bed above she had forgotten to put it back in its usual place; her hand knocked over several things, her pencil tin and all its pencils were scattered by a simple misguided flick of her hand.

            Tikki ever her savour lit a nearby candle for her, the soft auburn light illuminated the mess she had caused, she sighed and started to clean up some of the mess. She heard a soft sleep-filled groan from behind her, glancing behind her she realised that the twins were asleep.

            She stopped what she was doing and gently placed down the cup she had in her hands back on the desk, slowly she reached over to the candle on the desk and backed her way towards the steps to her bed up above her. Tikki followed her up the steps and waited until Marinette settled back under the bundle of blankets before she blew the flame out, the only light left in the room was from the steadily rising sun outside.

-x-

            Adrien looked down at the crowded streets below, the shadow of the building hid his darkened form from them. People chattered happily as they walked, some had baskets full of different fruits and vegetables, others had armfuls of books, one was even carrying a large cross in their hands as they passed.

            He was still amazed by the crowds of people, his windows back at his childhood home never allowed him to see the street, the large sandstone like walls also added to that.

            He shook his head to try and pull him from the distant memories form the past, he seemed to be thinking about that old house more and more, an odd thing considering that he hated that house, he wanted nothing more than to escape its cold walls and now he wanted nothing more than to return to it, he even thought about his father more, a feat that he never thought was possible.

            A giggle was what ultimately pulled him from his self-pity, it took him a moment to locate the source but eventually his eyes located and tracked the two giggling girls running away from a much taller and frantic girl, she was trying her best to chase after the two without knocking over anyone or bump something out of someone's hands by accident.

            He laughed, it was truly never a dull day in Paris, he looked down at the street below before he extended his baton down to the street so he could cut them off. People around him tried to catch his attention, he tried his best to be polite and brush them off but some were still trying to push their questions.

            He escaped them by returning to the roofs once again and the light blue dresses of the girls he was chasing caught his eye, he jumped across the buildings following them through the crowd, the older girl was still trying to find them but her pace was starting to slow.

            He watched them duct down a darkened alleyway and he readied his baton to descend to them. His boots landed heavily on the mud and puddle ridden road.

            Leaning on his baton he called after the girls. “Hey! Where do you think you're going?”

            They both stopped in their tracks and sheepishly turned to face him, a set of apologetic smiles were already spread across their faces.

            “Sorry, we ran from Marinette,” one apologised while the other nodded along.

            “Is Marinette the girl you were running from?”

            They both nodded in response.

            He gave them a lighthearted frown, “I think we should-“

            “There you are!” A familiar voice called cutting him off, he knew it from somewhere but he couldn’t place where.

            His tall cat ears snapped around to the source then his head and he froze watching idly as she pushed past him to talk to the runaway girls.

            Her long black hair, the grey apron, and the dirty pink skirt with spots of dried mud around the base from several rainstorms, all the same. She, of course, didn’t recognise him making him feel a little disappointed but it was her, it was the girl with the bread.

            She quickly bent down and wrapped the two girls into a tight hug sending a smile to spread across his normally neutral face.

            “Thank you,” she said, still trying to catch her breath.

            “It’s okay,” he replied, trying not to stutter.

            “Where were you going?!” She yelled, her attention was now solely on the runaways.

            The two girls eyes met the floor in shame. “We were going to see Alya,” one mumbled, his ears twitched at the name.

            Marinette sighed, “We talked about this… She’ll be back for you, you just need to be patient.”

            “But why?” One cried, a few tears started to fall freely from her eyes, “She promised us that she’d never leave us!”

            Bread girl didn’t seem to know how to answer that question, she just continued to look at the two.

            “Ella, you know why she had to leave, she did it to protect you and your sister. I wish she had handled it better but that’s in the past, she will be back for you and then you’ll go with her to see your aunt, okay?”

            The girl slowly nodded but she still didn't like the outcome of the conversation.

            Adrien took this as this moment to make a stealthy retreat, carefully he took one step backwards, then another and another, he was almost clear when he sent his foot into a puddle of water. He winced and accepted his fate, his eyes slowly opened and he felt everybody's eyes on him.

            “You must be Chat Noir?”

            He nodded.

            “Thank you… For stopping them I mean, I would never have caught them if you didn’t.”

            He smiled, “It’s no problem,” he replied.

            “I should probably introduce myself, I’m Marinette,” she offered out her hand for him to shake, he smirked and quickly flipped her hand over and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it, a few giggles escaped from the younger girls at her side.

            He looked up expecting her to be shocked but no, she continued to smile and waited for him to release her hand, “I best get these two back home,” she explained, the two girls locked hands and one grabbed hold of Marinette’s free hand. He dropped her hand, he had only been holding it for five seconds but he could feel the heat from her calloused hand through his leather gloves.

            “Of course,” he replied, bowing his head slightly, “Maybe I’ll see you again someday, Princess.”

            He mentally chastised himself as soon as the nickname passed through his lips.

            “Maybe…” her soft voice echoed.

            She waved at him before pulling the two giggling girls back towards the way the had come, leaving him alone in the shadow-filled alley. He slowly backed his way further into the shadows before he returned to rooftops of the tall houses. His ears tracked their footsteps as they slowly grew distant until he no longer heard the soft footfalls against sharpened stones, his eyes searched the skies above for a reason not to follow them and eventually, he found one.

            The hour bell rang from Notre Dame informing all who heard it what time it was, he pulled a small pocket watch out from a hidden pocket and double-checked the time, five o’clock, patrol time. His legs carried him over the rooftops towards the meeting spot near the western gate.

            It was easier to start near one of these gates then work their way inwards and they wouldn’t get confused by the sometimes confusing streets and roads.

            He found the designated rooftop empty when he arrived, he shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the cold tiles, waiting.

-x-

            Watching the two girls out of her eyes Marinette got to work fixing her torn skirts, she held it up to the light and sighed as she saw just how bad the damage was for the first time, the damage was too great and now it was only good for mending other torn outfits.

            Her eyes flickered over to the basket of clothes, she had promised that she would never touch them but… it wouldn’t hurt to take one would it, it wasn’t like someone was coming back for them and nobody had come to claim the many baskets that lined the far wall of her room.

            Still uncomfortable with the thought of it she looked over the baskets of light and darkened cloth. She pulled out various shirts for both males and females, her left hand grabbed a hold of a dark grey stretch of fabric, it was heavy and was once most likely a curtain, she inspected it carefully for holes and found none, a first in a very long time.

            She pulled the long cloth out further from the tangled confines of the small woven basket and heaved it towards her desk. It met the sewing desk with a loud thump, she laid it flat and with her eyes, she measured out the desired length, her hand felt around in the draw beside her for the pair of fabric scissors she kept there, they wrapped around the cold heavy metal.

            Within the first few snips of the stiff fabric, she had attracted the attention of the twins. They watched eagerly as she cut out a skirt pattern and it wasn’t long before they were asking for tasks they could perform for her. Ella was handed the offcuts in case they were needed to extend the skirt in parts, Etta made sure that the wool she was using to stitch it all together didn’t get tangled up into massive knots even though Marinette had it somewhere where it was least likely to happen.

            She flipped the dress over and got started on hemming the long skirt, the wool proved to be the correct choice in threading, her needle struggled to pierce the fabric several times causing her poor fingers to meet the unfortunate end of it. The fresh wounds stung painfully but she forced herself to continue the skirt as she waited for the question she knew that the twins were only just holding back to be asked.

            The sewing needle went in and out of the skirt at a steady pace, Marinette only just heard the girl’s voice but it had finally been asked.

            “Could you make me one?” Etta whispered.

            She smiled and let out a small giggle, “Of course but you have to promise to eat everything tonight.”

            Etta nodded her head and returned to the ball of wool in the basket, her eyes had turned to the other balls that Marinette had in there most likely contemplated what colour she wanted to be used with hers.

            “Can I have one too?” Ella piped up, “I promise to eat all my dinner too…”

            Marinette nodded in return and the twins excitedly started gushing about their new skirts.

            All the talk of dinner reminded Marinette that she needed to keep an eye on the time, she quickly felt around at her pockets for her grandfather's pocket watch, it ticked in her hands and it took a second for her mind to work out the time.

            Her eyes grew wide and she froze for a second before she felt herself start to panic, the twins sent her an odd look as she raced around the room looking for her bag, they tried to help her but she sent the girls to the bakery below, they didn’t protest much as they knew they would most likely worm their way into a couple of the leftover sweets the bakery still stocked.

            With the door below slamming shut, Tikki flew from her spot with her bag in her hands, Marinette let out a sigh of relief and followed the Kwami down the steps to the kitchen below. Tikki went for the warm coals that had been left in the fireplace to add to the cold ones under the stove to start warming up the soup still sitting atop the stove.

            Marinette went to the bucket of water they kept in the kitchen to rinse out the bowel and pot she had forgotten to clean out the night before. She dumped the dishes into the bucket and got to work with scrubbing them clean.

            Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Tikki ponder over the ingredients in the pot, her ears picked up on the small bubbling happening within the pot as the soup started to heat up but something still wasn't right with it, Tikki had said as much the night before, even with Marinette insisting that the soup was alright. The Kwami flew back over to the spice shelf, her bright blue eyes searched the rows looking for that one ingredient that would bring it all together, Tikki wanted it to be perfect and nothing would convince her otherwise.

            Finally, Tikki found the spice that would tie the soup together and eagerly dumped it into the pot, the Kwami struggled a little to pick up the wooden spoon to mix it in, Marinette tried to help her but she had her hands full drying the bowel but Tikki proved that she could handle it herself. Marinette smiled as her hands circled the cloth around the pot wiping away the small droplets of water still left on it from its brief swim in the bucket until it was dry, Tikki gave the wooden spoon one final turn in the dish then turned to her and gave her smile, it was ready.

            With a little of Tikki’s help, Marinette picked up the pot and poured a large amount into the pot to try and make up for making him late. She felt horrible after asking him to show up early, only for her to show up late the next day.

            With a frown, she tied the long white cloth around the pot to keep the lid on and called for her transformation, she threw her small fabric bag over her shoulder and carefully made her way up to the roof. Night had fallen and she could see the candles burning in so many windows, she pulled her trusty yo-yo from her side, it was only there to catch her if she fell, there was no way she would be able to properly swing while holding the warm pot in her hands and she slowly made her way towards the meeting spot, her mind already at work at explaining why she was late.

-x-

            Adrien watched the rooftops carefully for the red and black spotted suit, he was early just like she had asked him to be. He paced back and forth while he waited, his eyes still dutifully flickered up to the rooftops but as darkness started to descend upon him, he started to lose hope of her ever showing. He pulled out his pocket watch and watched the seconds hand tick their way around the clock face once, then twice until he had lost count.

            The cold started to set in, they had been two months off of winter when he last looked at a date, he could tell it wouldn’t be long now, the heavy snow would soon snake its way across the country and eventually come to Paris.

            His eyes caught sight of a flash of red across the rooftops, a small wave of relief washed over him, he watched her bound ever so carefully across the rooftops, she had something in her hands, the off white ribbon tied on top of it stood out from the darkened rooftops as did her suit but maybe it was because he could see much better in the dark. She paused for a moment to adjust her grip on the object in her hands, Adrien contemplated meeting her halfway but he didn’t know whether or not she could see him in the moonless night.

            She landed gracefully on the rooftop beside him, a long line of apologies came his way as soon as she did. She pulled an empty bowel from her bag and emptied the soup from the pot into it.

            “Are? Are you okay?” he asked.

            She shook her head, “I’m sorry Chat, I- I can’t stay long,” she replied passing him the bowel, “I need to get back before they notice that I’m gone.”

            He frowned in confusion but still took the bowel from her, “Who’s they?”

            She groaned, “The siblings I’m looking after.”

            He nodded and quickly started to drink the soup, “Did you still want me to do patrol?” he asked in between mouthfuls.

            She shook her head, “Only if you want to.”

            He nodded and returned to the much warmer soup, he was never going to show up late again, it tasted a lot better warm and it was a shame that he had to rush it. He gulped down the remainder of the soup and handed her back the bowel, she frowned at the state of it but still wiped it down and stuck it back into her fabric bag.

            “You should go home Chat, it's cold and I don’t want you to catch a fever.”

            “Aww, you do care,” he teased bringing a small smile to her face before she punched his arm.

            “Don’t push it,” she warned collecting her stuff, “Go home Chat,” she commanded, she threw her yo-yo back towards the direction she had come from, “No excuses.”

            He nodded his head and with that Ladybug leapt back off into the night, she ducked around a bell tower and he lost sight of her. With a sigh, he looked towards the direction of home then off towards the start of the patrol route, he knew he shouldn’t and that he should go home but with one massive leap, he started the patrol route.

            Adrien promised himself that he wouldn’t do it all and would go home after a few minutes of roaming the darkened rooftops but as usual he kept telling himself just a little further then he’ll stop but it was always just a little further and eventually, he had done it all. In shame, he slunk back home with his head hung low, the patrol route he had taken ended nearby his home so it was a short walk home but still a long one for his cold and tired body.

            His ring chimed loudly and he picked up his pace at the warning sounds, his legs protested and wanted to go back to the slow pace of a walk. A sudden blast of cold winter wind hit him and almost knocked him off of the small board he had slowed down to walk across it, he wobbled slightly and jumped the rest of the distance to the roof, he landed perfectly.

            Shivering he pushed open the door and stumbled inside the remaining heat from the burnt-out fire that burnt out several hours ago still lingered within the building, his cheeks burned slightly but he was still cold. Plagg flew from his coat, phasing through the decorated roof to the floor above presumably to try and restart the dead fire, Adrien slowly followed him up the stairs, he pulled his coat further around his thinning frame.

            Adrien dropped to the floor in front of the fire while Plagg tried to light the bundle of sticks underneath a log, a small orange flame slowly made its way through the sticks and soon the fire took hold of the small log, their last log, the small coin purse that had afforded them this luxury but it had, of course, run out, Adrien shuffled closer and closer to the fire, eventually he laid down in front of it, the soft sounds of the fire crackling sent him towards the desperately needed sleep he wanted.

            The last thing he remembered before falling into a deep dreamless sleep that called for him was Plagg pulling one of the dust sheets off of the chair and haphazardly draped it over him then curled up into a ball beside him in front of a roaring fire.

Made for @ladynoirjuly2019

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