#but the thought of her wearing poofy dress is so cute ahhh

[miutonium]

Wild West era Utonium looks so stupid. Look at his dumb smile and dumb yeeyee haircut. I love this dumb nerd so much it hurts my chestfttjwkkw

[fandomlife-giver]

Starting Today, You Are A Chef!

Summary: You are caught in between a brother rivalry and accidentally destroy all of the Host Club’s food supply; unable to pay for the cost, you are recruited as the Host Club’s new chef under a set of agreements.

Pairings: Eventual Kyoya x Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 4118

Your name: submit What is this?

You awoke to soft sheets, and the morning light trickled in through the blinds. Shedding yourself of the remaining glimpses of a dream, your eyes were still shut as you soaked in the warmth of your covers before letting your E/C eyes see the sun's rays.

Hesitantly, you managed to sit your body upright.

A yawn escaped you as you slowly began to fall back on the bed. 

"Y/N!"

You snorted as you sat back up. "Huh? Y-yeah?"

"You better be awake, we got several orders to deliver this morning!"

You waved a hand at the voice as you lay back down on the mattress. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm awake! I've been up for...hours..."

"Y/N?"

*snore*

"Y/N! I'm not gonna tell you again! Get in here here now!"

“Pouah!” You scoffed, rolling over in your slovenly sheets as the sunlight hissed at your face. Your disheveled strands were scattered across your pillow, and every breath you exhaled smelled faintly of ammonia and eviscerated, decomposing corpses. 

"And brush your teeth! I don't want to bio hazard the kitchen every time you open your mouth in the morning."

"Hey, it's not that bad!"

"Mm-hmm. Hurry up!"

You were muttering under your breath as you sat up. Glancing around your room, you noticed a messy assortment of notebooks filled with cooking recipes, freshly-sharpened pencils, a pint of ice cream hidden under your bed that was half gone and other stationery items that gave you a great aesthetic pleasure. Slowly but surely, you pushed yourself out of bed, letting your feet hit the cool, linoleum floor.

♡♡♡

Her nails impatiently tapped on the kitchen counter as stared at her watch. After a few seconds, she sighed.

"All right. That's it."

She reached over and picked up the remote beside her. She waited a few seconds more, then pressed the middle button.

♡♡♡

Your head lifted up when you heard a beep come from your boombox, along with a green light that began flashing.

"What the...?"

♡♡♡

Muffled sounds of music bursting came from upstairs, followed by a yell and a thud.

"Okay, Okay! I'm up!"

She smiled in satisfaction and pressed the top button. The muffled music ceased and she resumed her work of mixing the flour continuously.

Heavy stomping sounded and when they stopped in the same room, she looked up, smiling.

"Good morning, Sweet Pea. Sleep well?"

You were frowning, hair sticking up in all directions and tired bags beneath your eyes.

"That was not cool."

She shook her head. "You know how early we get up, so don't even think about fighting me. You have a lot of orders to deliver."

You groaned as you rested your chin on the kitchen counter. "Can I have breakfast first? And coffee? At least give me coffee!"

You flinched when she slammed a box in front of you. You looked up and turned it around. And you whined by seeing 'instant coffee' as the label.

"I have to make it? That's not fair!"

She bent her fingers and flicked you on the forehead.

"Ow!" You rubbed where she flicked you and glared at her. "Hey! What was-"

"Go shower and get dressed. I'll have something out for you with your coffee."

You smiled. "Really? Thank you!"

You threw your arms around her and she patted your head. "You’re the best, you know that?"

When you opened your mouth, she hacked and turned away.

"And brush your teeth, oh!"

She pushed you off of her and didn't see when you took one of the special oatmeal raisin cookies. You turned around and discretely took a bite.

Before talking, you swallowed. "So, what is my first destination, boss?"

You took another chunk out of the cookie as she packed the bag with several boxes of freshly made goods.

"That Academy you went to last week. Remember? Ouran."

Your feet stopped, earning a squeaking sound against the kitchen floor.

The pieces of the chewed up cookie fell from your dropped jaw as you looked back at her. "What?"

♡♡♡

You stood, biting your lip in nervousness as you looked up at the familiar large building. Okay, Y/N. Let's get this over with.

Taking a deep inhale through your nose, you stomped up the stairs, and by remembering the way to the office, moved fast through the hallways that surprisingly had numerous students flooding the long walkways.

There were a number of girls that not-so-discretely stole glances at you, then whispered and giggled, thinking you couldn't hear them. One or two guys looked you over, but were not interested in the least at the girl who was not wearing a large, poofy yellow dress like all the other rich girls.

Nope, all they saw was a girl wearing slacks, a red shirt covered in flour, and a red cap with your company logo on it that hid your face from view and kept your ponytail in place.

When you were going up the stairs, you had to shimmy past a group of girls who were gossiping on the steps. And once you barely brushed up against one of them, one of the girls looked at her shoulder in disgust and wiped some of the flour off.

Muttering an apology under your breath, you hurried a little faster just so get by without anymore glares of disgust and finish your job. You rounded a corner and went straight up to the same door as last time that read 'Headmaster's office' and you breathed out to calm your nerves. Taking another deep breath, you rose your fist to knock, but that was right when the door swung ope.

Out of fear from the last time, you leaned backwards, expecting a book to come towards you, but instead you were met with the surprised and frantic eyes of the headmaster.

Smiling, you patted the bag. "Morning! Delivery for Ouran?"

What you weren't expecting was for her to sigh with an eye roll as she looked back at someone in the room. "Rikako! Why didn't you tell me they ordered more food?"

"They ordered last minute, the vice president just called me a few minutes ago. Sorry."

She scoffed and turned back to you. "Sorry, miss..."

"Oh! Y/N Kitahara, miss headmaster."

"Kitahara. I actually have somewhere I need to be and am running late. I hope you're fine with delivering the food directly to the club."

The club? I thought this was all for the school? 

"Uh..."

"Great." Without giving me a chance to answer, she slammed the door and began running down the hall.

"W-wait! I don't even know where-"

"Ahhh! Haruhi!"

The loud scream of several girls made you stop and turn around. An entire swarm of rich girls were holding on to one of the males, who looked very clueless as to what was happening as he clutched a shopping bag full of groceries.

Tch. What is with these girls? You'd think they'd have a little more class.

You started walking away, but you noticed something as you did. Weird. That guy looks really familiar. Looking closer as your feet continued to move, you saw the book that was tucked inside the grocery bag.

Flashback...

"Excuse me...!"

She jumped and swung around. Your eyes widened as the last thing you saw was the cover of ugly duckling closing in on your face, before there was only black.

You felt your eyes widen. "It's that gir-"

*slam*

Feeling your face smash into the wall, that last letter was muffled into the hard surface. You placed your hands on it and pushed away. Unfortunately, as soon as you did, your tongue began throbbing behind your hurt teeth and your vision became fuzzy.

"Grrrrillll."

You watched the wall roll back until you were seeing the ceiling. You barely felt the floor and your back collide with it.

That...hurt...

"Oh my god!"

"Is she okay?!"

*groan*

"Is everything okay?"

"It's all right ladies, please, let us handle this."

"Why don't we give our lovely princess here a little space, hm?"

"What...who said that...?"

The fuzziness was beginning to go away, but you swore you were seeing double as two cute guys towered over you with faces of concern.

"Kaoru, let's remove that cap and see her face."

Moving your head from side to side as a way to stop the forming headache, you felt your cap slide off and your hair was freed. As soon as the shield was gone, a bright light invaded your eyes and face.

Shaking your head a bit harder, you squinted them shut. Slowly, as you opened them again, you made out two identical looking faces. And the were studying you like an insect.

Then, at the same time, their eyes widened and they gasped. 

Simultaneously, they said "Butterfly?!"

You sucked your teeth in pain as you put your palm to your forehead. "Ah, man, not again."

The feeling of two pairs of hands shaking your shoulders made you look back to the two boys, who had been the ones shaking you.

"Y/N?!"

"It's really you!"

"What?" You were staring at them in confusion. How do they know my name?

They ceased shaking you as one of the boys gasped dramatically. "Oh, Hikaru. I don't think she recognizes us."

Instinctively, you looked to the other one. Hikaru...? Wait. Then...that must mean the other one is...

You looked back to the first one.

"Kaoru, don't be ridiculous, how could our beloved butterfly not remember us?"

You rose up a finger and pointed at the one on the left. "kaoru?" You moved the finger over to the one on the the right. "And Hikaru? Hitachiin?"

In just a few seconds, large smiles appeared on their faces.

Hikaru wrapped an arm around your shoulders and pulled you up while crushing you in a side hug. "See! I told you she would remember us!"

Kaoru also wrapped an arm around your shoulders from the opposite side. "Oh, yeah! Sorry for doubting you!"

You kept the bag of food in your clutches as you looked between them in confusion.

Hikaru glanced at you, then clasped his hand into Kaoru's. "kaoru, we should bring her to the club! Everyone should meet her!"

Kaoru's smile grew bigger as he hugged you tighter. "Yes! I agree!"

Your eyes went wide when they started pushing you towards a room down the hall.

"W-wait! I appreciate it, I do, but I actually have to be somewhere ri-"

You winced when Kaoru pinched your cheek. "Aw, look Hikaru, she's nervous!"

Hikaru pulled the bag from your hands and slung it over his shoulder, despite your protests. 

"That's not it! Come on guys, I don't have time for-"

"Don't worry, Y/N." He slung his other arm around your neck. "We won't let any of them get to you."

At the same time, they cheered. "You can count on us!"

You sighed as Kaoru reached for the handle on the door. Looking up, you realized the room you were about to enter.

Music Room #3?

Remembering the familiar location, you glanced back at the headmaster's office in confirmation. The door opened up. And the boys wasted no time in running inside and announcing your entrance.

"Hey, everyone!"

You glared at Kaoru, who hollered throughout the room of girls. They all stopped what they were doing and all attention was directed at you. Your cheeks grew red with embarrassment.

Hikaru slapped your shoulders, causing you to jump. "Come on, we want you to meet someone special!"

Your head snapped to him. "Hikaru!"

He only smirked at your embarrassment. "Don't be so shy, butterfly."

A disappointing sigh rang out as you heard footsteps come towards the three of you.

"Honestly, what is wrong with you both? You're disrupting our guests."

Hikaru smiled, but didn't look at all regretful. "Sorry, boss. We brought a real special old friend of ours."

He looked down at you and nodded his head for you to introduce yourself. You continued glaring and shook your head.

Kaoru grabbed your head and turned it to look at the person he was addressing. "Come on, Y/N. Let's not be rude."

Your eyes traveled up until you saw his face. He was undeniably handsome with his pale-blond hair and violet eyes. He was quite tall and slender in build.

A charming smile came on his face as he looked at yours. You extended a hand. "Uh, hi. I'm Y/N Kitahara. It's very nice to meet you."

The smile turned to a smirk as he took your hand and leaned in to you, this making you instantly lean back.

"I assure you, the pleasure is all mine, princess." He glanced at the boys before tilting his head down to your hand. "I must apologize for these two, they can be very un-gentleman like at a majority of times."

From behind you, there was the very offended yells in sync. "Hey! Don't go telling her that!"

Your eyes widened again when he puckered his lips to plant them on your hand, and you instantly pulled it away, leaving him to kiss the air for a few seconds until he opened his eyes and realized you were looking down at him in the opposite of comfortable.

"It's fine. I'm kind of used to it, actually."

A blush came on his cheeks as he coughed and straightened up. "I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Tamaki Suoh, I'm the president here at the Ouran host club!"

He outstretched his arms in a presenting manor. You rose an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. That's really nice. Good to know."

Taking a discrete step back, you snatched the bag from Hikaru. 

"Hey!"

"It was nice meeting you, and seeing you boys again, but I really gotta-"

"There you are."

Your feet stopped at the crossing of the threshold. it was the sound of the cold voice that made you stop. Eyes wide with awe, your cheeks were feeling warm and you didn't understand why. Another Ouran male stepped forward and adjusted the glasses that covered his brownish-grey eyes. His short, black hair was styled into a casual look. He, was also tall and thin.

He stopped adjusting them when his cool, calculated gaze landed on you. "You're late. You are the delivery girl from Hinata gourmet cuisine, yes?"

Being reminded by your entire purpose of being here, you quickly nodded. "Uh, y-yes!" Reaching over, you swiped the hat from Kaoru and placed it back on your head with your ponytail through the hole.

"Delivery for Ouran?"

♡♡♡

As you placed the last of the boxes on top of the growing stacked tower, you named every item while the vice president checked it off from his clipboard.

"4 cases of Anmitsu along with 4 more boxes of adorning fruit, 5 boxes of Mochi, 4 boxes of kanten, 6 boxes of Suama, and 5 boxes of Botamochi."

He checked ff the last items after watching you take the last of them out. Meanwhile, the twins, along with Tamaki were staring with dropped jaws.

Again, the twins spoke at once. "Wait, how could all of that fit in your bag?"

ignoring them and pulling out the receipt from the bag, you handed it to the vice-president. "That will be 237 dollars and 78 cents, please."

He whipped out a check that he held out to you and he didn't even bother looking at you as he did. "Good. I'll make sure to call up your boss and notify her of your delivery."

You took the check from him. "Yeah, thanks." And you found yourself staring at him in curiosity. He can't be that cold and focused all the time, can he?

You looked over at the same girl in men's clothing from before and looked back at him. "So...is it common for you to take in girls as hosts?"

The entire room grew deadly quiet. You looked over at the twins, who were staring at you, now with shock. And Tamaki actually had fear in his eyes.

The vice-president finally looked up from his clipboard, his glasses shining in intimidation as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Not recently, no."

Suddenly, Tamaki grabbed you by the shoulders and turned you around in a panic frenzy. "How? How could you possibly know about Haruhi?!"

By hearing her name, she perked up from the couch and looked over. But once she saw you, she rose her eyebrows. Standing up, she walked over to you as you were being shaken forcibly.

Tamaki stopped once Haruhi stood in front of you. "Hey, your that girl from last week, right? I'm really sorry about knocking you out."

You smiled at her. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm Y/N Kitahara, by the way."

She outstretched her hand. "Nice to met you properly, I'm Haruhi Fujioka. Hey, don't you live downtown in Kōenji?"

You snapped your fingers as you thought. "That's right, you're Ranka's daughter, right? He's a regular."

She laughed to herself. "Yeah! You live right next to me, I'm surprised I didn't recognize you before."

"Y/N-Chan!"

You looked to the side when the same boy from before came into view, riding on the shoulders of the tall male. Once he was placed on the floor, he came running straight for you. That was, until Hikaru pulled you into his side.

"Not so fast, Honey. We had her first."

Unexpectedly, Kaoru pulled you from Hikaru's arms and straight into his. "No need to hog her, Hikaru. There's enough Y/N for all of us."

Haruhi sighed and walked over to pull them apart. "All right, if you're gonna fight, at least let go of her first."

Kaoru scoffed while Hikaru snickered. "Fine!"

Letting go at the same time with tons of force, you lost your balance and your footing. The next thing you knew, you were falling backwards. Shrieking, you fell against something hard, and then you quickly realized you began to also fall out of the window.

Closing your eyes, you felt yourself leaning further back. That was, until a hand had grabbed your wrist and yanked you forward. Eyes wide with fear, you fell into a hard chest.

And looking up, you found your eyes were locked with cool brownish-grey eyes. He stared down at you, before leaning closer.

Finding you were frozen, you made no attempt to stop him or push it back. He sighed right beside your ear.

"There goes 237 dollars and 78 cents."

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, you turned back and your eyes widened in horrific fear by seeing all the food you had delivered, from today and last week, was all spilled out on the hard ground.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and stepped away from you. "Well, that is just perfect. That food was supposed to set us up for the  party we’re hosting.”

Fixing the tie around his neck, he turned back to with frustration in his eyes. "I need the entire order you delivered from today and last week by next week, no sooner than that."

You felt your stomach dropped as you stared at him in disbelief. "What? You're joking, right? There is no way she can cook that much food in so little time, even with my help, it's impossible!"

He whipped out another check and outstretched it to you. "I don't plan on you getting nothing out of it, here, I'll pay you double for inconvenience."

You shook your head and pushed his hand away. "I don't care how much you pay me or offer me, I won't agree to a job I know is impossible overnight."

He was frowning now. "That food, on top of the expenses costed if you disagree to this will end up costing us 6 million yen."

Your entire body shivered. "6...6 million yen?! That's more than we make in a year!"

Turning away from you, he looked at the one person who hasn't spoken. "What should we do, Tamaki?"

Eyes still wide, you also turned to the guy who was now sitting on a chair in the middle of the room with his legs crossed. He rubbed his forehead as he thought.

"Well, considering the fact it was her that caused this entire problem, I think it would be safe to say she should offer us some form of payment." His eyes snapped open and bored through you as he pointed a finger in your direction.

"Y/N Kitahara shall be the personal chef for the Ouran Host Club until she gives us all the time that equals to the money she owes!"

Your jaw hit the floor as you rose up a finger. "U...um..."

The twins high fived in the background. "Yes!"

Kaoru crossed his arms with a smile. "You know what this means, right? It'll be just like the old days. She'll be with us every day!"

Hikaru rested his elbow on Kaoru's shoulders. "We'll all be inseparable. She'll be like our sister." 

"Hold on a second!"

You were vigorously shaking your head. "Nice try. I never agreed to this!"

Tamaki smiled as he stood from his chair. "Sorry to say so, but you agreeing wasn't really required."

You continued shaking your head and menacingly pointing at him. "You know what - I don't even go here! So, thanks, but no thanks!" And with that, you quickly stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind you.

The twins whined at the same time once you left. "Great, now what?"

The vice-president adjusted his glasses. "We fix the problem."

♡♡♡

*Snore*

"Y/N!"

*Snore*

"Y/N! Get up! get up!"

"Waaah! What?!"

Slowly and reluctantly, you uncovered your face. You blinked, closed your eyes, and blinked again. Streaks of sunlight penetrated the window and blinded you. The hands that were shaking you turned you over.

You glared at her as she shoved an envelope in your face. "Look at this! Look what was in the mail!"

Sighing, you sat up, dragging your feet off the bed, and rub your knuckles onto your eyes. You scratched the back of your head and watched your legs dangle above the off-brown polyester carpet. Plucking the envelope out of her hand, you took out the letter from inside and began to read it.

Dear Miss Y/N Kitahara,

We at Ouran Academy our proud and glad to say we have accepted your application...

Your eyes widened and you had to blink rapidly and read it again, before your head snapped back at her.

She had tears in her eyes. "Y/N, why didn't you tell me you applied to go to Ouran?!"

You stared at her, then glanced at letter. "I didn't..."

♡♡♡

Ignoring the weird stares given to you as you raced down the hallways, your heart was beating louder than their judging whispers.

There has to be a mistake...there's no way i got accepted here!

Sliding to a stop, you huffed as you began running up the staircase. Come on! Use your legs, Y/N!

Your hand grabbed on to the corner of the wall as you turned and continued running down it. You finally stopped in front of the Headmaster's office, but you had to pause your adrenaline rush to breathe.

Once you caught your breath, you pounded your fist on the door. And from the other side, you heard a calm voice.

"You may want to get that."

Still panting and out of breath, the door opened up and you came faced with the Headmaster. She seemed surprised at first, but then smiled and moved aside.

"Miss Kitahara. Please, come in. We've been expecting you."

You were confused by her words at first, until she walked away and you saw the person who was standing beside her desk. Your teeth clenched as you walked inside and slammed the door.

"You!"

He adjusted his glasses and crossed his arms. "Miss Kitahara. I'm glad you could make it."

You held up the letter and scowled. "Was this your doing?"

He sighed. “Let’s make this quick. My name is Kyoya Ootori. I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself.”

He stepped closer and kept no emotion on his face. "I will make you another offer. You will attend Ouran for one purpose - to work for our host club. My family will pay for all expenses. Including all the ingredients required for your cooking. And all the money will go towards Hinata Gourmet Cuisine. You shall work for us until it becomes inconvenient for either us or you. What do you say?"

You stared at him as if he were crazy, then looked at the Headmaster. "I-Is he serious?"

"Miss Kitahara." You looked back at him as his gaze went through you. "I am bankrupt serious."

You ran a hand through your hair, and paced from side to side, then looked back at him. "As long as you give her the money she needs...fine. I'll do it."

He had no reaction, as if he as already knew your answer. The headmaster came over and shook your hand.

"Welcome to Ouran, Miss Kitahara."

[wardofwinters]

Awakening

Awakening

Marinette coughed, waving her hand to get dust out of her face. It was so dirty in her aunt’s attic, so dirty that it was a good thing they were finally cleaning.

She grabbed a picture and studied the ridiculous dress the person was wearing; the colors didn’t match at all. It was poofy and orange and lime green and she was rather horrified.

“Hey Aunt Huang, who’s this?” she waved the picture at her aunt who groaned upon noticing it.

“Oh, must you find embarrassing pictures of me honey?” Her aunt came over to look, “this was from a dance I went to some years ago,”

“Wow, it’s uh…” Marinette couldn’t think of a polite way to say that the dress was horrible.

Her aunt laughed, “I know, I looked ridiculous! That dress is still here somewhere if you want to re-purpose it though.”

Marinette perked up, “that’d be awesome!” She placed the picture in the box for them and moved to peek at another item.

Marinette dug out a yellow dress with lace on it that did not look like it’d be very flattering. Her aunt quickly stuffed it in a different box

“that’s nothing important dear, no need to worry.

“Awww, Aunt Huuuaang”

“It was a dress for a wedding I attended,” she sniffed, “It was a very popular style at the time.”

Marinette grinned, “If you say so Aunt Huang”

The afternoon passed cheerfully, the two laughing as her aunt told her the stories behind the different items. There were some interesting old pieces of clothing and books that her aunt let her stick into a box to take home.

Marinette rummaged through some boxes, finding a few pretty ones. She picked one up and realized it had something in it. Opening it she saw assorted jewelry pieces in a very pretty jewelry box. There were a few earrings on one side with some rings beneath it. The other side had some bracelets and necklaces.

“Wow” she murmured.

“What’d you find hun?” Her aunt questioned from behind her.

“A jewelry box. The earrings are so pretty, and this necklace is super cute! Oh and that bracelet,” she lifted it from the box to let the green bangle catch the light,” it would look perfect with the skirt I’m working on.”

“Well pick a few pieces. Or all of them if you’d like!” Her aunt chuckled, “I think that was my moms. I’m certainly never going to wear them.”

“Really? Oh that’s wonderful. Thank you Aunt Huang!” Marinette threw her arms around her aunt but then squawked and frantically lunged for the box that was plummeting to it’s demise. “Heh heh, sorry”

Her aunt laughed and ruffled her hair. “It’s fine honey. Though I think we’d better head down now. It’s about time for you to be getting home.”

“Coming,” Marinette quickly put the jewelry box into her crate of stuff and her aunt helped her carry down.

———————————

Marinette plopped into her seat; now that she was home she could look over her findings from her aunt’s.

She dug through the box, pulling out a few dresses and shirts and studying them. Some of the dresses had some pretty lace and one had some beautiful embroidery. ‘And that one shirt would be so pretty with a little bit of embroidery and a fixed seam.’

She pulled out a few books, one on some Chinese myths. Two were in Mandarin but the covers looked interesting so she thought she’d try to translate them. There was one book on constellations and even one on fashion! She was really interested in that one.

Glancing back at the box she pulled out a pretty hair comb and a few hair pins. She was totally going to add that to one of her projects, the hair comb was so pretty with a pattern like flames in elegant red shot through with gold in a fashion that almost made it appear on fire.

Finally, she pulled out the jewelry box. She decided to start with the necklaces. Bringing the box over to her closet she started matching necklaces to the outfits.

‘The red choker with the Chinese symbol on it would look great with that shirt. Oh and the one with cherry blossom charms on it would match her favorite shirt. And this gold one with stars hanging on it gave her a great idea for a dress.’

She pulled out the green bangle and compared it to the skirt she was making, she was happy to see it was the perfect shade. She placed it next to the skirt and pulled out another bracelet. ‘The woven one looked nice’, she thought as she dug through her closet and found a jacket it matched.

‘And this blue one with waves patterned on it would go perfect with that pair of pants, and with that shirt… oh she had a great idea!’

She quickly looked through the rings and found a small pearl one. That would be perfect to tie the design together and she could add some small pearls to the shirt, and change the pants buttons to pearl ones… she loved it.

Looking through the rings she decided she really liked the one with the red and orange stone and the one that looked like a dragon. She’d have to make an outfit based on both. And they both matched the hair comb so it’d be a win-win.

She poked through the earrings and put on the star ones, studying her reflection in the mirror. They were so sparkly. She quickly removed them and put on the silver ones with the pearl, those matched that bracelet and would match the outfit she was making, perfect.

She studied the red ones with black spots, were those ruby? And obsidian maybe? They’re so pretty. She put them on to see and studied her reflection. It looked nice. She reached up to remove them, already thinking about a design she could make to match them, maybe a ladybug theme, when they suddenly lit up.

She shrieked and stumbled back as a burst of light came out of the earrings and solidified into a small bug… rat thing….

“AHHH WHAT IS THA- WHAT!!” Marinette leapt back and scrambled away. “IT’S A BUG RAT! RAT BUG!”

She threw a pillow at it, then another, then a flashlight and a pin cushion and her clock.

“Wait, I’m-“ the thing dodged and Marinette was horrified, it was flying, it was talking, “I’m Tik- hi, I’m not going to hur-please wait-“

Marinette grabbed one of her vases and trapped the- the thing in it.

“Okay miss, if this makes you more comfortable.”

“What are you, you’re- you’re flying and- and talk- talking wha- what the f*ck?” Marinette shook slightly as she stared at the red and black creature

“I’m Tikki,” The bug-rat smiled, “the kwami of the ladybug miraculous. And you are?”

“… I’m- uh- I’m Ma- Marinette… what’s a kwami? And what’s a miraculous? Did you come out of the earrings? How can you talk? And fly? And-“

“Hold on Marinette! I can answer all your questions if you let me.”

Marinette blushed, “sorry”

“That’s alright,” Tikki giggled, “A kwami is basically spirit that embodies a concept. A miraculous is what connects the kwami to the world so that you, and other humans, can interact with us! The earrings are my miraculous, so yes Marinette, I did come out of them. I’ve always been able to talk and fly.”

“Okay, but then… what were you- our earrings doing in my aunt’s attic?” Marinette hesitantly pulled the vase up and the thi- Tikki flew up, yawning.

“I don’t know. I’ve been asleep for a long time,” Tikki looked around the room, suddenly perking up when she saw the lights, “You’re a sorceress! Oh that’s wonderful,” she spun back, “Who’s your master? What’s your specialty? What-“

“Woah, woah, woah,” Marinette waved her hands, “I’m not a sorceress, why- what- how come you- I don’t understand, why would you think that?”

Tikki blinked, “The lights, you obviously used magic to get them, and the air is so cool, it must have a cooling charm on it. Or is a family member a sorcerer?”

Marinette stared for a moment, “that’s… no. The lights use electricity, and so does the air conditioning… Magic is real?”

Tikki looked shocked, “No… no magic. What do you- But- What do you mean it’s not real!? Of course magic is real! I know that they believed it evil when I was last active but for it to no longer exist…” The kwami looked broken for a moment before turning sad eyes to Marinette, “Marinette”

“uh, yes?”

“May I stay with you? Please, I want to see how the world has changed. You won’t have to use my miraculous for anything, just- just please let me stay.”

“Um, stay? What would that mean. And what does ‘use your miraculous’ mean?”

“My miraculous can give you power if you activate it. It’s meant to make heroes. And if I stay all that you would have to do is give me food, I prefer sweets, and wear the earrings.”

Marinette straightened, “But I won’t have to that right? I don’t think I’d be a very good hero.”

Tikki smiled, “You wouldn’t have to use my power at all. I’ll even tell you about the past wielders, tell you the history that’s usually kept hidden, and let their memory live on.”

“Okay, Okay, you can stay…”  Marinette let out a breath, “Oh but now I can’t wear the other earrings.” She slumped; she’d been looking forward to wearing the different earrings.

Tikki squealed, “Oh thank you Marinette! You won’t regret it. But can’t you just wear two earrings at once? That’s what Khepri did.”

Marinette sighed, that would mean I have to get them pierced again, and that would take time to heal completely. But I’m glad you’re happy Tikki, I hope you like it here.”

Tikki zipped up, “I’m sure I will Marinette. You seem very nice… you know, I could pierce your ears, and with my magic they’ll heal immediately.”

Marinette gasped, “Really! That would be amazing!”

“Well pick a pair and I’ll do your ears.”

Marinette dug through the earrings for a moment as Tikki followed her and picked a pair of hanging wings in black metal and sparkling red stone

Tikki beamed and scooped them up, “Okay, give me a second and stay still so I can put them in.”

Marinette sat down and let Tikki flit around her, there was a quick pinch and a flash of pink and Tikki zipped in front of her again.

“There! They look so pretty Marinette, like a phoenix lent you their wings.”

Marinette looked at the mirror in awe, “I love them! Thank you Tikki.”

“Of course, Marinette. I can’t wait to see how the world has changed!”

—————————-

Elsewhere, hidden away in a dark room with no one around, a man found the key to using the brooch he’d retrieved.

While the girl and her kwami laughed and discussed fashion, the man plotted how to use his newfound powers. The world would quake beneath his might.