#i think there's genuinely something to be said about eiffel's refusal to accept things as okay when it's literally. well it's in the dssppm

[commsroom]

On the station they have many absurd protocols. What do you think is his least favorite. ? Like having to be in uniform or the hours? Just in general

oh, how could he ever choose? eiffel hates protocol as a matter of... well, protocol. uniform code was for sure one of the first things minkowski gave up trying to enforce; eiffel technically wears his uniform, but getting him to wear it properly was always a losing battle. he's never been a morning person, and having to get up early in the morning when there aren't even mornings is just insulting. there's all the repetitive daily tasks that will have to be done again tomorrow. never actually leaving work (and not being able to) really gets under his skin. there are so, so many things that he finds arbitrary, authoritarian, pointless, infuriating, and just plain wrong, but if there's one thing he hates the most, it's gotta be corporate-mandated fun. like, it's one thing to make his life a living hell, but it's a whole other thing to tell him he needs to boost morale about it.

[writer-panda]

Hit on the groom and what became of it - chapter 1/I will keep missing you (if you don’t stop running)

Disclaimer: I don’t own DC or Miraculous. I’m just playing with some crazy concept. 

Chapter 1 (here)  -|-  Next

-------------

Ladybug landed on top of the Eiffel tower with practiced grace. An agitated worry roiling in her chest about the message Chat Noir left her. The urgency was one thing, but he sounded… pained. Like the weight of the world dragged him down type pain. 

Marinette knew Chat’s home life wasn’t perfect. Skilled at hiding it, maybe, but details leaked through the cracks. An offhand comment here, a muttered accusation there, a sour face yet again here. He lived in pain and tried so hard to work through it. 

She tried to help him whenever she could, both as Ladybug and Marinette. She may not return his feelings, but she always listened. For months during their third year as heroes, she left food on the rooftop when Chat’s suit revealed too many ribs. She wasn’t sure the reason and didn’t dare to ask, lest she learned too much, but she did try to help. There were times she thought she imagined the pained looks, and thin frame, and thinly veiled comments; maybe overexaggerating the situation in her mind, as she often did. After all, he always acted so cheerfully.

Then, Lila happened. 

The first strike landed swift, almost deadly, but she survived. It was what followed that made her reconsider. A prolonged fight, where Marinette chose to retain a cheerful mask to hide the pain. Along the line, she considered confiding in her parents. But what could they do?  Maybe take her from school, but that would mean Lila already won; the Liar would rule unopposed.

Which left Adrien, her last bastion of friendship. 

She still harbored a bit of a crush on him, but it was justified! Like a knight in shining armor, he stood, always ready to defend her. He always ensured her inclusion in class activities and saved her from several catastrophes. 

She still stumbled over her words with him, but when it’s minor stuttering or not talking to anyone, she forced herself to adapt. It was nowhere near as bad as it used to be. 

With the ability to spend more time with Adrien without acting like a spaz, Kagami also appeared more often, and proved to be a good friend. Marinette found a home with the two awkward rich kids ridiculously clueless and unaware of how the real world functioned. In the end, she even grew to accept Adrien might not be destined to be hers but chose to support him nonetheless. 

“My lady?” She was broken out of her musing by a familiar voice.

“Hello, Kitty-cat. I got your message… what’s wrong?” She turned to see Cat Noir slumped over the railing, with his ears tweaking nervously. She didn’t even know he could do it. 

“I… I’m sorry my Lady, but I can’t… I can’t continue to be your partner,” he declared.

“What?!” she squeaked. “What happened? What’s the matter?” 

“I’m… I’m getting married,” he announced, his ears drooping and tail tucked between his legs.  

Oh, that’s… not what she expected to hear. “Married? Congrat…” she drifted off, noticing his sour face. “Chat? What are you not telling me?”

“It’s… I… My…” He struggled to figure out how to say it, but ultimately remained silent for a moment. “There is nothing to be happy about. It’s a… business marriage,” he spat, his eyes narrowing.  

“But… those are illegal!” Ladybug protested.

“Not when you make it look like a love match. Especially if you insinuate at a scandal.” He sneered, jumping off the railing and pacing along the empty rooftop. “My father holds all the cards and I… I’m in no position to oppose him.”

“I’m sure we can…”

He sighed, walking over to her. “Please… M’lady. Don’t try to give me hope. I accepted what I must do.” With that, he reached for the ring, but she stopped him.

“Chat. We can try… You’re my friend. You can’t… We will figure it out. Together.” In all they’d endured, suffered, and triumphed - Marinette had never seen him this despondent… this broken. 

He sighed, his eyes flat and dull. “There is nothing to figure out,” he said, forcing the ring off his finger. 

The transformation fell, leaving Adrien Agreste materialized in place of her long-time partner. Plagg’s sharp cry cut off, as he’s sucked into the ring the second he popped out of it. She stood there, too stunned to notice the blond boy pushed the ring into her palm and closed it. 

Marinette wasn’t sure what thoughts decided to rampantly rage through her head, but the train of thoughts probably broke the collective speed limit everywhere in the world at the same time. 

“M’lady?” Adrien’s soft voice brought her to earth when she was one step from panic.

“A-Adrien?” She choked on the word.

“You heard about me?” He looked dumbfounded. Ladybug, too shocked to say a word, gestured over to the building line. Even from so high and far away, his most recent billboard advertisement stood visible. “Ah… right.”

“Who… who’s the lucky girl?” Inside her mind, she wondered if Kagami right now faced a  similar problem. It was the most logical…

“Lila Rossi,” Adrien admitted, his shoulders hunching. 

Marinette.exe stopped working. 

A moment passed.

Another.

“Um… M’Lady?” The boy tried to prod his ex-partner to respond by waving his hand in front of her face.

“That… that lying…” Ladybug saw red. This could not be happening.

Adrien nodded, the despondent look on his face growing worse every second.“My father deemed her a suitable heiress to the Gabriel brand… I tried to warn him she was a liar, but he… I think he actually admires her skill…” Tears built in his eyes, and Adrien covertly tried to wipe them away. 

“Maybe… maybe you could… I don’t know!” she screamed in frustration. Marinette had several ideas about what Adrien could do, but none of them would help. 

Running away would be a problem. Leaking the story to the press would lead to his home life growing even worse. After dealing with Gabriel Agreste’s parenting, she held no illusion Adrien could win a court battle. The rich too often got away with whatever they desired. She could try to sicc Uncle Jagged on the case… or maybe Clara Nightingale… Nadia Chamack would probably love the news-breaking story, but it would all put Adrien in danger. Who knows what would happen before they could obtain results or protection against Gabriel’s extensive reach. 

Adrien sighed as if knowing exactly where her thoughts took her. Chat was no dummy, he probably scoured over his options more times than he could count. His resignation, the last resort in a long line of failed plans.  “I appreciate you trying, but I already told you I accepted it. Just… take me down, please. I… I didn’t really plan the location well…” He let out a weak chuckle. 

“Fine… I’m sorry kitty...” She grabbed hold of him and swung to the ground. Despondently she watched her best friend, her partner, walk away into the night; resigned to a life of suffering and isolation. 

There must be something she could do, she thought. She closed a gloved fist around the ring. She was Ladybug, and if she put her mind to it, there was nothing she couldn't do.  

-----------

A week later the press learned about the upcoming wedding. Adrien and Lila both left school for home-school. The press and the general public ate up the news story about star-crossed lovers that met in school and became inseparable. It didn’t help that the class kept commenting about how good they were for each other. 

Marinette resisted an urge to gag whenever she caught the sound of the vicious lies and propaganda.  She was asked for comment only once but chose to refuse. It didn’t earn her any popularity in class. Luckily, she convinced Nadia to stop a nasty side-story about her jealousy from being published. 

No closer to a plan, she despondently continued to push through her life without her friend. She, unsurprisingly, hadn’t received a single text or call. Marinette didn’t blame Adrien; his position couldn’t be easy. A month after Adrien departed from her class, Marinette convinced her parents to also home-school her. Without a single friend, the school became a burden. Of course, her reasoning to her parents leaned into her focus on her fashion business. Which wasn’t untrue. It was starting to pick up. 

The only upside to this whole debacle was near-lack of akuma attacks. It seemed Hawkmoth found a hobby. Maybe he wrote poems? 

Nah. Not his style...

Two months after the announcement  Marinette woke to surprise guests: Adrien, his father, and Lila knocked on the bakery’s doors. The bride-to-be in an especially sour mood, as much as she tried to hide it. Gabriel appeared to be devoid of any emotions, as usual.

She seated them on the couch and asked if they would like a drink. She didn’t bother to offer food, not wanting to waste good cake on the likes of Lila and Gabriel. Although, Adrien’s thin cheeks and haunted eyes made her regret the decision. 

All of them declined the drink.

“Madame Marinette, I assume you have heard of the Wedding?” The capitalization clearly discernible in his voice. 

“Yes… Yes sir!” she corrected herself. Trying desperately to mask her disgust behind a layer of nervousness. She couldn’t risk a glance at Adrien, even if this was the first time she’d seen him since that night on the roof. Making it through the meeting would be hard enough without watching him suffer.  

“While initially, I planned to prepare the dress and suit myself, my son convinced me to give a chance to someone else to shine.” Clearly, whatever it was Adrien said, it didn’t include a polite request. “I have seen the dress you made for Rock Star Jagged Stone’s wedding, as well as the suit worn by Nadia Chamack.”

“They are designs I’m particularly proud of, sir.” 

Play the part. Play the part. Don’t send him to the hospital. Papa and Maman would be disappointed. Well, Maman would probably join me… 

Her homicidal train of thought ended as she forced a smile to appear on her face. Contrary to Lila’s stretched thin lips;  Marinette’s smile shines bright and could’ve been mistaken for genuine.

“Indeed… I’ve come to commission you to design and make the gown and the suit for the sweet couple.” He announced like it was the highest honor, but there was an amount of bile in his words Marinette used to think was reserved only for Nino.

“I… I’m… I’m honored, sir!” She beamed. The excitement only half-forced. Her moral compass told her even entertaining the proposal was wrong, but at the same time, her brain furiously flitted crafting possibilities. 

Gabriel nodded imperiously as if her acceptance merely added to a foregone conclusion. “Good. My assistant, Nathalie, will sort out the details. Lex Luthor agreed to pay for the pieces as his wedding gift, so do not be afraid to ask for full price.” He informed her t as if he believed she would give him a discount. 

For a moment, a singular reckless moment, Marinette entertained the temptation to voice her thoughts about Gabriel being cheap. 

She sighed, no, there would be another day for career suicide. The group rose to leave, and Marinette finally glanced at Adrien; his model-trained smile paper-thin. He caught her eyes, and if he radiated sadness two months ago, it didn’t hold a candle to the devastation swimming in his eyes. The exchange broke when Lila gripped a hand tight around his arm and dragged him to the door. 

Gabriel handed her a card, and the group departed. Marinette collapsed onto the couch, the makings of a headache building in her skull. 

This would be awful.  

------------

A week later Marinette held a separate meeting, consisting of Nathalie, Lila, Lila’s mother, and Adrien’s aunt. And her, obviously. 

She first asked what kind of dress Lila wanted.

Lila’s eyes lit up in an unholy glee; and she started talking. 

And talking. 

And talking. 

And talking. 

After the long and painstakingly thorough description, Marinette felt faint. Several reasons contributed to that, although the most prominent were the materials, the design, and the way she spoke. Obviously Lila had feelings, the kind likely to trigger an oncoming Auma attack if Hawkmoth hadn’t pranced off to who knows where, about Marinette designing her dress. 

Marinette was happy Adrien’s aunt pointed out the request’s complete madness, but Lila’s mother waved it off, quick to declare only minor adjustments to the request would be needed. 

In the end, Marinette presented several dozen designs, both hers and foreign to have a basis on which she could work. Lila, of course, chose the one that would be hardest to make.

“I’m sorry none of your designs were good, Marinette…” The liar cooed with faked sorrow. She hid a smirk the designer could clearly see. 

The notion was born because it was a picture and not a sketch. 

Marinette smirked, and rose from the couch, ignoring Lila’s irritated scowl at her non-reaction.  

She liked it even less when the girl brought in the ready-made dress. 

“I made it as the first design for Penny Rolling’s wedding, based on Uncle Jagged’s suggestions. I should’ve known Penny didn’t approve of his idea, but…” she waved it off.

Lila, now actively glaring at her, sat back on the couch. All of which was mistaken for amazement by the adults.

Marinette ignored the girl’s dramatics, it was the only way she’d survive this meeting intact. “Of course, there still needs to be several adjustments and personalizations. I will also need to order the amber you requested. And the platinum thread. And the white gold. And probably an industrial-grade 3-D printer… Is that covered by the expenses?” She looked at Nathalie, who nodded. “Great! I will need just a moment.” 

The women watched as Marinette practically leaped at her notebook and added in adjustments to the sketch. Fifteen minutes later, when she presented a new design, impressing them all (sans Lila, obviously) with the flowing lines and intricate details. They praised her talent (even Natalie), and Marinette played the bashful young designer role to a tee. The liar kept glaring though. She couldn’t back away easily, since she already made a scene about wanting that specific dress. Marinette informed them beforehand she would need to know about her specific wishes before she made any adjustments. 

The final design looked pretty much exactly what Lila wanted though, but she didn’t want to give her nemesis the satisfaction. Her entourage did enough of this. 

Under the cover of being too emotional, they ended the meeting. Nathalie remained to finish the deal and sign the contract. 

After all of them left, Marinette collapsed onto her chair. An hour later a notification from her bank came. She received the first half of the payment. When finished, the dress would officially be the most expensive wedding dress to date. Blessed be Lex Luthor and his deep pocket. She chuckled, remembering how much the billionaire got kidnapped because of his money.

Then, an idea shined in her head.

Oh. 

Oh...

She took off her earrings and dismissed Tikki, promising she needed a quick chat with Plagg about a new potential holder. When Marinette put on the ring, the Kwami of destruction popped back into existence. 

“So… figured out how to help my chosen?” he asked. 

What Tikki didn’t know was when Marinette said she intended to discuss potential holders for Plagg, they really worked on a way to save Adrien. It was their secret since Tikki would most likely disapprove. They didn’t want to risk her disappointment in them. Not until they crafted a fleshed out full-proof plan. 

She nodded. “I have an idea. Let’s hire someone to kidnap him!” 

Plagg rolled his eyes. “Did they hit you on the head, pigtails?”

“No. But look, the problem is whatever we come up with, Adrien ends up blamed or we land ourselves in jail, right?” The Kwami nodded. “So… if we make sure it’s a very public kidnapping and he disappears, we can stash him away until the heat dies down. After we dye his hair and apply fast-tan, he will look different enough no one will connect the two. I’m pretty sure I could get my hands on fake documents if I tried hard enough…” she trailed off thinking of all the minutiae to coordinate to pull this off. 

It would be hard. 

But it would be worth it. 

Plagg slowly nods. “Okay… Somehow, that both makes no sense and seems perfectly legitimate. It’s also your most chaotic plan to date, Pigtails. Let’s do it!” The Kwami cheered, happy to be soon reunited with his chosen kitten. “But what about the costs!”

Marinette already had an answer in mind for that question. “Even after I subtract the costs of materials and other supplies, the payment for the dress, together with my savings, will be more than enough. Now… let’s go wake Tikki up.”

That… ended with the Kwami of Creation vomiting a pile of handcuffs and other police gear at Marinette. 

“Um… Why?”

The little red Kwammi placed her paws on her hips. “Because you should familiarize yourself with those if you plan on going to prison for that plan. It’s no longer just a phone theft, Marinette! You’re talking about breaking more laws than I can count!” She dropped to the pillow below, bemoaning about where she went wrong. 

Marinette scooped up her wayward friend and tried to reassure her. “I just need to be careful. I’m pretty sure I can do it without detection. Maman taught me how to not be seen on the internet. Or in general. Come on. I need to order a secure laptop.”

“I will help!” Plagg offered. “I can cataclysm the internet after you do your thing.”

“What?! No! Think of the cute cat pictures!” Marinette protested. “And video games.” 

“Relax! It’ll just remove any trace of you doing anything online in the several hours or so…” He calmed her.

Tikki trailed after them, a bundle of nerves and worry. “Plagg! It’s irresponsible! You can’t possibly…”

“Pigtails and I have it all under control. What’s the worst that could happen?”

---------

Turns out, a lot. 

Before Marinette put out the hit (kidnapping, she made sure that it was plain as day), she needed to set a price. That one was harder. It wasn’t like you could Google how much you needed to charge to kidnap a celebrity. At least, not without attracting a lot of unwanted attention. 

She asked her mother, under the guise of pure curiosity. It was a normal question any teenage girl asked her mother. How much does it cost to have someone killed, how much cheaper/more expensive a kidnapping is, how to acquire fake documents, that kind of stuff. Not suspicious at all. 

So absorbed in her rant, she missed a merry glint in Sabine’s eyes. She also didn’t question how her Maman knew those prices. 

Finally, she needed to fill the form. 

Assignment: Acquisition and Delivery

Asset(s): Adrien Athanase Agreste

Value: 

Here, Marinette paused. 

Her mom gave her a lengthy lecture about pricing and all. According to her, a professional would take up to fifty thousand dollars for kidnapping and bringing the target to her. Marinette decided, since Adrien was a celebrity, she should double the price. More risks involved, more reward, right? 

But, she also wanted to ensure she hired the best of the best. Compare her work to Gabriel Agreste’s, she came to the conclusion ten times the price was reasonable to ensure only the best in the field would take the job. 

Then, there was the matter of safety and so on and so on. By the end, she settled on two million dollars, as her asking price for one Adrien Agreste. Plagg sagely nodded, agreeing with her assessment. Tikki didn’t comment, as she wasn’t speaking to the two, but also seemed more accepting after spying on Adrien and Lila’s home life. Not that she revealed that tidbit to either of them, lest they drop the plan and directly go at Gabe and the Liar. 

After a few more details and boxes in the form Marinette filled until she came to the end. Only one more detail remained: 

Sponsor:

Marinette stared at the word for a moment. After a quick race of thoughts, she typed slowly. 

Sponsor: The Seamstress

Perfect. Nothing about this could go wrong.

Of course, how could she predict just how big of a mess she would make? 

----------

[k-pop-imagines]

Protector | Chapter 10

Protector Masterlist 

Summary: Yesterday’s events have your thoughts wildly racing through your brain and if that wasn’t enough, your father brings back someone you never wanted to see again. 

Word Count: 2472 A/N: So, ummm, it’s been a year, I know. But I’ve recently gotten quite a lot of messages asking me to update because the cliffhanger was a really mean move on my part, I’m sorry! Either way, happy holidays to everyone and I hope you enjoy this small gift from me!  - Admin Soomi Warnings: / 

When you woke up the next morning, your head felt like it was going to explode. The night hadn’t been exactly  restful, you just couldn’t seem to fall asleep after yesterday’s events. Your thoughts kept going back and forth between your current life situation trapped as the heir to your father’s business and the tension between you and your bodyguard that had made itself very clear. Donghae was a mystery to you. If that was even his real name. It wasn’t like you actually knew anything about that man. How old was he? Where did he come from? Did he have family? All you knew was that he was an arrogant ass with a lot of strength and wits despite not looking like it. He had a way of constantly getting on your nerves but still gave you a weird sense of comfort. Why did you end up with this strange attraction towards him that was impossible to deny at this point? 

You weren’t even sure what kind of attraction this was. Was it platonic? For the first time in ages, it seemed like someone genuinely cared about you. You felt like you could trust him and with him being your bodyguard, he naturally knew a variety of your secrets. He’d seen different sides of you. Even though you argued and bantered a lot, he knew when to draw the line. It had begun to feel like a friendship but was there more? Did you want more? Something else? There was some kind of sexual attraction as well, that was obvious to you. He was attractive, that was a fact. You hated to admit it, but your thoughts couldn’t help but wander to indecent things at the memory of how his abs felt under your touch. Yous shook your head in annoyance. No, not now. If you kept thinking about it, you wouldn’t be able to keep a composed demeanor around him anymore. Was there romantic attraction as well? Maybe. All you knew was that your heart skipped a beat when you thought back to how you had almost kissed yesterday. And that you wished you had actually kissed. Maybe all of these factors somehow played into it. Whatever it was, thinking about it too much and trying to find a word for it was driving you crazy. 

The maid that knocked and asked to enter your room to serve you a fresh cup of tea was a welcome distraction from your racing thoughts. Not so welcome was the message from your father that she brought. I’m expecting you in the entrance hall in 30 minutes, dress nicely and behave for once.    The second you read his note, you decided that you would absolutely not behave, whatever it was that he had planned for you. You had a bad feeling about what was to come. For a few moments, you also contemplated simply putting on sweatpants as your father hadn’t specified what occasion to dress nicely for, but that would have been overkill. Donghae greeted you right outside your door with a lazy wave and as much as your mind wanted to go back to yesterday’s events, you were more occupied with the look on his face. He didn’t give you the usual smirk, you didn’t even get any playful remarks about your hairstyle of choice, instead he seemed quiet. Too quiet. “What’s up with you this morning? Aren’t you going to tell me that I look like a racoon because of the bags under my eyes?” A small smile threatened to form on his lips but it was quickly washed away by the sigh leaving his mouth. “You look more like a panda because the rest of your face is awfully pale but I won’t be making any comments. You’ll have enough trouble today, trust me. You’re not going to like what your father has in store for you. And neither will I.” The last part was muttered under his breath and you almost missed it. You didn’t even need to ask your bodyguard what exactly he was talking about as you had already reached the entrance of the mansion and were greeted by the sight of the one person you had never ever wanted to see again. Hwang Kyuseok. The man your father apparently still wanted you to marry. “Okay, so here’s the plan. I’m going to pretend to collapse, you carry me to our physician and bribe him to pronounce me dead. Then you help me escape to Peru where I can start a new life under a new name. How does that sound?”, you whispered to Donghae but he put a hand on your lower back to gently lead you forward. “Pretty good except for the part where I apparently have enough money to bribe Dr. Choi.” “It doesn’t have to be money, you could-” just as you were about to present Donghae with the alternative of selling his body, Kyuseok spotted you. “Well, if it isn’t my lovely wife. I haven’t seen you ever since that incident but you seem as lively as ever,” the young man said with the most disgusting grin you had ever seen a human being produce as he slowly walked towards you. “I don’t remember us getting married let alone engaged so do not call me your wife.” “Did I not tell you to behave?” Your father had appeared behind Kyuseok and went to stand next to him. “You’ll be getting married next week, so you might want to get used to being called his wife.” “I have told you plenty of times that you do not get to marry me to a stranger. I refuse. I will not be marrying him.” “And I have told you plenty of times that I simply do not care. You’ve been acting like a brat recently, so I contacted Mr. Hwang and he agreed to proceed with the marriage as soon as possible. Maybe this will put some sense into you. You don’t have a choice in this matter.” Kyuseok is a respectable young man and he knows how to handle a woman who is acting up and forgot where her place is.” Your father left and your heart sank. He was really doing this. He was 100% serious and no matter how hard you tried to fight back, it was useless. Maybe you could really escape and move to the other end of the world. But knowing your father’s influence and contacts, he would catch you before you could even leave the city. You’d go along with it for now but there was no way you’d accept this. If everything failed, you’d at least make sure to make this marriage a living hell for your husband. 

Kyuseok stood in front of you and took your hand, earning him a death stare from Donghae that you didn’t notice, as you were too occupied with keeping yourself from lashing out. “Let’s go eat breakfast, my love.” 

------

“Where would you like to go for our honeymoon?” Breakfast had been quiet so far, at least on your part. Kyuseok had bombarded you with his ideas for the wedding and you found out that essentially everything had been planned already. Not only were you forced into this, you didn’t even get any say in what your wedding would look like. Even the wedding dress had already been chosen. “You’re asking my opinion? Very considerate. Paris sounds good.” “A very classic choice. And very romantic.” “Exactly. Let’s visit the catacombs, maybe I can lose you in there. Or I can just yeet myself off the Eiffel Tower when you’re not looking.” You heard a snicker from Donghae, who had silently been standing in the corner of the room and tried to cover up his mishap by clearing his throat. Kyuseok simply ignored you. “Prague or Madrid would also be lovely places to visit but Paris it is. We should also start conceiving children as soon as possible to secure a heir to our families' businesses. You almost choked on your omelette. “Yeah, that is not happening. Marrying you is bad enough but this is where I draw the line. I will not let you anywhere near me.” He sighed. “I really don’t blame your father for wanting you to move in with us right after the wedding. You are indeed quite a handful. But as I said before, I am sure I can tame you.” “Good luck with that. You won’t tame me unless I develop Stockholm syndrome.” “You’re feisty.” “And you’re a creep. Excuse me for a second.” You quickly left the room, headed for nowhere in particular, just anywhere as far away as possible. It felt kind of ironic when, after a few minutes of mindlessly wandering the halls, you laid eyes on a small storage room and followed your instinct to hide in it. Just in case Kyuseok had been following you. You were physically shaking from the emotions building up inside of you. Anger, frustration, helplessness, panic. You name it. You sank to the floor and let silent tears run down your cheeks. 

Maybe you should really just run away. Not like your father would let you. Even if you escaped at night, knowing that most of the night guards regularly slept during their shifts, there was no doubt your father’s men would find you. And if they didn’t, he would send Donghae, and there was nowhere you could hide from him. He knew you too well by now. 

The door to your hiding spot opened a creak. Speaking of the devil. 

Donghae fully opened the door, took one look at your crying form and opted to sit on the floor right next to you after closing the door again for some privacy. Of course he’d find you. Not that it bothered you. “I don’t think I’d survive one week being married to that weirdo,” you complained. “I don’t think he’d survive even one week. You’re gonna kill him after three days. Maximum.” A dry chuckle escaped your lips. “Can you show me how to make it look like an accident?” “I’ll lend you one of my handbooks.” Silence settled between the two of you for a few seconds while you tried to dry your tears. It all seemed hopeless. “What will you do once I’ve married him? I doubt Kyuseok will have you come with me to his mansion. That man gives you that death stare like every 20 minutes. I bet it’s because you’re more handsome than him.” “I genuinely don’t know. Maybe your father will have me as his own bodyguard. Whatever will happen, believe me when I say that I am dreading it as much as you are.” “You’re a bodyguard...if anything, you should be glad this job is over and you could move on to a better paying client. I’ve seen what my father pays you and sometimes I’m surprised you’re still here.” “You make me seem like a heartless monster. I care a lot more than you may think. That’s why I’m still here.” You raised an eyebrow. “How much?” “What?” “How much do you care?” Instead of answering, Donghae proceeded to get up. He dusted off his clothes and held out his hand for you to take. He pulled you up and reached for the doorknob. “You didn’t answer my question. How much do you care?”, you pushed for a reaction. “Way more than I should”, he muttered under his breath, avoiding your eyes. He went to turn the doorknob but you put your hand on top of his to stop him. Your other hand reached up to grab the collar of his shirt and pull him closer so your faces were mere inches apart. “Then tell me...do you care enough to kiss me?” Your voice was barely above a whisper, your breath hot on his skin. 

Donghae didn’t need to be asked twice. His free hand cupped your face as he leaned in and his lips found yours. They were so much softer than you could have ever imagined. He was careful at first, but quickly deepened the kiss when you didn’t back away. It lasted only a few seconds yet felt like an eternity. You hated how your first intent was to tease him with your question and see his reaction but the kiss just proved that, just like him, you cared way too much. You still didn’t know what exactly those feelings were that drew you to him but it just felt...right. Like it was meant to be. 

Donghae slowly pulled away from the kiss and took your hands in his. “I don’t know why but the thought of him being with you, touching you, kissing you...it makes me furious. It makes me want to vomit. I can’t stand it.” “Then help me get out of this somehow. If you can. Please.” His heart felt like it was getting torn apart when you looked at him with pleading eyes that were still puffy from crying. He wanted nothing more than to help you, he really did. “I’ll try to figure something out but I can’t promise anything.” For a second, you saw a hint of guilt flash in his eyes. You thought it was because of his loyalty to your father. He’d most likely have to betray him if he wanted to support you, it’d put his life on the line as well. Little did you know, Donghae’s thoughts were conflicted for a completely different reason. 

---

“There will be a wedding ceremony a week from now. Not only will our target family be attending but also the famous Hwang family. If we attack then, it’ll be like killing two birds with one stone,” Donghae reported. “That’s fantastically convenient. Do you know where the wedding will be held? If not, find out and send us the layout of the place. We’ll provide you with a detailed plan 24 hours before the event.” “I’ll make sure to get as much information as possible.” “Great, you’re dismissed.” After finishing the phone call, Donghae felt like punching a wall. Guilt flooded his mind. He had lied to you, this whole time. He had put on an act, played the perfect, sassy, but loveable bodyguard. He had faked his undying loyalty. Yet he hadn’t been able to lie about his feelings. That kiss, it had been nothing but the truth. He never meant for things to develop the way they did. And now he was stuck in this dilemma. He had to follow orders, your family had to be taken down but couldn’t bear to see you go down with your father. You had nothing to do with this. He had to figure something out and he’d be damned if he couldn’t come up with a solution.

[allegra-writes]

Happy birthday, Peter

Peter Parker x Reader

General audiences

Warnings: None

Ok, this isn't a request but today is August the tenth, MCU Peter Parker's canon birthday, so let's have a little birthday Fluff to celebrate! 💜

MY MASTERLIST

“Tony, Fury's here about that new guy he wants you to meet for the new team, Quentin Beck” Pepper's voice interrupted Tony’s obvious staring.

“No-uh, forget it, not happening. I just got out of the hospital a couple weeks ago, after I almost died saving the world from that giant purple raisin. Again. Now this? This is a party. Peter’s party, I refuse to work today” Tony was not having any of that tonight of all nights. He had five years worth of birthdays and holidays to catch up on with his kids, kids he thought he wouldn’t have the opportunity to ever hug or talk or plan parties for, he might add. So Fury could get lost for all he cared.

Besides, he had his own ideas for his super secret boy band 2.0, and he was looking straight at them.

“Now, Miss Potts, if you would be so kind as to come right here and tell me what you think about this” He stepped closer to his wife and gestured at the group of teenagers laughing and chatting on the other side of the room. If he was honest with himself, he had been so nervous about the four of them meeting: What if they didn’t like each other? That would not make his plans impossible but it would certainly put a damper on them. The truth was he should have been nervous about you guys getting along a little too well …

Pepper took a look and immediately paled.

“Oh no, no no no! Tony, no!”

Unbeknownst of the argument ensuing about you, Harley Keener, Cassie Lang, Peter Parker and you continued to laugh at Ned Leeds retelling of the time Spider-Man stole his “arch nemesis”, Flash Thompson's car.

“… Of course now Mister Stark gave you a car of your own, I guess Spider-Man won’t need to ask Flash for his car again”

Peter shook his head,

“I still say I can’t accept it, I’m sorry, y/n, it’s just too much”

“What are you talking about? It’s not even a new car, Happy’s been driving it for years” You said, “Besides, I’m going to need someone to drive me around, you know I hate to do it myself…”

“Is that your way of saying you failed your driving test again?” Harley quipped, casually resting his arm around Cassie’s shoulders. The look the petit brunette gave him had him quickly remove it, however.

“Shut up Keener!” You huffed, “Who needs to drive when you can fly, anyway”

“What else did you get, Peter?” Cassie asked, genuinely interested.

“You mean besides the car and the scholarship?”

“Ooh, my present! You haven’t opened my present yet!” you exclaimed excitedly, placing a closed envelope on Peter’s hands.

“Y/n, you really shouldn’t…” He tried to protest.

“Come on, just open it!”

“Open it! Open it! Open it!” Cassie, Ned and Harley started chanting. Peter tore the paper apart to revel the single, golden ticket inside that simply read in big black letters “Valid for one birthday wish”

“It’ a…”

“It’s a birthday wish coupon” You explained, “Limited time offer, for tonight only. Whatever you want, no consequences, no questions asked. Anything money can buy, and then some. Want to steal a plane and fly to Europe, Have a body you need to hide? I’m your man… well, girl, but you know what I-“

“YOU WANT OUR KIDS TO WHAT?” Scott Lang's voice Echoed through the lake house living room, where the intimate party was taking place, interrupting you.

“I know it seems insane, but so did time travel…” Your dad was trying to explain, with apparently little success, if Scott’s face increasingly redder color was anything to go by. The vein visible on his neck wasn’t looking like a good omen either.

“Think we should go break them apart?” Cassie asked calmly, with the same air of infinite patience laced with resignation that you usually wore around your father yourself.

“Lets go before they break something” You sighed and followed her to the other side of the room, without noticing you were leaving a stunned Peter behind.

“You know what you should use that coupon for, right?” Harley’s voice broke through his daze.

“Whu- what?”

Harley rolled his eyes.

“Come on, dude! No consequences? No questions asked? You should ask her for a kiss!”

“What? No! We’re not… I’m not- we are not like that!”

Harley and Ned exchanged a look.

“I never thought I would agree with this guy, but Harley’s right. Peter, this is your chance!”

“Peter, look” The blond grabbed Peter’s shoulders, “She said it herself, no consequences, she promised. So even if she’s not into you like that, and trust me, she is, you know she’ll still be your friend.”

“Come on, dude, you were thinking the exact same thing! Besides,” Ned finished, “I’m your guy in the chair, I wouldn’t tell you to do it if it was a bad idea”

Peter could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment, and his eyes with unshed tears of frustration.

“You guys have no idea what you are talking about” He mumbled bitterly, and left.

He just needed to get away, he just needed some air to help him get himself under control again. His friends meant well, he knew it wasn’t their fault. He was the one that never told them, after all. That you guys had already kissed once, right under the illuminated Eiffel tower, the night of the airport fight, a lifetime ago, or at least that’s what it felt like.

And it had been so. Fucking. Perfect. He could still almost taste you on his lips. He had obsessed over that kiss. He had lost sleep, and hunger over that kiss. For weeks. But as soon as you guys had return to New York, it was radio silence. For almost three months he hadn’t heard from you. And when you guys finally started talking again… nothing. Not a single word about it.

Until now, because you had just mentioned it. Indirectly, but you did. That little comment about stealing a plane hadn’t been random: That’s how you guys had gotten to France from Germany that time. You had stolen your father’s self flown jet and took it for a ride with Peter, and that’s where you had ended up, insisting that the real crime would be to take Peter to Europe and not showing him Paris.

It had been a full moon night, just like this one. There hadn’t been that many stars in the sky, because of the city lights, of course. But this, right then, standing at that secluded lake shore, with billions of stars lighting up the night sky, it almost felt like being underneath the tower lights again.

The soft sound of your bare feet on the grass pulled him out of his thoughts. He knew it was you, he always knew. He could tell your heartbeat apart from a crowded room. Hell, from a crowded city. He totally got your father’s favorite nickname for you.

“Hey! Everyone's looking for you,” You said, coming to a stop beside him, toes barely touching the warm water, a welcomed relief on that hot summer night. “It’s almost time to cut the cake”

“If I did wanted to steal a plane tonight, would you really do it?” He asked ignoring your comment. You simply shrugged,

“Where would we go?”

“Paris”, He replied without missing a beat. And you prayed he and his super senses couldn’t hear the way your heart picked up it’s pace with that single word. But of course he did.

He turned around to face you, his mind made up between one of your heartbeats and the next.

“What you said back inside, about no consequences, no questions asked” He inquired, “Did you mean it?”

He took a step towards you, so close now that your chests were almost touching. You wondered if he knew what it did to you having him so close, how you couldn’t think, couldn’t breath. How every inch of your skin stood to attention, ready to be electrified by the slightest touch with his.

You looked up into his eyes, taking a detour at his lips, so close to your own.

“Yes” the breathless whisper was barely audible for your normal human ears, but of course he heard you clearly. He took a final step closer.

“Close your eyes” He repeated your own words from that night at the tower back at you. You didn’t even try to resist his order. You felt him place a finger under your chin, softy tilting your head up for better access, and then the most delicate, exquisite pressure of his lips on yours.

It was too much. It was not enough. You nibbled on his bottom lip, trying to get him to deepen the kiss, and he complied, the little growl that escaped his throat at the first taste of your tongue was by far the sexiest thing you had ever heard in your life. He quickly took control of the kiss, carefully cupping your face with one hand, the other fisting the silk of your dress at your waist, pulling you closer. He almost lost all semblance of self-restraint at the way your body melted into his. You couldn’t do more than submit to his assault on your lips, than submit to him.

“Wow. Is anyone timing this? I'd swear they should've had to come out for air by now” One of the three figures watching the scene unfold from behind the glass windows of the lake house asked, confused. "They'll pass out from lack of oxygen!"

“Peter won’t pass out,” decided Harley, “superhuman and all that…”

“She can pass out”

Cassie snorted,

“I’m sure he can give her some mouth to mouth”

“You mean more than he’s already giving her?” it was Harley’s turn to snort.

Ned turned away from the window.

“So,” He began, a little dumb struck, “that happened.”

“Is still happening” corrected Harley, cheekily. Ned ignored him,

“You think they’ll finally get together now?” he asked.

“No way,” Harley scoffed.

“Yeah, those two have been pining for each other for so long, I don’t think they know how to function without it” Cassie sentenced, eyes still on the lake outside.

Ned sighed,

“You’re probably right. Tomorrow they’ll most likely be back to their stumbling, blushing selves. I swear, they are going to be getting married and still be like “Do you think she likes me? Like, like like me?”” He pitched his voice higher in a remarkably good impression of his best friend that had his new ones cracking with laughter.

“Hey, kids!” Tony Stark came up to them, frowning “Have you seen Peter and my daughter? It’s almost time for the cake… What are you looking at?”

The three teens jumped away from the window at once,

“NOTHING!!”

The End.

[clansayeed]

Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ― Chapter 17: The Psychic

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ⥽

While struggling with nightmares of lives she’s never lived, a shadow from the past looming over her city, and the proposed idea that her life may just be a little bit too weird to handle alone, Nadya makes sure to tell herself that everything is perfect just the way it is. If only. When the self-proclaimed King of Vampires (and Maker of her sometimes-girlfriend and always-boss, can’t forget that little tidbit) Gaius Augustine returns intent on claiming Manhattan as the throne that was promised, she and her friends find themselves forced into the task of saving the world. But with millennia-old vampires and an Order of hunters on their heels as well as allies hiding catastrophic secrets at their backs… it won’t be an easy task. Too bad destiny didn’t exactly ask for her input.

Bound by Destiny II and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Destiny II tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

The group's patience is rewarded when Serafine finally arrives in Paris. But with her comes the reality that it's time to buckle down and do what they came here to do. Seeing as none of her previous experiences with psychics have been even remotely good, Nadya can't shake her doubts.

note: from this chapter and going forward this series will contain Adrian x Serafine content/mentions

[READ IT ON AO3]

It’s the longest week of Nadya’s life. A week of unknowns and uncertainties that somehow both keep her exhausted and refuse to let her sleep for fear they would go ignored. Like there’s any chance of that happening.

The suckiest part is there’s no escaping the worry. She doesn’t stray too far from the block the apartment building is on for fear of losing her way, or worse — losing her life.But it’s not like their apartment was the most spacious thing in the world. Only Lily and Nadya are used to living with each other. They aren’t used to living with two grown men.

They scour newspaper stands, memorize the channel numbers for every news station and use Adrian when translations are necessary. Digging almost obsessively for any information on New York and their loved ones. After all, you’d think a giant pitfall in the middle of Central Park would get even one 24-hour news cycle of international attention.

You’d think.

“The police have the entire park sectioned off,” Adrian summarizes; eyes flying over the newsprint of that day’s issue, “looks like they’re trying to write the event off as a scaled-down natural event. Hartfield’s sent out their geology department but I’m guessing that’s for the newspapers rather than to do actual good. Manhattan isn’t exactly known for it’s sprawling underground caverns.”

They stop looking at the papers after that. Or — they stop asking Adrian to expose himself to all of the things he feels he walked out on. He’s got enough on his plate.

And isn’t that an understatement. Yes; Adrian’s worries about being unable to reach Serafine are definitely everyone else’s problem too. But every time he seems to be getting a little too heated or intense Nadya reminds herself of their first night here and the talk they had. He may not admit it aloud but much of his worry for her is personal.

The side effect is as unanticipated as it is worrisome. Adrian’s a vibrant personality; never one to boast his success but always the center of attention because he’s just that interesting. So to see such an extroverted person retreat into themselves as harsh as he does has everyone on edge. He’s quieter at meals and outright avoids the rest of them in the apartment’s lone bedroom most afternoons.

When Nadya tries confronting him about it (she starts off subtle, but screw subtle they’re all in a bad way right now so if he’s going to be miserable he can at least be miserable with the rest of them) he at least does her the courtesy of not pretending to be oblivious about it.

“I’m just worried, that’s all,” he insists; pushy enough that it’s clear he’s trying to convince himself of it too, “about Serafine, and everyone back home too.”

“You think you’re the only one?”

“No, of course not. I —”

“Okay, so stop acting like it. We can’t do this without you.” I can’t do this without you, but she doesn’t need to say it for Adrian to know.

His excuses are always the same; so are the apologies that inevitably follow. Finally Nadya just forces herself to accept that if Adrian won’t confide in her there’s not much she can do about it. Not that acceptance keeps it from hurting her deeply.

The only consolation the universe decides to offer her is a few (worry-addled) days wandering around a snowy Paris at night with her best friend. It gets them out of the claustrophobic confines of the apartment though, so she’ll take it.

Still rosy-cheeked and shivering from their metro ride, Nadya fumbles to Lily’s delight far too long before she manages to get the key into the lock and her butt into the apartment.

“Karma is real you know,” though her huffs of discontent are made less malicious by the way her scarf muffles her words and makes her glasses fog up to the point of blindness, “and it comes after people who watch their friends suffer.”

Lily laughs in the face of karma. “Oh you poor baby, all cold from your visit to the top of the Eiffel Tower. My heart goes out to you.”

“It should!”

“It does!”

“Good!”

They laugh in unison. When Nadya is finished shedding her many wintry layers she grabs for the takeout bag at her feet. “Looks like Jax is still out,” she comments, and doesn’t miss the indescribable look of continued confusion that gets thrown her way. Yeah, she didn’t understand it either at first, but turns out he’s never been out of the country before and likes walking the streets alone.

A woman’s rich and chiming laughter stops both of them in their tracks. Nadya knows full well it’s impossible for her key to have opened any other door in the building yet still she does a quick double-check to make sure they are indeed in the right apartment. Jax’s sword is where he left it on the coffee table, and Adrian’s suit is still hanging over the bedroom door; so it’s definitely their place.

And Adrian doesn’t laugh like that.

“Hold on,” comes Adrian’s voice from the kitchen, “I think I heard the door.”

The laughing woman’s voice is richly accented when she replies. “If your hearing has gotten so terrible, mon chéri, I’m surprised you’ve survived this long.”

Lily wiggles her eyebrows suggestively before calling out; “If you need a minute or ten, we can circle the block!”

Nadya claps her hand over her mouth to stifle her snort, and the fact she can hear Adrian’s rolling eyes when he talks doesn’t help in the least.

“Ha ha, very funny Lily. Come on in — there’s someone here I want you to meet.”

The woman sitting very close to Adrian at the small kitchen table needs no introduction but Adrian gives one anyway. “Nadya, Lily; this is Serafine Dupont.” And she’s a startling beauty to be sure; hair falling in bushy and effortless curls around features that manage to look flawless even under the harsh yellow light overhead. But Nadya can’t look away from Adrian from the moment she sees him.

Adrian who is smiling; really genuinely smiling, for the first time in a long time. She’d almost forgotten what it looked like, but the sight of it is like an old friend and gives her an immense relief. Not just for his sake either — because just maybe something is finally going right for them.

The girls are barely one foot through the doorway when Serafine descends upon them. Feather-light fingertips brushing through the wool of Nadya’s sweater with gentle kisses gifted to her cheeks. She smells of rose perfume and spring morning dew, and carries herself tall and proud in a way that is so familiar it makes Nadya’s heart ache.

Lily returns the kisses enthusiastically. “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since we got here,” she admits to Serafine’s delight.

“Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.” The woman smiles sweetly at the both of them before taking up her seat again. “Adrian’s been talking the both of you up for hours. I told him that I could not remember the last time he spoke so highly of anyone!”

“Well we are admittedly awesome.”

“And modest, too, I see.”

Her oh-so-courteous vampire friends wait until Nadya’s settled in with her food unpacked to get down to business. There are only two chairs for the table so Lily joins her up on the counters; their legs dangling and colliding on lazy occasion.

“So, Serafine,” and there’s a depth to her warm brown eyes that Nadya recognizes; they may not have discussed it before but she has no trouble believing that Serafine is much older than her current companions, “no offense — but you’re a hard woman to track down.”

At least she seems genuinely apologetic. “Ah, oui. I’ve spent the better part of the evening giving Adrian my apologies but I should offer them to you as well.”

“She’s been in hiding.” Adrian comments, and with no small amount of sympathy.

Nadya and Lily exchange surprised looks. “Are you okay?”

Serafine nods with a hum. “I am alive, and that is more than can be said for those who fell victim to the Order.”

The Order. Nadya’s heard that name before — though never with her own ears. She may not remember all of her visions but they’ve come up too frequently for her to fully forget. With that name comes the chill of fear and the weight of loss. Serafine radiates it and so much more.

“The Order of the Dawn, you mean.”

Which makes Serafine regard her with surprise. “You know of them?” she asks, and because she’s working really hard on this whole being-honest thing Nadya just shrugs in a noncommittal answer.

Lily raises her hand. “And for those of us who skipped Vampire History 1-0-1?”

“The Order of the Dawn is the oldest enemy to our kind. Legend says they have been around since the time of the First Vampire Herself, and with the amount of wealth and influence they have gathered the world over… I would believe it. They are the worst of humanity. Radicals who exist solely to exterminate us. By their teachings, from the moment we are Turned we cease to be people. They paint us as savages; animals controlled by our need for blood and nothing more.”

“Sounds a bit like —”

“Ferals?” Adrian nods grimly. “They’ve been used as a tactic for the Order’s indoctrination for decades. But they don’t see the difference between a Feral or the likes of you and I. To them it’s all the same.”

Indoctrination, he says. And judging by the pain that flashes across Serafine’s face when he isn’t looking it’s not a word chosen for melodrama. When she tries her hardest to recall what few memories she can that even so much as whisper the Order in her ear, it’s not an unfounded fear the older vampires share.

However there’s one thing Nadya doesn’t fully understand.

“If they’re so powerful and connected, why haven’t you mentioned them before?” Frankly it would have been nice to know of yet another reason to look over her shoulder.

“Because I didn’t see any reason to scare you over something that you wouldn’t have to deal with. Or… so I’d hoped.”

Serafine offers Nadya a sympathetic smile; something a hair’s breadth from pitying. “Don’t think too little of him for it, petit. America has the luxury of letting the likes of the Order fade into history. They fought hard enough for the right to do so, after all.”

Her hand falls over Adrian’s with a feather-light touch; offering a look with it that Nadya only sees half of but that’s more than enough to know the feelings behind it. The tension melts from his shoulders in a steady wave.

“There was a secret war in the middle of the 19th century; the War of the Dawn. A decade-long campaign to wipe every vampire from the face of North America; and the Order’s last and bloodiest attempt at killing Gaius and damaging our entire species beyond repair. They all but abandoned Western Europe and poured every resource into the fight. Unfortunately we were forced to do the same… and because of it they very nearly succeeded.”

He’s had Lily’s interest since ‘secret war’ but everything after is meant to frighten them. It succeeds — rightfully so.

It wouldn’t hurt for him to stop there but Adrian continues almost like he’s duty-bound to finish the story for the warning it is. “We won because we were connected to the human world in a symbiosis. Gaius spent years weaving his court into the very fabric of American history and it paid off when the time came. Politics, industry, big business — when we formed the Council we didn’t create these connections, we merely stepped in to fill the void our coup left behind.”

She gets it now. “You have more power than the Order does.”

“And so they can’t touch us. Not without losing for a second—and final—time.”

For all of the terrible things Gaius is and will always be, he can play the long game well. Nearly every vision he showed up in left Nadya confused as to how such a terrible tyrant could inspire such loyalty. Now… it makes a little bit more sense.

Not that it makes him any less of a villain.

“But it is not my enemies that bring you so far from home, Adrian.”

If Serafine was hoping to cut even the smallest hole in the tension between them, sucks to be her. She takes the defeat with grace though. “I relish this chance to reconnect… though I have a sense our night would be better spent with why you are here, in Paris with her dangers, at all.”

His laugh is as dry as it is fake. “Where to start…”

There’ve been enough psychic vampires probing around in Nadya’s head lately that she knows the look their new friend gives her right away. Before she can even open her mouth Nadya feels the itch of Serafine’s psychic influence right at the base of her skull.

“The beginning should suffice.”

While Nadya may not have picked up on much of the French language in their short time here, she has little trouble imagining the long string of words that roll off of Serafine’s tongue are the pretty woman’s equivalent of swearing like a sailor. Judging by the way Adrian raises his eyebrows and suddenly finds the bottom of his wine glass the most fascinating thing in the room… she should have bet money on it.

“You okay there?” Lily asks, and passes what’s left of the bottle wordlessly back to the table. As vampires, they may not be able to get drunk like humans could but Nadya’s coming to realize her favorite thing about the French is handling stressful conversations with an alcoholic buffer.

Serafine looks between the girls in a strange emotion possibly named ‘wild sadness,’ which is valid honestly.

“Non, Lily, I am not. But I cannot fathom how minuscule my emotions must be compared to your own. And you, Nadya,” who tries her best not to cringe under the emotions that make her voice thick and accent thicker, “to have endured what you have, so young and in the prime of your life. I would not wish such a fate on my worst enemy.”

“Yeah well…” she has no idea what to say to that; so she drinks until something comes to mind, “I would. If only to show him what it feels like.”

Serafine gives a fitful nod. “But it doesn’t do any good to sit here and ruminate on the tragic things which have already passed. Whatever is in my power is yours.”

“Well that’s the thing — I wasn’t sure if it was in your power.” She looks offended that Adrian would even think of doubting her. He doubles-back; tries again.

“You’re the strongest psychic Kamilah and I know, Serafine. But I’ll admit I don’t know much about the skill. Is it even possible to undo the damage that’s been done?”

Nadya doesn’t disagree that damage is right but it still hurts to hear it. He glances at her quickly and utterly remorseful. “I mean —”

“I know what you meant. Let it go.”

Serafine shrugs. “Let me see what I’m working with first. Nadya, darling, if you would?” She gestures and Nadya slips from her stool without argument, is glad for the fact that Serafine stays seated only because she knows the woman would tower over her. She cups Nadya’s face in her cool palms; thumbs brushing over her cheekbones.

Isadora had touched at her mind subtle and with caution. By comparison Jameson had all but swung a hatchet at her brain; chipped away at her until he found what he needed and that was that. And Serafine, too, is different in her own way. But it’s more than the simple differences between individuals.

There’s a power in Serafine’s touch. Impossible for her to ignore. A compulsion of the will that drags her eyelids closed and brings her deep within and along for the ride.

Images, emotions, thoughts. Nadya sees them coming from a great distance but doesn’t have time to brace herself before they hit her like a truck.

Grasping for Lily’s hand on the plane—Kamilah’s lips on her forehead tears welling in her eyes emotion choking her throat—pleasedon’tmakemeleaveyou—I’mrighthereI’vegotyou—fear and worry and the brief flicker of joy—Taylor’s inconsistent eyes Kathy’s rich violet hair—all those months of lying begging for the end in those moments just before succumbing to sleep and the horrible things that alwaysinevitablycome…

And then there’s Gaius. Gaius whispering in her ear feeling Nadya’s heart pounding in her chest Vega two steps behind don’tlethimcatchyou! Gaius entering the dining room with silent fanfare — the glamour fading to reveal the rotting corpse beneath — his shoes taptaptap echoing in the Chamber the blood of the First staining his teeth before he rises up upup and into the oblivion of the night—

Serafine tries to pull back her psychic reach — but something, certainly not Nadya, holds her down. Keeps her still and there and demands of her to watch. As I have watched, as I have seen.

Nadya knows so very little but she knows without a shadow of a doubt the images that follow are memories, too. Serafine’s memories. Surprised to be pulled from some abyss, out of order.

The smell of spice and ocean sea-salt freshly sanded wood on beaches sand still warm with the sun’s heat sinking between her bare toes — electronica pounding through modern speakers club lights shining down on her skin slick with sweat her head thrown back in laughter — Adrian’s lips on her neck on her breasts lilted language on her tongue slow down darling we have a long day ahead of us fingers intertwining skin burning where the barest sliver of sunlight catches on their shared bed—

Paris bright and both new and old history not yet written in cobbled streets an empty void in the skyline where the Eiffel Tower will be and the smell of burning flesh and bone wafting up from deep within the earth tears and ash smeared over her skin—Youwillseejusticeatthehandsofyourenemies—and a burning hatred that ignited the flame.

Nadya tastes something unfamiliar and metallic on the tip of her tongue. Blood, her mind tells her — though her body struggles to accept it as more than just another memory.

She opens her eyes just as the red slips from Serafine’s own gaze. Shame and confusion burn hot in her cheeks and she barely registers the combined cries of “Nadya!” from both of her friends before she’s emptying the meager contents of her stomach in the kitchen sink.

Nadya reaches with a shaking hand to push her hair out of her face. Lily beats her to it; holds her through every shaking heaving breath without a word.

The two glasses of water she all but inhales help soothe the sting of the cut inside her cheek. Still, Nadya keeps the flat of her tongue against it out of habit. And though she’d like nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep off the vertigo a nd nausea still churning in her belly Nadya knows she can’t. Sits back on the counter like a good little Bloodkeeper while Lily scrubs the sink before the smell can linger.

“Je suis tellement désolé, Nadya,” apologizes Serafine, to which Nadya only nods to reply. Words are a little bit beyond her right now if that’s alright with them. “I had no idea even a simple exchange would be so… violent.”

Which is a word for it. Though Nadya would almost prefer they find something more dramatic for the future.

Adrian looks between them in a silent war with himself. Torn between apologizing to Nadya and asking Serafine the inevitable. What had she seen?

“Do you truly wish to stay your current course?”

She appreciates Serafine asking; it’s a consideration she hasn’t gotten much of so far. Unfortunately it doesn’t change anything.

“You—gh,” the three vampires wait patiently while she swallows and regains her words, “you saw what happened. You saw what Gaius became. This is the only way.”

Lily throws an arm around Nadya’s shoulders. “Unless you magically happen to have a God-killing stake you can pull outta your back end.”

Serafine’s laughter is more polite than amused. “Would it spare you further pain, I would. But alas. And I would not ask you to try again so soon. Too much has already been forced upon you.”

“So you’re saying I’m damaged beyond repair.”

“Non, I am not. Psychic intrusion is rarely so simple, and cannot be compared to the likes of physical injuries. Judging by what you have told me and the little I was able to see… most—if not all—of your previous encounters within the mind were done without consent?”

Nadya nods slowly; the heartbreak is plain on Serafine’s face. “Then it is of no surprise that you have put barriers in place; even unconsciously. It will take time to bring down those walls safely and without risking further harm to you both mentally and physically.”

“How much time?” asks Adrian.

“I could not say. Up until tonight I too thought the Bloodkeeper only a myth. Even if there were a clear path to recovery, that alone will undoubtedly bring complications.”

He looks down and away. But he doesn’t have to say it — and they don’t need to be psychic to know what he’s thinking.

They don’t have time. The people they love don’t have time.

Nadya inhales shakily. “How big is the risk if we just wing it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Humor me.”

And the distinct lack of humor in her voice makes all three vampires uncomfortable. If she could, Nadya would laugh. They aren’t the ones with anything to be worried about. Serafine glances at Adrian, almost like she hopes he’ll interrupt before the silence becomes a deliberate refusal to answer.

Frankly she’s getting really tired of people making decisions for her. “Adrian didn’t ask you, I did.” She snaps her fingers. “It’s my head and my risk.”

“Nadi’…”

She shoulders Lily away. “No, no ‘Nadi,’ just tell me. If you dig back in for the memory we need right now, how big is the risk?”

There’s no doubt in Nadya’s already-fractured mind that Serafine won’t spare her from the truth. She’s been inside the woman’s head and that kind of knowledge is a dangerous thing. As dangerous as Serafine herself can be, has been, might become.

Maybe some part of her knows this too, because she finally stops holding back.

“Your body would not be able to cope. Your mind would be so focused on the task it would forget to send signals to the rest of your body. Your heart would forget how to beat and you would even forget how to breathe. You could die before I even came close to the answers you seek.”

“So we put me on a respirator or something.”

Adrian looks up at her sharply. “Stop. We’re not entertaining this; that’s not even an option.”

“Well neither is waiting however long it might take,” she snaps back, “they’re risking their lives for us back home — I think the least I can do is return the favor.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

“I’m tired of everyone risking their lives for me! It’s not worth it!”

“Getting you out of New York was worth it!”

“Obviously not, since I’ve got too much brain PTSD to be of any freakin’ use!” Nadya gestures wildly, arms spread. She’s got no idea where any of this is coming from but that doesn’t make it any less true; that doesn’t make it any less painful. “Every day we’re sitting here tiptoeing around what we need to do is another day Kamilah or Maricruz or Arnold or anyone could be killed.”

How are they not getting this, she thinks, incredulous and bewildered and borderline angry at them all. How can they let others put themselves on the line and not ask the same of her? Because she’s fragile; because she’s human?

Nadya doesn’t realize she’s on her feet until the dizziness hits her. She doesn’t let it or Adrian’s desperate “Nadya, wait, come back!” stop her from leaving them behind. It’s easier when she doesn’t think about what she’s doing. Just lets her feet carry the rest of her aches and pains and all out of the apartment and down to the frigid streets below.

She doesn’t know how far she has — or could have — walked in her half-conscious daze until a firm and supernatural grasp brings her back to the present.

“Whoa there — where the hell is your coat?” Jax’s frown only deepens as he watches her become aware of her surroundings. Even if she had the strength left to try and pull away, she isn’t sure he’d let her go.

“I… left it back at the apartment.” She means to look back over her shoulder but the thought of their disappointed faces, despite not being there, is too much. It keeps Nadya frozen (literally) in place, shivering under his hands.

“Uh-huh… well, let’s go get it.”

Nadya barely manages to dig her heels into the pavement. It’s just enough resistance for Jax to notice. “Don’t… don’t make me go back there.”

He raises an eyebrow silently, but thankfully doesn’t push it. “I’m not leaving you out here on your own though.”

“Probably for the best.”

After a long moment the man sighs; shouldering off his coat and letting it hang on her shoulders comically large and smothering. “Lead the way.”

Though the pair of them isn’t one often found, well ever, Jax must have understood and accepted the moment they began their shared walk that eventually she was going to unload on him. He takes it all with great grace and stride honestly; and only shows his disapproval in a look rather than an outright argument when she makes them stop for another chocolate-stuffed crepe.

“Don’t I always miss out on all the fun…” he mutters, something Nadya probably wasn’t supposed to hear so she goes back to her sniffly mouthful of sweet pastry like he never said a word.

“What was it you saw that upset you so much?” And that she was supposed to hear. No doubt about it.

It’s to Nadya’s surprise that Jax waits with an uncharacteristic patience for her to answer. Eventually there’s no avoiding it.

“It wasn’t what I saw that… it wasn’t a vision or anything.”

“Then what had you running out of there so fast?”

“How I acted.”

“Well yeah, that was pretty dumb.”

She pretends it’s an uneven bit of pavement that makes her trip and not, well!

“Uh, thanks… I think.”

Jax gives her a careless one-shoulder shrug in return. “What did you expect me to say? Because I’m not going to tell you that you weren’t in the wrong, Nadya. You know that’s not my style.”

Yeah, unfortunately. “I just don’t think she gets how… how crucial time is.”

“If you really believed we had such little time you wouldn’t be here right now stuffing your face.”

“Joke’s on you, I’m always ready to stuff my face.”

He stops; Nadya gives herself three steps ahead before she accepts he won’t be joining her another step further. She turns back and, luckily, manages to hide most of her face with crepe. But Jax doesn’t spare her even the tiniest bit of sympathy. His frown is stern; almost harsh. It’s hard to see what’s in his eyes with the lights of the city glowing behind him but she can’t imagine it’s anything consoling.

“You really don’t get it, do you.”

It isn’t a question. Nadya doesn’t answer. “Alright, okay, I guess it’s gonna be up to me to do this. But I’m warning you,” pointing a stern finger her way, “you’d better listen, and listen good. Because I’ll only say this once.”

“Say what, Jax?”

“None of this is about you.”

“I don’t think —”

But Jax cuts her off. “You’re right; you don’t think. If you did then you wouldn’t have had me go behind Adrian’s and Kamilah’s backs. But that one’s on me — I had to agree to it. So that’s your one free pass. But skirting Lily and me and getting yourself kidnapped was what gave Gaius the lead on the Amulet in the first place.”

“I didn’t exactly choose to give him the memory, Jax.” And it’s really hard to keep the I can’t believe you right now from her offended voice but that doesn’t help things in the least.

“No, but you don’t let anybody forget it either. Have you ever considered that if you spent half as much time helping out as you did moping and crying things might be at least a little bit better?”

“Wow. Tell me how you really feel.”

“Oh I am,” he snorts a dry, humorless laugh, “because everyone else might want to spare your feelings but I don’t see any point in it by now. Not when there’s so much at risk. Do you honestly think for one second I want to be here, thousands of miles away from everything and everyone I’ve spent my entire life caring for? Do you think Lily wanted to leave Espinoza behind, or that Adrian wanted to leave his Clan without a leader? These are genuine questions, by the way. Because I really don’t know what reality you’re living in, but from the way it sounds the only one any of this sucks for is you.”

Word after word comes at her each one like a blow to the face, to the gut; fighting skills Jax has honed but Nadya never knew she needed to prepare herself for that leave her bruised and just barely standing.

“I… no.”

“‘No?’ No what?”

“No I… I know I’m not the only one hurting.”

“Damn right you aren’t. But just like all of us, Nadya, you have a part to play. Of course all of us — you included — would rather have stayed in New York; tried to fight. But standing here crying about it isn’t going to turn back time. All it does is make the sacrifices of those like Arnold, like Sayeed and Espinoza and countless others we’ll probably never meet meaningless. Is that what you want?”

“Of course not!”

“Then act like it! Take responsibility and realize everything we’re risking for you. You’re our friend, and a sweet girl and all, but sometimes you’re so self-involved it drives me insane! Newsflash — you’re not the only person hurting right now. But the rest of us can put that aside for the greater good. Now it’s your turn. You keep talking about how much it hurts, well take it from someone who has dealt with a lot of pain in a short amount of time. There comes a time when you have to make all of that suffering mean something. Not just for yourself, but literally for the world.”

Nadya’s way passed the verge of tears but that doesn’t mean she’s not doing everything in her power to keep from falling into a blubbering pathetic mess. Jax is right; worse still, Jax knows he’s right, Nadya knows he’s right. If anything that only makes it hurt more.

“I—I’m… I’m sorry.”

In less than a stride Jax is standing in front of her. His hands on her upper arms this time less forceful, less confused. But kinder than his words and tone would allow for.

“Come on now…” he admonishes; softer but no less insistent, “I’m not saying this to make you cry. I suck at dealing with crying people, actually, so I’d really prefer it if you stopped.”

Which works about as well as politely asking Gaius to not go through with his crazy plan would, which isn’t a surprise to either of them. He sighs and pulls her forward into the world’s strangest hug but it works for them both. He doesn’t want to watch her cry. She doesn’t want him to see her break down against his shirt.

“I—” she hiccoughs, “—I didn’t aa-ask for any of this.”

“I know that. But neither did we. And crying about it doesn’t change what happened. We know what we’re giving up to be here — and… maybe I was a little harsh. Don’t think we don’t care about you or keeping you safe. But, hey—hey. But —” Jax gently pries her back and fixes her glasses where they’ve gone askew, “— that’s our job; to keep you safe. And yours is to figure out how we can stop Gaius.”

“I know. I…” I don’t know what to say. And maybe that means it’s best she not say anything at all.

“Remember —” he waits until she can compose herself enough to look at him without wet hiccups spasming in her lungs; and when she does he surprises her with a small smile, “— whatever it takes.”

Whatever it takes. And isn’t that the kind of mentality that had landed them in all of this in the first place?

Though it was also the mentality that gave her the courage to save Adrian in the Bloody Cellars, to confront the Trinity and evade Vega for as long as she did.

It’s obvious Jax isn’t letting her go until she says it back, and out of the two he doesn’t feel the cold on his cheeks. He can wait her out.

“Whatever it takes.”

[rosalind2013]

Meant To Be

Hello, @armaryllis-kawaii!

Alright, so that AU was one that I abandoned because I didn’t like how it turned out. I just checked, and it’s actually kinda complete.

I’m just going to post the whole thing, because I probably won’t ever feel motivated to whip it into shape. I have to warn you though, it’s not my best work!

We were meant to be partners. Good luck and bad luck. Creation and destruction. Ladybug and Chat Noir. I think I knew it even before the little kwami told me so.

I looked into the eyes of my supposed enemy and saw a friend; misguided and confused and maybe even a little scared.

Power crackled at his fingertips, wild and dangerous. He was very much the same. His slitted eyes were fiery, his stance was tense, and his tail flicked in agitation.

Contrary to the spark in his eyes, his demand for my earrings held no heat.

I refused, as always. And as always, he beamed. As if he’d be disappointed if I ever changed my mind.

The smile turned anticipatory, and we both shifted into a ready stance. He coiled like a spring, ready to leap toward me at a moment’s notice. I tensed, preparing for his attack.

It never came.

His shoulders relaxed, and I watched with intrigue as his fingers brushed a protruding pipe. The power of Cataclysm reduced it to nothing but dust.

Then he took a seat on the edge of the roof and stared out at the afternoon bustle of the city.

I blinked, wondering what this could possibly mean. Chat Noir grinned rather playfully and patted the spot beside him. I stared, dangerously hopeful that he wasn’t trying to trick me.

The sounds of the city soothed my frazzled nerves, and I mentally weighed the pros and cons of accepting Chat Noir’s seemingly innocent gesture. 

A car beeped in the distance, a woman chatted on the phone while she strolled down the street. The wind ruffled his already messy hair, and I decided to take a chance.

He looked pleasantly surprised as I took a seat beside him. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable as we sat side by side and stared out at the city. 

It felt right.

We sighed at the same time and then laughed about it like old friends, even though we’d never spoken outside of battle before. I knew he was pretty quiet, though it seemed like less like he was shy and more like he held his tongue most of the time. 

I wondered if I could get him to talk to me.

He always had a certain playfulness about him, even though he was essentially a supervillain. It was like he’d never meant to be on that side of the fight.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked, daring to bridge the gap of silence.

Chat Noir met my eyes and shrugged. I started to slouch in disappointment at my failure to start a conversation, - Good job, Marinette. You could’ve said literally anything else - when his voice cut through the silence.

“Hawkmoth is out of town, so I figured I don’t have to fight you if I don’t want to,” he explained with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The implications of his statement simultaneously frightened and excited me.

“So…that means you don’t want to fight me?” I asked cautiously.

The blond boy furrowed his brow, “No? I just do what I’m told. He calls the shots, and I kinda just follow along. But I know we’re supposed to be friends…” He trailed off uncertainly.

“So why aren’t we?” I prodded. 

He smiled sadly, “Because I was bad luck before I found my Miraculous.”

Before I could think it through, my hand drifted over to rest on his shoulder. His eyes were wide as he gaped back at me in disbelief.

“We can still be friends, you know,” I assured him.

He blinked, “Wha-? You mean it?”

“Of course I do! I don’t know why you’re working with Hawkmoth, but it doesn’t matter. Anytime you need me, I’ll be there. Okay?” I offered, free hand fisted in determination.

Maybe I hadn’t thought it through, but it didn’t make me any less certain of my words.

He looked hopeful for a few seconds before his gaze dropped to his lap, “That’s very nice of you, but black cats really are bad luck.”

I knew he was upset, but I couldn’t help but to think his pout was unfairly adorable. I smiled and nudged his chin with my fingertips so that he would be forced to meet my eyes, “There’s a reason we’re supposed to be together. We balance out.”

With my fingertips cradling his chin and the fading light painting the sky with brilliant shades of orange, it was a very romantic scene. 

My heart skipped a horrified beat, and his electric green eyes were wide with shock as he stared back at me.

I jerked my hand away as if his skin had somehow burned me through my suit.

“Not like that! Partners! But not romantic partners! Though I guess anything could happen, so that’s a possibility-!”

A sly grin stretched across his face, “Romantic partners, you say?”

“No!” I whined pathetically.

“That’s what I heard,” he teased, mischief dancing in his eyes. 

“That’s not what I meant!” I clarified, squaring my shoulders as I prepared to argue to the last breath.

“Sure it wasn’t,” he said.

A fire ignited within me upon seeing that self-satisfied grin on his face.

“I was already embarrassed, and you’re making it worse! I didn’t mean it like that,” I insisted, crossing my arms over my chest.

His posture straightened and his smile faded.

“I know. I’m sorry for teasing you,” he said, dipping his head rather contritely.

My frustration fizzled out in the face of his apology. How strange that his demeanor could flip so suddenly.

“It’s okay,” I said, still feeling a bit flustered.

He flashed me a winning smile, and I it was so bright that I could’ve melted on the spot. He was just so happy and it was breathtaking. 

Against my better judgment, I started falling for the boy who tried to snatch my miraculous on a weekly basis. 

Geez, Marinette. You sure know how to pick them.

“Hey, want to race to the Eiffel Tower?” he asked, interrupting my panicked thoughts. My head cleared in response to the challenge.

“You’re on!” I replied, jumping to my feet and bouncing on my toes.

His laugh was carefree and genuine as we raced across the rooftops. I marveled at just how easy it was to keep pace beside him. It was as natural as breathing.

I thought my grin would split my face as we sailed across the gaps in the rooftops side by side. Would it have been this way all the time if Chat Noir weren’t fighting on the wrong side?

It wasn’t the best time to stop paying attention to my surroundings.

My foot slipped on a loose tile and I gasped as I began to topple backward. A clawed hand gripped my wrist and yanked me forward, changing the direction of my tumble and throwing Chat Noir off balance. 

We tucked into a barely controlled roll and came to a stop a safe distance from the edge.

My head rested against his chest, and his heart thudded in my ear.

“You okay?” he inquired.

I felt my face burn with a blush, and hoped he’d assume it was flushed from the workout.

I lifted my head to meet his eyes, “I’m fine. Thanks for saving me.”

Chat Noir gave me a soft smile, his eyes bright and kind. 

“I couldn’t let my friend fall off a roof,” he said.

My heart warmed at that statement. I smiled and got to my feet, offering a hand to help him up. We continued on to the tower without incident, and sat upon the beams to overlook the city.

“So why would it be bad if Hawkmoth got your Miraculous?” Chat Noir asked, tilting his head to the side.

I frowned at him. “There could be unintended consequences if they’re misused. I don’t know the specifics, but my kwami said it would be a disaster, and I trust her judgment,” I said. 

The boy nodded thoughtfully, “Plagg kinda hinted at that too. My, uh, boss hasn’t told me why he wants your earrings, just that both together would be unlimited power.”

I couldn’t understand why such a sweet boy would aid in a mission like that. 

“I’m sorry, but why are you helping him, then?” 

His shoulders slumped in defeat, “I don’t have a choice, Ladybug.”

In my experience, there was always a choice. Unless- 

My temper flared. “Is he threatening you?” I demanded.

Chat Noir blanched and spluttered, “No! Well, maybe? I mean, he’d never hurt me, but I’ll get in trouble if I don’t do as he says.”

I huffed in exasperation. “Geez, he almost sounds like he’s your dad, or something.”

Chat Noir froze, like my words had turned him to ice. No. No way. “He’s not, right?” I continued, my voice shrill with nerves.

The boy’s cat ears drooped, and suddenly it all made sense. My head spun as I tried to make sense of this new information. 

He fought alongside Hawkmoth because he didn’t have a choice.

He didn’t have a choice because Hawkmoth was his father.

That must have been why he never showed up to the first akuma attack; he’d been discovered before he had a chance to help me.

“I’ll have to fight you again when he comes back,” he explained, head bowed in defeat.

The thought of fighting him now was almost physically painful. Everything felt so right with him by my side, and I didn’t want it to end. He winced, and I knew he must have been thinking the same thing. 

“I’ll figure something out. In the meantime, we’ll go easy on each other, okay?” I suggested. He seemed to mull it over, and eventually nodded.

From that point on, our battles became something of a game. He’d chase me around the rooftops with a Cheshire grin, and at the last moment, I’d somehow tie him up or get him stuck. He’d pout dramatically, like he wasn’t in on the whole thing in the first place.

And Hawkmoth was completely fooled. Chat Noir told me how proud his father was that he was finally excited about fighting Ladybug, and my heart broke at how he craved the man’s approval. I couldn’t blame him, though, so I directed my frustration at my enemy. 

He was the one who snatched my partner up before I even got a chance to meet him. He was the one who manipulated his son into being a villain. His son, with the lively eyes and the smile like sunshine. 

And while Chat Noir yearned for his father’s affection, I yearned for Chat Noir’s.

Tikki listened with a patient smile while I gushed about how sweet and funny he was, and how his shy little smile gave me butterflies. She comforted me every time I got upset because I didn’t know how to help him. 

I contented myself with our stolen moments on the rooftops. He was a bit of a flirt and had a penchant for sickeningly cute nicknames. I rolled my eyes at his bad jokes and laughed at his good ones, and quickly found myself in love.

I couldn’t tell him, though. It was too complicated. We were too complicated; so I kept my feelings to myself and ignored the flutter in my chest. 

Months of secret rendezvous in the dead of night made us sloppy, and Alya somehow managed to snap a picture of us sitting together on the roof of a fancy restaurant.

I was horrified by how quickly it went viral.

Unless he lived under a literal rock, there was no way Hawkmoth hadn’t seen it. All of the news outlets were speculating on whether we were in a secret relationship and how long it had been going on.

There were countless analyses on our posture and body language in every fight as experts tried to figure out what was going on between us. The streets flooded with reporters trying to catch another photo of Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

I wished I could meet with him to make sure he was okay, but the reporters were everywhere and there weren’t even any akuma attacks for weeks.

No word from Chat Noir in weeks.

I paced my room, jittery from nerves.

“Maybe you should go for a run, Marinette. Staying here isn’t doing you any good,” Tikki suggested. 

“You’re right, Tikki. Some fresh air will do me good,” I replied. 

I bounded over the rooftops as if I could escape my problems if I just ran fast enough. 

My eyes blurred with tears as I stood in the empty bell tower of Notre Dame. 

He wasn’t there.

Again.

A million worst-case scenarios jumped to the forefront of my mind, and I angrily scrubbed at my tears.

“Ladybug!” a familiar voice shouted gleefully. 

Then Chat Noir bowled into me, and I held him close as we laughed together, tears of joy streaming down our faces. 

Our lips interlocked like the final pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We were a perfect fit, just as I knew we would be. We were meant to be partners. Good luck and bad luck. Creation and destruction. Ladybug and Chat Noir.

[rinsanityart]

Blood and Gold

Title: Blood and Gold

Summary: While on a solo, late night patrol, Ladybug discovers something about her “Sunshine Child” classmate that is more sinister than she could have expected. She flees the scene and finds comfort and a new understanding through her partner Chat Nor.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Supernatural

Part: 1/2/?

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Adrien was still awake when Ladybug landed on his windowsill, he was sitting on the bed and writing a paper, his lights were on, and she could see him clearly and he frowned at his laptop. There was a lump in her throat as she tried to think of a way to apologize, to even start a conversation with him. So you’re a vampire… that's cool? She smacked her forehead as she thought it. What a stupid way to start a conversation. She groaned.

“Hey.” Adrien was suddenly by the window, the panel near her opened.

“Waa-aaaggh!” She began to fall backwards, but Adrien quickly caught her arm, holding her firmly, but gently, and bringing her back to safety.

“Easy now…” He chuckled, gentleness in his eyes while he looked at her. Then he swallowed too, pain etched into his face. “I… I wasn’t expecting to see you again.” He whispered, fear in his voice. He let go of her and took a step back.

“I wasn’t either… but a friend advised me not to jump to conclusions or make assumptions about something I didn’t understand.” She admitted.

“I would like to thank your friend then.” He smiled softly, it didn’t quite reach his eyes; there was still too much fear and pain in them. Ladybug took a deep breath as she looked at him, still the same Adrien, but she kept imagining blood on his face and she had to look away.

“I… Uh… may I come in?” She whispered. Adrien stepped to the side, allowing her in through the window. He was silent, wary of her, confused too; she could see all of that in his stance.

“I’m flattered that you’ve decided to visit me… but I… well I also have to wonder if you’re not here to add the title of ‘Vampire Slayer’ to your already impressive resume.” There was a teasing lit to his voice, but an undercurrent of real fear. It broke her heart.

“Adrien…” She said softly, it pained her to have made him so afraid. He looked up at her as she said his name, so she continued, “I came to apologize… when I caught you in the alley… too many things went through my mind… and there was blood on your face… I panicked.” She admitted.

“I mean… That’s reasonable… as far as I know you’re only human.” The sentence was meant to be teasing, but his voice came out in a monotone as he looked away again; this time it was shame she read across his face.

“Adrien… no, that’s no what… I’m…. I came to apologize, for treating you like a monster…” She whispered. He turned his face back toward her.

“I understand you taking it that way…” He looked away again, his eyes filled with involuntary tears. “That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.” He took a deep breath and blinked the tears away. “Apology accepted.” He said as he turned back to his bed, and his abandoned laptop, refusing to look at her.

“Adrien…” Ladybug took a step forward. Adrien looked up at her and gave her a small forced smile.

“Ladybug, I appreciate your self realization, and I know this must be hard for you, it’s world shattering news. You don’t know how much it means to me that you came here, tonight, even after what you saw earlier this evening, to come apologize.” His smile was genuine for a small moment, but then he swallowed again. “But Ladybug, right now, I would very much like to be alone. Thank you, again, for your apology, and I do accept it, not only that, but I cherish it. Its just… like you probably can’t get the image of me drinking that girl’s blood out of your head… I can’t get the image of you looking at me with horrified disgust out of mine.” He swallowed and looked away. “I really don’t mean to be rude… but… I guess that look hurt me more than I thought… and now that you’re here, I keep waiting for you to look at me like that again.” He ended, now staring at his hands. Ladybug nodded slowly.

“I… that’s fair.” She agreed. “I’ll… I’ll come back...” She bowed out, fleeing into the night and going home. She landed on her bed as she came in through the skylight; detransforming as she flopped onto her pillows. She let out a long sigh and buried her face into her pillow.

“Tikki… what am I going to do? I think I really hurt him.” She mumbled. Tikki sighed and turned to look at Marinette.

“I think giving him some space is the best thing you can do for him right now; but I also think you will need to talk to him about this later, for both of your sakes.” She advised. Marinette turned over and looked at the ceiling.

“I know that you’re right… now the other big question is… do I let Adrien know that I know… that me, as Marinette knows?” She wondered. Tikki was quiet for a while before shaking her head.

“For now, the best course of action is to keep it a secret that the Marinette side of you knows as well… he might put it together that you’re Ladybug if he realizes that you and Ladybug found out at the same time. It’s best to be safe for now.” Tikki nodded to her self. Marinette sighed again; heavier this time.

“What am I going to do about school tomorrow, I’ll have to see him then.” She groaned. “I don’t want to lie to him! Even if I don’t tell him that I know… what if he senses that something is up?”

“Marinette, you don’t talk to him much as it is, he’ll probably think that it’s your usual antics.” Tikki pointed out. Marinette had to admit she was right; she never thought her ineptitude to talk to Adrien would ever work in her favor. Maybe Alya would notice something different, but she could probably play it off as nervousness. That wasn’t a complete lie; she was nervous, very nervous.

Now that she was alone and didn’t have Chat’s reassurances and goofy grins; her thoughts began to wander to dark places. All of the terrible things she had ever heard about vampires began to haunt her, and while, logically, she could never imagine Adrien doing any of them; she still feared that he would. She knew it was her imagination getting carried away, but she continued to come up with more and more unpleasant scenarios until drifting into an uneasy sleep filled with nightmares.

Marinette had arrived at school the next morning, hesitantly looking around for Adrien. He stood at the top of the stairs with Nino, talking with him and laughing at a story Nino was telling. He noticed her and waved, she froze up, but Adrien didn’t seem to notice, he just gave her a small smile and went back to his conversation.

Marinette snuck past him and sighed in relief, as she made it to the classroom without drawing his attention.

As he entered she watched him closely, but secretively, trying to determine if he did anything that would give him away as a vampire. He continued to chat with Nino, smiling and going to his seat, turning so that they faced each other to talk.

Marinette scrutinized his face, looking for signs of fangs in his perfect smile; there was nothing, he was the same Adrien as always. Alya came in and raised an eyebrow as she noticed Marinette staring.

“Mari, you might want to dial back the death stare, you’re making Adrien uncomfortable.” She teased, Marinette jumped, sure enough Adrien was glancing up at her nervously, concern on his face, and something like embarrassment.  She quickly looked away, focusing on her hands instead and blushing. Alya and Nino laughed. Adrien cast a sympathetic look at Marinette before finishing his story with Nino.

Marinette didn’t look at Adrien for the rest of the class period, always feeling awkward when she accidentally caught his eye, quickly looking away from him.

At the end of the day Adrien smiled and waved politely to them before getting into the car and leaving.

Marinette looked down at the sidewalk, refusing to wave back and blushing furiously, ashamed at her reaction. Alya rolled her eyes.

“Girl, you need to be more outgoing around Adrien… unless he did something wrong and that why you were glaring daggers at him this morning?” Alya frowned, ready to defend Marinette’s honor.

“No… its just… I’m conflicted about my feelings lately… I just need time.” She insisted, not lying but not being entirely truthful. She sighed and shook her head. “I just need to get some fresh air and a new perspective on the whole thing.” She insisted before heading home; she couldn’t wait for night fall, there was someone she needed to talk to.

Chat was as predictable as ever, lounging on the Eiffel Tower and waiting for her to show up to patrol. He smiled as she approached and Ladybug took a long look at the fangs in his mouth. His smile slowly faded and his brow furrowed.

“Hey… what’s wrong?” he sat up as she looked at him.

“Are you a vampire?” She asked again. Chat sighed and stood up.

“Ladybug? Something tells me that’s a question you really don’t want me to answer.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “The fangs I have now are a by product of being Chat Noir, they aren’t as long or as sharp as a vampire’s fangs… I’m sorry if they make you uncomfortable now, I could speak with my Kwami about removing them… but they also serve as a last line of defense, even if they aren’t as impressive as a vampire’s they’d still hurt if I bit you.”

Ladybug drew in a shuddering breath and covered her face.

“Yes… no… I… I shouldn’t have asked that.” She mumbled.

“If you really wanted to know, I wouldn’t mind telling you, but you’re the one who wanted to keep our identities a secret.” He pointed out gently. She nodded again, then looked up at him.

“You’d really tell me?” she asked softly.

“My Lady, I have wanted to tell you who I am since day one.” He smiled kindly at her. “But I can tell you’re not ready, especially when you’re having this crisis with your vampiric friend.”

“You know me too well Chaton.” She smiled at him. “I can’t get Ad- my friend out of my head… I don’t know what to do… my imagination keep getting out of hand… I have more questions.”

“I am happy to answer them… but I will ask you this… are you afraid of your asking your friend these questions? Surely he could assist you more than I, as much as I am enjoying your attention.” He teased, leaning closer to her. She gently pushed him away by the nose.

“I… probably, but I’m still too… scared maybe? To ask him… I’m afraid of offending him.” She admitted.

“It might be good for you… but I can see where some questions you might have would come off as insensitive.” He nodded, “I’ll make you a deal, we can go on patrol, and you can ask me as many questions as you’d like, but I reserve the right not to answer; and those are the questions you have to go ask your friend.”

Ladybug hesitated, that seemed like a good deal actually, Chat could answer all the questions she felt would be too offensive to ask Adrien, and she could go to Adrien for more general answer, plus it might be a good way to get used to him; to normalize him being a vampire.

“Okay… you have a deal.” Ladybug nodded. Chat smiled.

“Then lets begin.” He agreed and began running across the Paris rooftops, Ladybug followed quickly. She asked a barrage of questions. How do vampires hide their fangs? Do they have magic powers? How do vampires make babies? How close are they to humans? How were they created? How many vampires were out there in the world?

Chat answered most of the questions, their fangs grew by magic, yes they did have some magic, the older they were the more power they had, a young vampire like Adrien wouldn’t be as powerful, if she wanted to know more about their powers, she’d have to as Adrien. Vampires made babies by having sex, that was it, the same as humans were made. Vampires that had sex with humans didn’t make half-vampire babies, they were just vampire babies, and they weren’t of a ‘diluted bloodline’ as Chat had put it, they would be 100% vampire.

Vampires were about 80% similar to humans, most of the differences were in the magic and the drinking blood. He told her that the vampire ‘creation story’ was something she’d have to ask Adrien for. Chat also didn’t know how many vampires were out in the world. The only people who knew that for sure was some sort of council, she would have to ask Adrien about this council too.

They came to rest at the top of the Eiffel Tower again as their patrol ended, Chat kissed her knuckled and bowed deeply to her.

“I hope that our night didn’t suck, too me it was bloody puurrrfection.” He teased. Ladybug laughed, then waved him off.

“Go home you silly cat.” She smiled. “And no more vampire puns!”

“Of course, I hope I was able to ease some of your worries. Besides, my puns are pawsome.” He bowed his head to her before turning. “Till the next time, My Lady.” He winked before he disappeared over the horizon. Ladybug giggled and sighed, she debated on whether or not to visit Adrien again, perhaps he wouldn’t want to see her again. He’d said he needed time to process her betrayal, he hadn’t said it like that but he might as well have. She sighed and glanced in the direction of Adrien’s house, hesitating to go see him.

She found herself watching him from across the street, he was pacing in his room as he was practicing his Chinese, reading from a paper, slowly and muttering to himself.

After a while he moved to the window, opening it and then going back to his Chinese lesson. Ladybug froze wondering if he’d spotted her, if he could hear her or if he just wanted to open a window. Would he transform into a bat and fly out? That was a question she should have asked Chat when she had a chance. She stared at him, and he finally put his papers down, seemingly finished. He then looked right at her and she nearly stumbled back. He chuckled and waved at her, then gestured to the open window. Ladybug slowly nodded before she swung across the street and into his room, landing quietly inside.

“How… how did you know I was out there?” She whispered.

“Ladybug, you’re wearing a bright red suit, and it’s not completely dark yet.” He pointed out with a small smile. “Though… I admit I have better vision that a human, you’re also not very subtle.” He teased. Ladybug, laughed, his smile had a way of putting her at ease.

“Are you… do you feel better?” she asked quietly. Adrien nodded and sat on the couch, he gestured for her to sit next to him.

“Mostly… I mean…” He sighed and looked over her, “I can never seem to stay upset for long… I’m just a little shaken up, but I still realize that you must be too.” He smiled. “How are you doing about all of this… about me being a vampire?”

“Vampire… right… yes… I don’t know.” She sighed. “It’s all so confusing… how come the sun doesn’t burn you?” she blurted out, also something she realized she could have asked Chat earlier in the night.

“I… I’m well fed.” He admitted with a blush. “Its more of a slight nuisance than anything else as long as I eat regularly.” He sighed and looked outside. “Plus… I don’t know… I like the sun, as long as I’m not out in it too long, and I’m talking more than 10 hours straight, Its nice… it’s warm and comforting.” He smiled, then turned to look at her. “And before you ask, the blood I receive is donated, no one is hurt, or there are volunteers; like the girl from the other night.” He replied.

“Volunteers?” she frowned.

“Sometimes… people who know about me, or at least about my kind, they will volunteer their blood to us, there are some of them who want to be bitten, I’ve been told it’s not unpleasant.” He nodded. Ladybug made a face and Adrien looked away ashamed.

“No! Not you, it’s just… I mean it sounds painful.” She explained.

“The initial bite is more like a small sting, or so I’ve heard… it’s the effects of the bite that some of them are after. It makes them feel euphoric, or high. It can also cause a bit of amnesia, most of the time they don’t actually remember being fed on, they just remember the high.” He explained.

“So that’s what you meant by the girl not remembering anything.” Ladybug nodded.

“Yes, she still knows I’m a vampire, and she still knows that I fed on her, but she doesn’t remember it, the actual feeding.” He looked away, shame crossing his face again. Ladybug nodded quietly, she surveyed him, she wanted to comfort him, but at the same time, she could still feel a bit of disgust at the thought of drinking human blood to survive. Adrien stared at the window until Ladybug spoke again.

“I… I have some questions if you don’t mind me asking?” she asked softly. Adrien turned to look at her.

“I will try and answer to the best of my ability.” He agreed.

“What… what kind of powers do you have?” She whispered. Adrien took a breath and sighed.

“I… well not many actually… I guess I see well at night, but I would call that part of my biology, not really a power… I’m faster than most humans, but I wouldn’t call it supernaturally fast, stronger that most humans, but probably still weaker than the Gorilla… he’s my body guard, I call him that because he sort of looks like a Gorilla.” He chuckled before he became serious again. “I guess that I’m also a bit sturdier and I heal faster than a human, and sometimes I can kind of hypnotize people… It’s not perfect; it’s more like charming them I suppose. I ask them to do something and they do it. I never really use it, unless it’s necessary… but it’s usually not.”

Ladybug froze, he could ask people to do something and they would just do it? He could ask someone to jump off a bridge and they’d do it, or ask her to let him bite her and she’d do it?

“Ladybug?” He asked, his brow furrowed with worry. He reached out to touch her, she flinched and he drew back. “It’s not absolute you know… I couldn’t talk someone into doing something they absolutely wouldn’t do… and I wouldn’t want to, even if I could. If I could do that, I’d probably talk Chloe into being nicer, but I actually probably wouldn’t, even if I could. It’s not like I can tell people to do something and they do it without question, it just… it’s hard to explain… it’s like making them more open to my suggestion, but if they don’t want to do it, they wont.” He elaborated. Ladybug nodded slowly.

“So… you couldn’t tell me to take off my mask, and I’d just do it?” she whispered.

“No, you wouldn’t, you might think about it more than just saying no, but you wouldn’t, unless you really wanted to take of your mask and show me who you are.” He reassured. She let out a breath and stared at him for a while, looking over his face with something like nostalgia. Adrien was quiet, staring back at her as well, waiting for her to speak. They sat like that for a while before Ladybug spoke again.

“You can be hurt.” She stated.

“All living things can be hurt.” He nodded. “I’m not undead, I was born, and I will die, it might be after a longer period than most humans, but I will still die.” He nodded.

“Your parents are vampires?” she whispered.

“My mother was.” He looked away sadly. “She was a vampire… but my father… he’s human. I realize that he probably doesn’t know what to do with me, since he doesn’t really know what I am… he can’t relate to it. My mother had this way of helping him understand, helping him realize and accept our differences. She had a way of explaining things to him that made him understand everything… She had a way of making me feel less like a freak. She made me feel normal… and I wasn’t ever ashamed of being like this.” He drew away from her, pulling his knees to his chest. “Then she disappeared and left me alone in this world of humans.” He looked away from Ladybug realizing that she probably was human, and that she probably couldn’t relate to what he was saying.

“Anyway…” he coughed and tried to pretend that he hadn’t said that. “I don’t have any other family on my mother’s side in the area, and I don’t want to leave my father alone… So I guess I’ll stay here…” he shrugged. Ladybug nodded, she wanted to comfort him, but wasn’t sure how.

“Did you have any more questions?” He asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yes… a few… but I can stop now if you’d like.” She assured. Adrien shrugged, giving her a small smile. “I’m used to people prying into my life, even if I’m a vampire, I’m still a famous model.” He reminded. “I don’t mind, especially if it puts your mind more at ease.” He smiled kindly at her. Ladybug nodded and shook her head looking out of the window and away from him.

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, even if it does satisfy my curiosity.” She explained. Adrien watched her for a while before looking out of the window too.

“I’m not a killer.” He whispered. “I try not to hurt people, I try to help them when I can. I’m not a bad person, vampire or human, my mom always told me it was a persons actions that defined them, not their origin.” He sighed and looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry if I scare you, I truly don’t mean to, it breaks my heart to know that I do.” He sighed. Ladybug looked over at him, and gave him a small smile.

“It’s… it’s okay. I reacted rashly too, I can jump to conclusions easily and I get easily riled up sometimes.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” Adrien looked up at her, smiling softly.

“Thank you… I appreciate your kind words.” He smiled at her. “If you ever have any questions about me, and my kind, feel free to stop by.” He smiled. Ladybug chuckled, a feeling of normalcy settling in at last.

“Of course, as long as you don't start making vampire puns.” She chuckled.

“Vampire puns?” Adrien raised an eyebrow. “That’s a bloody good idea.” He laughed. Ladybug rolled her eyes.

“I’ve had enough vampire puns from Chat, thank you very much.” She huffed.

“I take it Chat Noir was the one to convince you that I wasn’t an evil blood sucking monster then.” He cocked his head to the side. Ladybug sighed and nodded.

“Yes… I mean… I kind of already knew that… but… you’re a vampire… and you and vampire just didn’t seem to go in the same sentence… when I think vampire I think…”

“Brooding ancient men with widow’s peaks and capes?” he offered, “Or perhaps sparkling American vampires with constipated expressions?”

Ladybug laughed and nodded.

“Something like that… And you… you’re nothing like either of those.” She looked out the window again. “It’s been… difficult… trying to wrestle with everything I thought I knew about vampires, and also try to see how you fit into that… but Chat helped me realize that vampires aren’t like the ones on TV or in the books or lore… at least as far as cape wearing monsters go.” She nodded. Adrien smiled at her and then shook his head.

“Some of it is misinformation spread to make humans feel safer, at least that's how it started… but there are still vampires, especially hundreds of years ago, that would actively hunt humans… there are still some out there… most of us don’t hunt humans, and never have. It’s very unusual to hear of these days… for some humans we’re just the hottest new drug, a new way to get high and leave their troubles behind. We’ve passed into myth and legend and most humans don’t even believe we exist anymore.” He glanced over at Ladybug. “As evidenced by your shock upon discovering me.” Ladybug nodded as she looked at him, searching his face for a while as they fell into silence. Adrien grew quiet to watching Ladybug as she searched him. After some time she spoke again.

“Can… can I see them?” she asked hesitantly, avoiding eye contact as she did so.

“See what?” Adrien frowned, unsure of what she was asking.

“Your fangs.” She explained. Adrien hesitated then shook his head.

“I… I’d rather not… it’s… I don’t want to scare you away again.” He whispered.

“You won’t, I promise you won’t… I just… I need to see them… so I can make sure it was real and I’m not going crazy.” She explained.

“Are you sure?” he looked down at his hands then back up to her for her answer. She nodded slowly.

“I can assure you you’re not crazy, and that I really am a vampire… I… I don’t know if you really want to see them.” He mumbled as he looked away.

“Adrien… I won’t run away this time… please…” Ladybug put a hand on his knee. Adrien nodded then slowly opened his mouth, showing her his teeth, at first they looked normal, then his canines began to grow long and sharp. Ladybug watched, transfixed, she wanted to touch them, to make sure they were real. Adrien closed his mouth again and swallowed hesitantly.

“I… do they get in the way?” she asked quietly. Adrien gave her a small fanged smile.

“No… not really… I usually only use them to eat… I don’t walk around with them out.” He explained. Ladybug nodded, then touched her own mouth hesitantly.

“What is it like? When you feed?” her voice was low still, a hushed tone as if she were whispering a secret. Adrien was quiet, he ran his tongue over his fangs then shook his head slowly.

“I don’t know… I guess… I don’t know how to explain it to a human.” He let his fangs shrink back into normal teeth. “It’s… it’s a bit like thirst I suppose, you’re thirsty, and to me feeding is like drinking a nice cool glass of ice water, and also like having a fine steak.” He shook his head. “It’s not like that at all… but that’s the best human equivalent I can think of right now.” He gave her a weak smile, hoping he hadn’t scared her off again. Ladybug nodded slowly and took a deep breath.

“You’re still just Adrien though… even if you have to drink blood… I suppose you need that as much as I need food… and I’m having a hard time condemning you for it.” She gave him a small smile.

“Do you want to condemn me for it?” he asked, his voice quiet and broken.

“I don’t know… not really.” She sighed. “But I guess a part of me is a bit hung up on the drinking blood part… it’s icky to me.” She admitted. Adrien laughed softly.

“Of course it’s icky to you, you’re human, it’s not something you’d likely dream of doing. It’s… I guess it’s a bit like how some humans drink those nasty protein shakes, vile things… but I suppose, it also means more from your perspective… since it is your blood and the blood of your people that keeps me alive.” He sighed again. “I… I really want to trust you… and I do but… I also can’t help but feel defensive, even though I can see how, from your perspective, this is confusing and frightening.” He ran a hand through his hair and down the back of his neck.

“I suppose… It’s not confusing and frightening to me, it’s just my life… and I can’t help but feel defensive of that. Of you calling my way of life, way of survival ‘icky’ you know…” he explained.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” Ladybug quickly refuted. Adrien shook his head.

“Maybe you don’t, but that's the way it comes out… I’m icky, because I drink blood.” He shrugged. “I don’t really expect you to accept it, I just kind of hope you’ll understand.” He stood up. “But, I do have school in the morning, and I suspect you do to, unless you really are 5000 years old like Alya’s blog says… but given that you haven’t encountered a creature like me before, I suspect not.” He smiled kindly at her. Ladybug stood up and nodded.

“You’re not a creature Adrien, you’re a person, vampire or no.” She smiled back. “Thank you… for letting me talk to you, for putting my mind at ease.” She climbed onto the window ledge. “Goodnight, Adrien.”

“Goodnight, Ladybug.” He gave her a quick salute before she swung off again.