#it really throws me off when marinettes voice changes when she sings

[leoullaby]

Im trying to watch the mlb movie

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances: Ch. 24: Important Questions (Wedding)

AO3

Prev

Marinette pouts from her spot on the couch, shoving another spoonful of cookie dough in her mouth. She makes her eyes as big as possible, channeling Manon as she tries to emulate the younger girls’ puppy dog eyes.

“Silena, your kid’s eyes are breaking my heart. Look at her!” Harley cries, pointing at Marinette’s face. Silena rolls her eyes.

“Don’t give in Harls, remember what happened the last time we watched it?” Silena reminds her, and Marinette resists the urge to huff at her soon-to-be stepmom. Or, bonus mom, as she’d taken to mentally calling her. Stepmom had such an unfair negative context thanks to fairytales, and she actually really liked Silena. Except in this one moment. At this moment, they were on opposite sides of the war.

“Please Auntie Harley! Please!” She begs again, sitting up so that she can make direct eye contact with the woman. If she was any good at the ‘Manon stare’ as she called it, then Harley would be giving up in 3, 2, 1-

“Okay! I give! Looks like we’re watching Mamma Mia next.” Harley calls out, leaning over to grab the remote and turn the movie on. Marinette grins widely, settling back on the couch and curling into Selina’s side. Selina huffs.

“You’re lucky I love you, kitten. Last time we watched this Harley got in trouble for her impromptu ABBA concerts.” She complains, and Marinette’s grin widens.

“Really?” She says, then she gasps as the best idea comes to mind. “I just realized something.”

“What is it kiddo?” Harley asks, popping a handful of Reese's Pieces in her mouth.

“You guys can be Donna and the Dynamos.” She says, before miming a small explosion. This was awesome! Amazing! She could- whoa. She could even design them a group outfit with the characters in mind. She could already imagine all the ways she could improve on the original design. Of course she’d keep the bell bottoms, they were a staple of the time. And she knew her bonus mom and aunts would rock a good pair of bell bottoms. The major changes would come with the material type, the colors, and the sleeves of the suits.

“If we perform another musical on a roof Batsy’s gonna get mad.” Harley says with a sigh. Marinette purses her lips as she thinks. She was technically already on thin ice. She’d stolen the Batmobile earlier in the week, and had managed to worm her way into regular patrols. Which was technically her dad’s fault, but he still looked frustrated the first night she walked down and asked who she was patrolling with. But she was finally patrolling with them regularly, even if it felt like she had a babysitter some of the time (all of the time). She was supposed to always be with her dad or Dick (apparently she’s not allowed to go out with just Jason or Damian because they caused ‘trouble’ when they were left unsupervised). So she went, but it was more stifling than patrols in Paris. Patrols which she’d had to lighten up on, with the lack of attacks and the way it tired out Kaalki before there was even an emergency. It was wrong. But if she kept one of Gotham’s former rogues off the crime path with catchy tunes and bell bottom pants, who was her dad to judge?

---

Apparently her dad wouldn’t judge. Dick on the other hand..

“How can you do this to me? This is an absolute, utter, complete, total-”

“Dick, calm down! What’s wrong, talk to me.” Marinette hushes her older brother, looking at him worriedly. He takes a deep breath.

“I can’t believe you would stoop so low. After the hurtful things you said about my discowing suit?” He sniffles, throwing a hand over his heart. Marinette blinks, then realizes what the man was talking about.

“Is this about the Donna and the Dynamos outfits that I designed for those girls?” Marinette asks frowning. Dick lets out a pained moan, contorting his face as if he was in actual pain.

“I thought you cared about me! I thought we were close!” He cries. Marinette huffs, shoving him lightly.

“If I designed your discowing suit, it wouldn’t have been godawful. We would have used the disco elements in a way that didn’t suck. Ya know, like I did with the Sirens’ outfits?” She says, patting his back. “Just because I hated your suit doesn’t mean I hate you.” She reassures him. Though the distressed groan he lets out lets her know that he’s still taking it to heart. Oops.

---

“Hey! I’m here. I brought ice cream, like Harley asked.” Marinette announces, using the key Silena had given her to get into the apartment. She frowns at the emptiness of the apartment. She’d never seen it so devoid of life. Someone (usually Harley) was always there to greet her and pick her up into a huge hug. Not today though, which put her on edge. Creeping forward slowly, she glances around the room, looking for any potential danger. Or clues on where the Sirens might be. Had they forgotten about her? Just as she’s about to text Silena, music seeps into the apartment and she tenses. Until she sees her bonus mom and aunts. In their Dynamo outfits. Performing “Super Trouper”. With choreography and everything. Marinette lets out a short laugh, grinning widely at the three who just laugh and continue singing.

“Cause somewhere in the crowd there’s you.” Selina sings, pointing dramatically at Marinette. Marinette runs over and stands next to Silena, moving quietly and copying their movements. She’s pleasantly surprised at the level that she’s able to keep up with them, laughing with glee as the song continues. Once it’s done, the three women wrap her in a hug and Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed together.

“Ya know, I love that I got to see the outfits in action and everything, but was there a reason for the dramatics?” Marinette asks with a teasing smile. Silena glances at the other two before nodding.

“Marinette, sweetheart, I wanted to ask if you would be one of the bridesmaids.” Silena says and Marinette freezes. She swears she bluescreens. Bridesmaid? Her? She’s a disaster. She can’t do anything right and then her dad and Silena will be upset with her but then they’ll get more disappointed at each other and when she tries to fix it they won’t let her and instead they’ll send her away and say they never wanna see her again because she’s an awful bridesmaid and-

“Kitten, I need you to breathe.” Silena’s voice breaks through the haze she’s found herself in. Marinette blinks slowly, trying to break herself out of whatever hell her mind had managed to suck her into today.

“Why me?” Is what’s able to escape her mouth. It’s the only question that is able to breath past the barrier that Marinette set up for herself.

“Because you’re my daughter, whether you like it or not. So I want you to be part of the wedding, more than just someone who shows up for the food in a fancy outfit. Though that can definitely be your motivator.” Silena says, looking slightly unsure as she watches Marinette’s face- probably looking for any visible cues of discomfort. Marinette grins widely before throwing herself forward, wrapping her arms around the older woman, melting in the arms of the woman who truly was her second mom. She sighs in content at how safe she feels, how at home she is. It was strange for her, how quickly Gotham had managed to worm its way into her soul. Strange, but definitely something that they would figure out. She had to. She refused to lose either side of her family- civilian or not.

Next

Tag list:  @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @laurcad123 @waiting247 @jayjayspixiepop @mizzy-pop @jjmjjktth @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82 @lady-bee-fechin @corporeal-terrestrial

[ravennm84]

Don’t Mess with my Friends, Don’t Mess with my Family

TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains physical, verbal, emotional abuse and talk of rape; please be aware before proceeding. And know that if you are a victim and need help, don’t give up, there are people out there who can and want to help you.

This is a story told from Lila’s point of view, about how down hill her life has gone because of the choices she’s made. Lots of Lila salt to come!! Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!

Life had not been kind to Lila Rossi for many years now. It had all fallen apart during lycee, starting when she had pushed that bitch, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, down the stairs. It had been the first day at their new school and she hadn’t noticed the hall monitor, the teacher, or the security cameras. They had caught video and audio of Lila threatening the girl before giving her a hard push down the stairs. Before she could even say a single thing in her defense, the teacher had grabbed her by the arm and marched her down to the principal’s office to wait for her mother. No matter how many times she tried to lie, the witnesses and video proved that she was the one who hurt Maribrat.

Lila had been suspended for three weeks and later expelled at her hearing after evidence of her harassing the same girl during college had surfaced during the investigation by the Board of Governors. Lila’s mother, had been absolutely furious and had been struggling to find another lycee that would accept her daughter; but the assault, bullying, and forgery of her signature and multiple doctors’ notes were now on her permanent record, making it a struggle.

The next incident occurred two weeks after her expulsion, Hawkmoth had been defeated and unmasked as Gabriel Agreste. That meant no more akumas for her to try and destroy Marinette or Ladybug, no more being a Gabriel model, and no way to force Adrien into being her boyfriend. She had lost her ride to the top.

In fact, with his father out of his life, Adrien seemed to have grown a spine and did a tell-all on TVi News a few days later. He admitted how his father seemed to change after his mother “disappeared”, how he tried to do anything and everything to please him, but it was never enough. He talked about the long hours on photoshoots, which were against child labor laws, and the way his diet had been strictly monitored. How he’d considered it a large victory to finally go to school, but that freedom was constantly under threat by his father if anything went wrong.

Then he went into the first time something did go “wrong”, when he had borrowed his father’s book to look over it, only for it to be stolen. 

“You say ‘stolen’, do you know who did that?” Nadja Chamack asked him.

“Yes, I do. Her name is Lila Rossi and she has been the bane of my existence since the day I met her.”

Lila was speechless as she and her mother watched the news. She wanted to hide in her room but her mother kept her in her seat as they continued to watch Adrien vent his grievances about her.

“She stole the book from me and threw it away after she got what she wanted out of it. If my friend, Marinette, hadn’t seen her take the book in the library and then throw it in the trash, it might have ended up in a landfill somewhere. She then claimed to be the holder of the fox miraculous and Ladybug’s best friend. Only Ladybug, herself, showed up a couple minutes later because she had seen Lila’s fake interview on the Ladyblog. She told her to stop lying since it was dangerous and she hated liars. I can’t even be mad at Ladybug for calling her out, since she was right.

“After that, Lila practically became a stalker. She followed me everywhere, lied to people about how close we were, lied about one of my best friends, Marinette, to isolate her since she knew Lila was a liar, lied her way into my house and got Nathalie and my bodyguard in trouble, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. She started working with Gabriel to keep an eye on me.” Adrien practically spat his father’s name, looking absolutely hurt and disgusted as he continued on. “He made me start working with her while she kept trying to isolate me from my friends, telling him who the ‘bad influences’ were in my life, and telling everyone that we were in a relationship. I couldn’t even contradict her because she threatened me!”

“How did she threaten you?” Nadja asked, her voice full of concern when she saw Adrien shaking.

“Told me that if I didn’t do everything she said and agreed with her when she lied, she would get me pulled out of school again. I didn’t realize how bad it could be, but then she started tou-touching me and kissing me without my permission. When I told her to stop, she’d grab my arm and dig her nails in until I bled, I’ve still got scars from all the times she grabbed me too hard.”

Lila really wanted to be anywhere else but sitting beside her angry mother at this point. Everything Adrien was saying maybe true, but there was no actual proof. Those scars could have been caused my anyone and she had never written down any agreement with-

“The only thing I could do was get proof of what she was doing, so one of the times when Lila was forcing herself on me, I had a camera going in my dressing room. I even made sure to have the manager put up signs that the area was under video surveillance so it would stand up as evidence in court.”

Well, shit.

“With your permission, Adrien, may I play the recording.” Nadja asked him, her voice gentle and reassuring. Taking a breath, Adrien nodded while closing his eyes and covering his ears.

The recording showed Adrien getting his shoes on in his dressing room before standing quickly and backing away when the door opened. “What are you doing in here, Lila? I’m trying to get dressed.”

“I don’t mind, there’s nothing wrong with a girlfriend seeing a little more of her boyfriend,” Lila purred as she stepped into the frame.

Adrien took a step back. “We’re not dating, and I’m not comfortable with you being here. Now get out.”

Lila gulped, remembering this day. It hadn’t struck her as strange at the time why Adrien seemed to be talking back to her more than normal, and she had taken her anger out on him. Now it all made perfect sense…

The video showed Lila stomping over with a cruel grimace on her face before she roughly pushed him against the wall. She then proceeded to dig her nails into the soft parts of his arms. “I think you’ve come to the delusional conclusion that you actually have a choice in the matter, Adrien~,” her voice continued to purr, but the angle of the video showed a threatening gleam to her eyes. “Unless you do what I say, you can kiss everything good in your life goodbye. You’ll go back to being homeschooled; your little friend, Marinette will be expelled again and it will stick this time, I’ll even tell everyone that you tried to rape me and people will believe it because I’m a girl.”

Lila dug her nails in harder, causing Adrien to whimper before she leaned in to give him, what the audience saw as a forceful, sloppy kiss.

“Hurry up now, we don’t want to keep the photographer waiting.” Lila said in a sing-song voice before skipping out of the room.

Adrien took a few breaths before looking at the camera and stepping closer. Pulling up the sleeves of his shirt, the video clearly caught the nail marks that were already bleeding and forming bruises before the video stopped and returned to Adrien and Nadja. “That is only one of multiple incidences where Lila hurt or forced herself on me. I tried talking to my fa- to Gabriel  about what she was doing, but he only told me that Lila would be a ‘good match’ for me and that I should consider dating her. Now that he’s out of my life, I want everyone to know the kind of people both of them are. I refuse to let Lila Rossi have any more power over me. I’ve already filed police reports and a restraining order, given them the video recordings, and sworn statements. Even if it feels like I’m running away from my problems by doing this, I never want to see either of them ever again!”

The rest of the interview became background noise as Mrs. Rossi began screaming at her daughter for doing such despicable things, but was interrupted when the police came knocking on their door a few minutes later. Her mother ordered the police to get Lila out of her sight and that she would be waving whatever diplomatic immunity she may have.

That was eight years ago. Since that night; Lila had stood trial for her crimes against Marinette and Adrien, was found guilty, and had been deported back to Italy where she served seven years of a 10 year jail sentence. Now that she was out, all she could think of was the same thing that had been on her mind since that night, destroying Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. First thing she did was look them up on the internet at the library, since she didn’t have a job, laptop, or smartphone anymore. 

Adrien was reported to be living a quiet life at an undisclosed location in France. He’d quit modelling, sold off his father’s company, and had graduated from a private lycee with his close friend, Marinette. Lila tried contacting her followers from college to discern his exact location, but many had changed their numbers. Those who hadn’t, hung up the moment they figured out she was calling and then blocked her number. Deciding to save finding Adrien for another day, Lila decided to focus on Marinette. That bitch was a lot easier to trace; and the more she read, the angrier she got. 

Marinette had become well known as a designer; becoming the go-to girl for musicians, movie stars, and the powerful elite. There were multiple articles on her clothes, how they were always praised and seen as the new wave of fashion. She had won countless awards and had founded her own fashion house two years earlier! Lila recognized one of the models as that quiet, goth freak, Juleka. That girl had been named the top female model three years in a row! Lila quickly decided that she would take the time to ruin that girl’s life as well, once she was done with Maribrat.

More research showed that Marinette also did charity work; including multiple high end donations, school sponsorships, and there was even a video clip of her standing with Rose and Prince Ali doing a ribbon cutting at a children’s hospital in Achu. The look of pure happiness on both of the women’s faces made Lila’s teeth grit so hard they almost cracked.

But the worst, the absolute worst thing she read was an article in which Marinette talked about balancing her career and family life. The bitch hadn’t married Adrien, it was a small comfort, but not much. Instead, she had married Luka Couffaine, Juleka’s older brother. He’d made a name for himself as an international rockstar, only rivaled by his father, Jagged Stone. Reading his list of popular songs, Lila’s anger swelled when she realized that she’d heard more than a few of those songs over the radio in prison. The two had a blissfully happy marriage, no scandals or anything that Lila could use against them. They even had a child! A little girl named Melody that looked to be three years old.

Lila had never hated Marinette Dupain-Cheng… Marinette Couffaine, more in her entire life! The bitch had the life that should have been Lila’s; rich, famous, respected, and with a handsome/rich husband. Even her brat daughter looked cute. SHE HATED IT!

She was five seconds away from screaming and punching out the computer screen when she saw the most recent article. Marinette and her family were coming to Milan, Italy next week for Fashion Week. She was going to be showing her autumn and winter lines and was scheduled to be one of the biggest shows of Fashion Week.

A cruel smile stretched across her lips as her mind was already forming a plan, but things would be different this time. She wasn’t going to stop with just hurting Marinette or ruining her reputation. No, this time, nothing would satisfy Lila other than that bitch’s life.

~oOo~

In the days leading up to Fashion Week, Lila had made her way to Milan and staked out the airport to wait for her prey to arrive. She watched the arrival of every limo that came, day and night, until the family arrived. When she saw them, she sneered at how sickly-sweet they appeared. Luka held his guitar case in one hand, Marinette held her purse on her opposite hand, and their daughter was giggling between them, holding both of their hands and wearing a small Ladybug backpack. The little girl giggled as her parents swung her into the air by her hands and they smiled down at her in adoration.

Lila easily followed them to their hotel, stacking it out as she learned their routine. Within three days, she saw how the three of them would have breakfast together every morning before Marinette would walk to the venue where her show would be held a couple blocks away, while Luka stayed with their daughter. Luka and Melody would go to the venue later in the day to pick her up, and then they would walk back to the hotel together. Deciding to make her move on the fourth day, Lila stole a decent sized kitchen knife from a restaurant and waited half way down the second block during the morning.

Sure enough, Marinette came strolling down the sidewalk, seemingly without a care in the world. However, there was a slight difference today, her daughter was holding Marinette’s hand as she sang one of her daddy’s songs. Lila barely pondered for a second if she should hold off on killing Marinette until the little girl wasn’t around, but immediately disregarded the thought. If nothing else, she could kidnap the girl while leaving the bitch with just enough life to hear her daughter screaming for mommy. That would be even better!

So, brandishing her knife, Lila jumped away from the the building she’d been leaning against to kill her hated enemy and get revenge for ruining everyt-

The next thing Lila knew, was waking up to an EKG machine beeping to her right, her left arm handcuffed to the bed, and her entire body hurt. Her right arm and right leg were both in casts and she could feel a large bandage on her head. She would find out later, when speaking to her court appointed attorney, exactly what had happened to her. And it wasn’t because he told her, oh no, it had all been caught on another damn surveillance camera.

Lila had jumped from her spot with the knife, only for Marinette to push her daughter behind her, grab Lila’s wrist on the third swipe, and break her elbow over her knee to force her to drop the knife. When Lila had continued to attack her; Marinette had kicked her in the side of the knee, dislocating her kneecap, and then punched her in the face so hard that she’d flown backwards and was knocked unconscious when her head hit the street. There were also dozens of witnesses to the attack, all claiming that Lila had a mad look in her eyes and that Marinette had been fighting like a mama bear protecting her cub. 

The lawyer then told her that he would defend her to the best of his ability, but that her case didn’t look good. She had violated her parole, violated the restraining order, and was being charged with stalking and two counts of first-degree attempted murder. 

Days later, while still handcuffed to her bed in the hospital, nearly every news channel was showing Fashion Week. And who had the biggest show with the most coverage? Maribrat, that’s who! The critics couldn’t get enough of her fashion lines or the recent attack on her and her daughter. 

To Lila’s never ending frustration, Marinette stayed calm and demure the entire time as her daughter cuddled her side and Luka kept a supportive arm around her shoulder. “I’ll admit, the attack happened so fast, all I could do was react. I just kept thinking that this person had a weapon and might hurt my baby, so I attacked and didn’t stop until she was down. It wasn’t until she was unconscious that I recognized her as Lila Rossi, a girl from my past that had done a lot to try and hurt me and my friends. Last I knew, she was in jail and I had a restraining order filed against her. This time, I have a team of lawyers at my disposal and I’m going to make sure that she’ll never be able to even try to hurt my family or me ever again.”

Just like that, sales for Marinette’s brand skyrocketed, with critics describing her as a strong woman designing clothes to empower people around the world. 

Lila lost her case, the lawyer had attepmted to argue that it was never her intention to hurt the child, but no one believed it. She was forced to finish her previous sentence, and had a life sentence added on top of that. And because she had broken her parole to stalk and try to kill Marinette Couffaine, she was denied the possibility of parole ever again. 

Taglist:

@animegirlweeb  @iamablinkmarvelarmy

@karokatten  @abrx2002

@delightfulcookiesrecipespizza  @unmaskedagain

@insomniac-nerd-posts-things

[miraculous-mystery]

Adrien's Addiction and Trips To Gotham- Pt. 6

Previous

Marinette sighed as Alix went on a rant of how stressful learning about her miraculous is. Apparently, Fluff had decided it was time to wake up and according to Alix, finding out you help the miraculous of time was a painful experience. 

"Alix, please calm down," Marinette pleaded with the bedridden girl. Alix had a terrible migraine for most of the day that she could barely stand without tumbling over. 

"Mari. I love you, honestly, but it is impossible for me to calm down," Alix deadpanned. She sighed, "I fainted 3 times today because of this. I know as much as the kwamis now, but I'm still a 16 year old human. This is a huge change Mar." 

Marinette understood, she really did because it was a big change for her too. What was she to do with Fluff? Let her stay with Alix and risk Alix's safety? Or should she take Fluff away? "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean it like that. Lila is being Lila—"

Alix cut her off, "I know what happened today, Buginette," she placed a hand on her shoulder. Marinette realized now.

"Alix you know, don't you?" She stared at the pink haired girl with apologetic eyes. No one except her and Adrien should be subject to those memories. 

"How do you two live?" Alix asked placed a hand on Marinette's cheek. Alix was reminding her of a mother.

"We have to, Al. We have no say in that," she replied leaned into Alix's touch. 

"I'm so, so sorry!" The skater breaks down. Marinette notes that this is one of the few times she ever seen her cry. "I really want to help you two but then I can throw off a whole timeline! You two deserve to not have those things weighing on your conscience but they're there and I can't help you." 

Marinette stares at her. "You're so lucky, Alix," she whispered softly making sure that her voice was below Alix's sobs. She could feel the pain that her Adrien have locked away so tightly. She could cry and not be numb to it like her. 

She wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl, trying to keep her calm enough to not cause an akuma but allowing Alix to experience it. She needed to experience it, to cry, so she can laugh afterwards. So she can be Alix again. Not the broken girl in her arms but Alix, the girl she helped get her rights to become a figure skater and rollerblader. 

Adrien was at the doorpost staring at the whole interaction. He slowly moved towards the bed and hugged the two girls. Her started singing the lullaby he used to calm her down and Alix gradually calmed down. 

There weren't a lot of permanent holders for a reason.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Chloé froze at how broken Alix looked. She opened her arms for her and Alix immediately ran to her, curling up in her lap. Another one she noted, another traumatized sunshine. 

Many people thought she was extremely tough because of she carries herself but Chloé knows, once it matters it hits her hard. 

Alix just stayed there. There was no crying, just Alix being a bit touch starved. Adrien and Marinette eventually joined them, cuddling up to Chloé and wrapping their arms around the new member. 

Chloé wasn't a permanent holder to protect Paris. No, she was a permanent holder to protect those who protect Paris. If that meant that they would more than likely end up cuddling with them everyday and watching there kids she would gladly do it because she knows how it feels to see all that death, she's seen it.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Lady Noire smiles back at Max as she steps through the portal. "I'll call you when you need to open it back up okay?" Max nodded before closing it. Adrien had Tikki right now, they had decided that the ladybug holder needed to be the first on the scene so Tikki had to stay. 

It wouldn't be good to give Tikki to Chloé or Alix since they couldn't balance out Tikki's good luck. No one apart from the chosen two should hold the ladybug or black car. Alya proved that it was dangerous.

Bunnix stepped out of her Burrow, umbrella open overhead. "Sorry for the wait, Lady Black. Bruce is still an untrackable shit." Marinette giggled, it was always fun to hear Bunnix talk about people she's met through her subconscious. When she says that the other meets her normally of course it's just that Bunnix's real body isn't there, just her subconscious' own.

She followed Bunnix's lead and found Batman. When Batman noticed them Bunnix was quick to clarify, "B, don't attack old friends! That's rude!" 

Batman froze slightly before going back to normal, "You're a superhero?" 

"Yup! Nice to see ya again," she replied with a smile. "Come on B I wanna see your lovely sons and my little angsty child." 

Lady Noir honestly isn't surprised the girl's met majority of Batman's family. 

The keader of the bats looks at Bunnix, more than likely in curiosity, "Who?"

"You'll find out." 

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Batman wasn't expecting to see his time traveling friend at 2 in the morning. They were ending patrol now (probably why she appeared right then) and he was more than ready to go home.

He led her and her companion to the batcave. He didn't ask who she, Alix was more than likely going to explain who they were. 

By the time he got to the cave everyone was there. As soon as Bunnix stepped in she dropped her transformation(?). He's never seen Damian light up before. Sure it wasn't a huge light up but noticeable enough for his brothers to see it and turn to where he's looking. 

Dick, being the most loving of them, ran up to her first. "It's been years, Al! You don't look a day older, no fair!" Alix grined at him enveloping him in a hug.

"Holy shit, D, you've gotten so much bigger!" She pulled back to go over to Jason, jumping to ruffle his hair, "Hey, Peter. How's life been?" Obvious play on his death. She moved on to Tim waving her hand in front of his face, "B," her tone suggests she was going to ask a stupid question, "why ya keeping the kid's corpse for?"

Then she went over to Damian who gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "Look at you. You're 15 already right?" Damian nodded. "Aw, I missed so much," she complained with a smile. She stayed with him a bit longer, "I really did miss a lot. How's everything?" 

He was grateful she stuck to initials while they were in costume. A little later after she caught up on most of Damian's life she stood back beside her companion.

"Alright, now to start what we came for.”

Next

[nxrthmizu]

---

Prompt: ‘First Kiss’ 

Pairing: Daminette

Words: 1,562 Words 

A/N: ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST then fluff 

---

The first kiss. 

The first, special moment when two souls meet and use a wordless action to express their feelings for each other. Alternatively, it could be a completely spur-of-the-moment, thoughtless, and immediately regretted in the next moment. 

Because that’s what then fifteen-year-old Marinette’s first kiss had been like. 

Oh, she had regretted it the moment their lips touched, because she knew instantly they were two puzzle pieces that were clearly not meant to fit. She had stumbled backward, staring into Luka’s hurt, guilty aqua-blue eyes. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken advantage of the situation like this, I don’t know what I was thinking...” Luka’s smooth voice immediately erupted into an endless line of apologies. If Marinette was a normal-functioning human-being, she would cut him off and kiss him one more time, because who in their right mind would turn down a perfect, adoring, affectionate potential boyfriend like Luka? 

Only she wasn’t in her right mind. 

She knew it was eventually going to drive her to her breaking point. Adrien had come to her, time after time, asking for advice on how to woo Kagami. Any other girl would’ve refused to help instantly, steering clear of the repetitive heart-break that would’ve resulted from the blonde model’s constant onslaught of questions. 

Why did she have to be so soft-hearted for him, again? 

“Do you think she’ll like white or dark chocolate more?” He asked with a hopeless smile on his lips. 

She fumbled for an answer, mind drawing to a blank. She had mumbled a random, probably completely irrelevant and unbelievable excuse before running off like a coward, she thought to herself. Before she knew it, she had broken down crying in a park, sobbing the build-up of her pain and anguish until her breath caught and she had to stop to breathe. 

“Marinette?” 

The moment she heard her name roll off his tongue, she wanted to kill herself for the heart-break she had been causing a particular blue-haired guitarist. He persisted in caring for her, even after she had told him that she couldn’t find it in her heart to love him. He deserved so much more, especially since he was... Well, he was Luka. 

Her mind was screaming against her actions, but she collapsed into his arms anyway, crying out her sorrows. His hand patted her back comfortingly in a steady rhythm, soothing her in ways no one could. 

“I’m sorry, Luka...” She murmured quietly, hiccuping and still trying to find her breath after her fifteen-minute-long breakdown. 

“Don’t be.” He told her softly, fingers caressing her cheek and making her meet his eyes. 

The next thing she knew was that they were kissing. And then she was pushing him away, and there was so much hurt and guilt staining his eyes, but she just couldn’t find it inside her to love him. 

“I’m sorry.” 

---

Damian’s first kiss, on the other hand, had been of a similar affair. He had been fifteen then, in the period in which girls would lust after him restlessly, shamelessly, and without any thought towards how annoyed he was getting. He dreaded the day called ‘Valentine’s’... It was when the girls were at their worst. Someway or another, they all mustered u enough courage (Or stupidity) to approach him in hopes he would accept their... Crushes. 

“Don’t look so upset!” Jon chastised. “If you don’t want to eat the chocolate, you can always give it to me.” 

Damian rolled his eyes at his best friend’s antics, ignoring the buzz and annoyance the school corridors brought to him. As expected, there was a pile of chocolates and pink-themed gifts waiting in a pile by the side of his locker. 

“Take it, Jon. Take it all.” He told his friend nonchalantly. “Eat until you get diabetes. This whole stash can last you for six months.” 

“Damian!” 

The green-eyed teen clicked his tongue in annoyance, yelping in surprise. As he turned, the girl who had called his name lunged at him, furiously pressing her lips on his. On instinct, he shoved her away roughly, dropping to the floor and knocking out her legs. The girl squealed, taken by surprise. 

Students all around started to whisper, as they do, while Damian tugged out a tissue from his bag pocket, wiping his mouth furiously. “Jon, you wouldn’t happen to have a sanitiser, do you?” He snapped, anger and disgust blazing in his eyes. “I’ll have you know that I can sue you sexual assault.” His tone was venomous, and he relished in the pure terror in her eyes. “Let’s go, Jon.” He said coldly, turning on his heels without another glance at the girl, who had started crying as everyone else in the corridor either offered her sympathetic looks, laughed, or just rolled their eyes at her sheer stupidity. 

---

Five years after their individual first kisses, Damian and Marinette met for the first time, in the business class of Gotham University. 

Fortunately for the two of them, their first kiss together did not involve a girl crying. Instead, it went more along the lines of this: 

“Where are you going, Damian?” Bruce raised an eyebrow at his son, who was trying to be discreet while sneaking out, and was actually failing at said sneaking out. 

Before Damian could make an excuse, Alfred the great saviour popped out from the kitchen. “Master Damian is going out to meet his friend for a study date, I believe.” Alfred offered helpfully. “Master Damian, I have prepared some cookies for you and your friend to share.” 

Bruce spluttered. “A study date?” He screeched. Okay, maybe he did not screech, but he was surprised. 

“Yes, Master Bruce. Damian had been courting Miss Marinette for two months.” Alfred nodded with a proud tone in his voice. “You’re going to be late if you stay any longer, Master Damian.” He reminded helpfully, the green-eyed young adult excusing himself with a blush on his face. 

Bruce stared at Alfred, gaping. “Two months?” 

---

“My dad found out today.” Damian supplied helpfully, munching on one of Marinette’s macarons as the two of them mulled over Marinette’s various colour-coded notes and Damian’s typed and printed ones for their upcoming test. 

“That’s nice.” She hummed, popping one of Alfred’s cookies into her mouth. “How did he react?” 

“He screeched.” Damian scoffed. “Like you said he would. Here’s your ten bucks.” 

Marinette grinned triumphantly. “I told you he would screech!” The bluenette laughed victoriously, the green-eyed boy watching her fondly as he rolled his eyes good-naturedly. 

“Yeah, yeah. You win this one. I’m betting that once my brothers find out, chaos shall ensue. Once they find out, I’m going to hide you underground because trust me, it’s not going to be pretty.” He grimaced. “I’m surprised I managed to hide it this long.” 

“Alfred knew from the very beginning.” Marinette reminded him, flipping through one of Damian’s printed notes. 

“Alfred doesn’t count, he always knows. You can’t hide anything from Alfred.” Damian dismissed.

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. “Just admit that you’re bad at hiding things from Alfred.” 

“I am not! It’s just that it’s really impossible to get anything past Alfred!” He defended. 

“You’re just being a sore loser.” She teased, laughing when he threw a stack of notes her way. “Now you’re playing dirty!” 

Damian made a face. “I just gave you ten bucks!” 

“That’s completely irrelevant!” 

At this, Marinette tackled Damian to the ground, pushing him down. They were already seated on the wide, open floor of Marinette’s apartment’s attic, surrounded by fluffy cushions and blankets, so their landing was soft. That wasn’t what they were concerned about, though. 

“Um.” Damian coughed awkwardly, not daring to move as he observed how Marinette was pinning him to the floor, one hand on either side of his face. A blush erupted across his cheeks. “Um.” He said, slightly louder this time. 

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up.” She swatted at him playfully, the male taking his chance to turn the tables, throwing Marinette off him and pinning her down. 

“What a game changer.” He mocked, dodging the light slap Marinette aimed at him. “Gosh, you need to improve your aim.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” 

Silence fell in the attic, only the brief flapping of paper heard in the attic. Damian stared into the swirling, blue eyes of his two-month-long girlfriend. If there was one thing that had changed once he started dating Marinette, after the bluenette muttered up the courage to ask him out after their six-month-long, playful, constantly-throwing-insults-at-each-other friendship, it was that he started doing things without contemplating the results like a chess game. In a good way. 

In the same way, he pressed his lips to hers without thinking. 

When he drew back, both their faces were flushed, red painted across their cheeks. “There’s no hiding this one from Alfred, either.” He muttered after a moment, rolling off the bluenette when she burst into a laugh. 

“Cause you’re horrible at hiding things from him, just admit it~” She teased in a sing-song voice, laughing as he lunged towards her, tickling her sides. “Stop! We have to study for our- Test!” She laughed in between her words, bluebell eyes twinkling in happiness. 

Both their individual first kisses had not exactly been... Smooth, but to say that they were satisfied with their first kiss together was an understatement. 

---

@how-to-fuction-properly​ here’s your second request! Sorry it took so long :) 

- Cady 

[iamdunn]

Miraculous Flash Forward Part 16: Familiar Enemies

A Miraculous Fan-Fic

Written By 

AJ Dunn

It had been years since the four of them had done this, it made them all feel like children again as they walked around Paris looking for Andre. The sun was beginning to descend casting hues of pink and orange across the blue sky.

“It’s the most romantic time of day.” Marinette said. “I bet we’ll find him by the Seine.”

“I agree, Andre never could miss a romantic opportunity.” Alya agreed. Nino took her hand as they ran like children towards the bridge. This was where the Liberty used to dock all the time. Adrien remembered when all of their friends would gather on this bank to eat Andre’s ice cream and listen to Kitty Section. He had always wanted it to be Marinette that he shared an ice cream with, but she always denied having feelings for him, no matter how hard he fished for it. He smiled down at her as they waited behind Nino and Alya to get their ice cream for the first time. 

“Uhh… Marinette, what a vision of perfection, and Young Adrien is a man fit for her protection…” His face seems more delighted to see them together than pretty much anyone else. “Mint for his emerald starre, Black Cherry for the beautiful lives you will share, Your love is as destined as the stars astuc upon the sea. You two were always meant to be.” he handed Adrien the cone as Marinette and Alya giggled. They sat down by the Seine for old times sake as they reminisced. 

“Wait, you finally proposed?” Nino wasn’t quiet. “Did she say yes?”

“Well, no, she kinda just babbled for a few minutes until I just kissed her and that was the end of it.” Adrien looked at her cheeks now flushed then spooned a bite of ice cream into her mouth. 

“Do you guys hear that?” Alya said as everyone quieted to listen. There was music playing nearby, band music. They all stood up and headed down the bank of the Seine until they found the source.

“The Liberty.” they all shouted in unison as they ran towards it. The gangplank was up and they could see their old friends playing. Luka and Julek on guitars. Ivan on the drums. Mylene, and Zoe, seated on actual seats rather than box’s. There were two small square tables now on the deck with four chairs each. Mylene and Zoe were seated at one table. The song came to an abrupt end as Adrien crossed the gangplank with Marinette’s hand in his. They were following Alya and Nino, but when the song ended it was the moment Luka’s eyes caught Adriens. 

“It’s about time.” Luka set his guitar down and ran to the couple. He threw his arms around Adrien’s neck pulling him tight into a hug. They were nearly the same height but Luka was still rather thin compared to the musculature tone of Adriens chest and shoulders. “I knew you two were roommates, and there had been rumors that you were more.” he said as he pulled away. The turned his attention to Marinette giving her a hug, stooping to reach her shoulders. 

“Adrien...Adrien...Adrien.” the band called to him urging him to join them on stage. Adrien blushed as he pulled out a seat for Marinette. Alya and Nino sat down at the empty table with Marinette. Zoe and Mylene moved their chairs and pushed the two tables together so they could all sit together. Adrien stepped up to the keyboard.

“I haven’t played in so long.” He confessed. “But uh, can you guys do this.” he hit a few notes mimicking a tune for a song. 

“Bad Romance, hell yeah.” Luka said.

“I don’t know the words to that one.” Rose said, as she was the main singer.

“Let me handle this one.” Adrien smiled. He looked over at Marinette. She hadn’t been listening so he started playing out the tune. The audience stopped talking and watched. The upbeat music took over as Adrien began to sing the lyrics. Juleka almost missed her beat as she was caught off guard. Rose stood quietly listening to him before she too began to sing, didn’t know all of the lyrics, but she knew the harmony. 

“Adrien, I always knew you a lot more rock & roll and a lot less piano solo.” Luka smiled. “Another one?” Adrien smiled at Marinette who’s eyes locked on his. Adrien nodded. Adrien started playing a tune, Luka recognized it and began playing along with Juleka as Ivan stilled his drums to watch. 

Adrien's voice rose up as he sang a song that often played in his mind when he was with Marinette. It was Perfect, by Ed Sheeran. The crowd awed as the words slipped softly from his lips as he played his eyes lost in hers. He watched her face glow. Her hands folded together under her chin. He almost lost his words as her eyes twinkled with the love he felt for her. When the line about having children came, she blushed and turned her eyes away. He hadn’t gone that far with her, not yet. He wanted to, so badly it hurt, but he was holding on to the one thing he had never given anyone, he wouldn’t give it away that easily and he was sure she had never experienced it either. 

The night out on the town had been a well needed break from the twins. They were spending the night with Tom & Sabine, in Marinette’s old bedroom. They were happy to get to bake cookies and Tom was excited to teach them. Adrien mused over what it would be like to have grandchildren and this was his trial run.

Adrien and Marinette made transformed into Cat and Ladybug for a high rise tour of the city. A means to get back to the people they used to be. This time, as they ran from rooftop to rooftop with Adrien’s cat puns and jests, Marinette returned his jokes with snarky playful comments in response. Adrien was happy she had stopped shutting down his playful side and let herself enjoy it. The one hesitancy he had to let her have all of him, was her inability to accept all of him. He had worried that she only saw the sunshine boy that his father had made him out to be, and that she wouldn’t accept him for who he really was. 

“I hope you can love this side of me,” He said as he collided with her in mid-air. He hung by one arm suspended under a street lamp as he clung to her with the other. “Because this is who I truly am. Not that.” He looked up to see an old poster of him from his modeling days sprawled out on a street advert. It was from his fragrance commercial. Suddenly and before their eyes, the images changed to photos from the days his father made him pose with Lila. She was kissing him, but he never kissed her on the lips. A pink heart was around their faces as the close up showed them locked in a loving embrace.

“What the…” Adrien lost his grip on the lamp post as he and Ladybug slipped to the street below. 

“Adrien.” Marinette said, staring at the image. “You and Lila?” 

“I never have,” he said angrily. “This is fake. But how.” Ladybug swung her yo-yo angrily at the poster knowing that vandalism was a crime didn’t change the ache in her heart. The image dissolved into smoke and an image of Kitty Section took it’s place. 

“A mirage.” Ladybug said. 

“Vulpina?” 

“But how, Hawk Moth was the only way she could receive her powers.” Ladybug thought for a second. “Trixx.” She called Alya, 

“Do you have Trixx, are you still wearing your…”

“Slow down girl, yeah of course. Why?” Ladybug sighed and told her about the mirage. They heard a maniacal laugh coming from the rooftops and quickly descended, letting her phone call go. They scout the town until they saw her coming towards them. It was Rena Rouge. 

“I came as quickly as I could.” Rena said. “Where…” they could hear the laughter again coming from an adjacent rooftop.

“You will never be as powerful as me, Rena Rouge.” The voice came from the supervillain Vulpin. 

“You’re just a bad copy from an old book.’ Cat yelled back. The three stood on the rooftop ready for whatever she would send their way. 

“Hawk Moth will give me any power I want,” She sang into the air. 

“Hawk Moth?” the three said together. In an instant, the maniac was gone. She was just another illusion. The three separated, agreeing to meet up later to discuss what just happened. 

“Felix?” Marinette asked as they sat on the couch in his room. “I hate to think he is Hawk Moth, but…”

“It fits. I mean he was the last one to have the broach, he disappeared before the end of the tempest battle, and…” 

“He’s been missing ever since.” Marinette finished. 

“I uh, had someone make up the next room for you…”

“OH…” Marinette folded an arm over her chest draping her hand on her shoulder. “Okay.” 

“I mean, you said…” Adrien scratched the back of his neck for a minute as he stood up looking at his childhood bed. They had slept together before, but it wasn’t a regular thing. He stripped off his t-shirt and tossed it on the floor. Looking back down at her as she sat on the couch. Her face slowly turned up as her eyes traced the lines on his belly to the lines on his chest. Her face glowed brightly until they locked eyes. 

“Well?” He offered her his hand. She took it as she stood up. He guided her to his bed. He pulled back the blankets on the side she normally slept on and pulled her to it laying her down. They had already put on their pajamas, however, he liked to sleep with as little on as possible when he slept alone. However, with her in his bed, he didn’t trust his own self-control without a few layers between them.

She clung to his hand as he stood at the side of the bed. He dove over her making the bed bounce. She giggled as he playful rolled around messing up the blankets. She scruffed his wild blond hair before he straightened himself laying his head on the pillow only centimeters from her face.  

“Silly Kitty.” Marinette rolled to her side and faced him. 

“I hope this doesn’t BUG you.” he played. 

“You’re imPAWsible.” she giggled. He loved it when she used cat puns. He kissed her lips as his hand weaved through her hair. He pulled her into him as her hands wrapped around his waist, throwing one leg over him. She maneuvered her body till he was on his back with her straddling him. He shuddered as he felt her warmth on him. Her kiss, hungry for his. 

His hands held her at her hips as her chest lay flatly on his, her hands now in his hair. Oh, if only he had his Cat suit on. It enhanced all of his senses and was the kind of protection he needed right now to give him the resolve to not go too far. He twitched his fingers into her sides tickling her in hopes of breaking this hold, knowing he didn’t have the will to stop it. She began to squirm on him. Her hips moving from side to side as they rubbed on his…. He gasped. Had he known she would move like that he would have thought twice about it. 

“Adrien.” She stopped to look at his face. She must have seen the look on his face as she settled down putting all of her weight onto his hips. Suddenly she shot up on her knees lifting her weight from him. He gripped her hips so she wouldn’t go too far. 

“Shh.” He brought one hand up to her face cupping it gently before bringing it to meet him. Their lips locked again as she settled herself back down to his hips. Her face had brightened to a red he had never seen before and it broke him, he didn’t think he had the will to stop. Suddenly there was a noise at the window. They both jumped from bed to see what it was. The light in the bedroom blocked out the view of the darkened city outside. Adrien ran to the switch, turning the light off. There was a figure standing on the rooftop across the street, someone was watching them. They ran to the window but the figure ran from the rooftop. 

Marinette sat on the bed shivering. Adrien put his arm around her trying to comfort her. 

“Someone was watching us.” She squeaked embarrassed at the compromising position they had been seen in. “Were they taking pictures?” That is certainly what the sound was, a camera click without a flash. Adrien often kept the window open but he closed it and set the lock. He noticed something attached to the window. A note. Attached to a suction dart clung to the window. 

‘Enjoy what you have now

Before I take it all

YOU WILL BE MINE!

“What is it?” Marinette asked from the bed. He handed her the note. She dropped it the instant her eyes saw the words. A shriek left her mouth. “Do you think it was meant for you or me?” Adrien looked back at the window. 

“If it was Vuplina.” He paused.

“Then it was meant for you.” Marinette finished. “Lila has always wanted you, and would do anything to get rid of her competition.” 

“What do you say? We check out the room across the hall, the windows there are less visible to outsiders.” He took her hand and led her across the hall. 

Marinette left the house before Adrien woke up. She had spent all morning searching the internet for someone. Alix wasn’t in France anymore, in fact she was participating in extreme sports in Florida. Marinette pulled out the horse miraculous and merged it with Tikki. She used a portal to plop herself into Alix’s bedroom. She was still asleep but at least she was alone. Pegabug woke her up. Alix sat up rubbing her eyes trying to make out the figure before her. 

“Is it time?” Alix asked as she sat up. 

“I think it is, Someone has the Butterfly Miraculous, and now Vulpina is back.” Alix was suddenly awake. She remembered how much chaos the illusionist caused especially during Heros day. “I think you will know when to use this.” She handed her the pocket watch then went over the instructions for how to use the Kwami’s power after introducing her to Fluff again. 

“Should I come back to Paris?” Alix asked. 

“I think you will be fine, better safe to keep your distance, just monitor everything from here.” Pegabug then made another portal. Good thing she had built up the strength to use her power more than once before needing to recharge. She returned to the manor and found Adrien standing in front of her. 

“Did you give Alix the bunny?” He asked. Pegabug released her transformation and nodded. “Good, we need to call Luka.” He said picking up his phone.

“NO, we need to call EVERYONE.” Marinette said. “NO one but us can know about Alix. and only because you have known as long as I have that she would one day be Bunnyx.” Adrien called Luka while Marinette and Alya. They were calling a team meeting at the one place Lila didn’t know about. The Barge. 

The band was playing by the time Adrien and Marinette arrived. They had to stop by the bakery to make sure the girls weren’t causing too much trouble. Luka, Juleka, Rose and Ivan jammed out a beat as Mylene, Zoe, Alya, Nino, Max, Kim, and Kagami, sat at the tables. The music died down as the band set their instruments aside. 

“Shall we all go downstairs.” Luka walked everyone inside. The Living room area was large enough for the whole group with a large sectional style couch wrapping around the wall leaving a large enough area for the band to practice if they chose too. Everyone but Marinette and Adrien sat down. 

“We have an announcement to make.” Adrien started, his arm around Marinette’s shoulders. “We are getting married.” 

“Finally.” the whole group said together as they all began to mutter amongst themselves about how long it had taken for them to finally see the moon through the stars. Something that was so obvious, that everyone else seemed to know but they were always too blinded by the stars to see it. Adrien could feel the heat in his cheeks as a shy smile spread on his face. He was still kicking himself for being so oblivious of Marinette in high school. He knew she liked him, but thought it was only his model status and her desire to become a designer, nothing more. She never thought she was good enough for him. 

“That isn’t the only news.” the crowd hushed as Marinette spoke up. “Mylene wasn’t the first of us to receive the Mullo, the mouse miraculous, I was.” Marinette confessed. Alya, Luka and Adrien were the only ones to know the truth of this group. So keeping Ladybugs secret was imperative. 

“And I am Aspik, I held Sass before Luka did.” He said with a shy smirk. “I wasn’t very good at it, but I am close friends with Chat, we play video games together and…” 

“Talk about how horrible the rich boy's life is together?” Luka jokes. “You rich boys were probably skiing in the Alps.” 

“Wait, Cat Noir is rich?” Ivan asked. 

“Richer than I am.” Adrien confessed scratching the back of his neck. 

“Ladybug and Cat Noir found us this morning, they had followed a suspicious person to our window. Where they found this.” Marinette helped up the note. 

“So it was Vulpina.” Alya said. The group began to mutter worried about the illusions that nearly ruined everything for everyone. 

“Who is Vulpina anyway?” Kim asked. 

“Lila.” Marinette said. “The master of Lies and illusions.” Shock fell on the faces of the group. They had all believed her lies and coddled her even against Marinette who they all agreed was the most honest of them all. 

“We will all stand together again.” Luka stood up putting his fist into the center of the room. Zoe and Juleka joined him. Kim, who was always up for a competition, was next. Soon everyone stepped in as Adrien and Marinette refrained. “Get in here.” Luka smiled knowingly at them. They added their fists to the bump.

[chrwrites]

SOFTober day 28: Blush

“Are you sure you trust me with this?”, Luka asked as he waved a small make-up brush in the air and held a palette in his hands, inspecting the colours.

Marinette nodded reassuringly, “Yes, you can put eyeliner better than me!”, she said as she sat on the chair in front of him, dangling her legs happily.

She was the one who asked him to help her do her make-up, after all, and they still had to wait an hour for the rest of Kitty Section to join them.

Luka had gotten there early since he was done with his deliveries for the day, and Marinette had welcomed him into her house rubbing her left eye with a wipe, still trying to take the pink glittery eyeshadow she was experimenting with off.

“I wanted to try something new”, she justified herself after throwing away the last wipe and looking at him.

Luka nodded in understanding, and Marinette remembered admiring the way his skillful hands effortlessly drew thin even lines of eyeliner on his eyelids before a show, how she slowly got lost in studying his features time after time and noticed how the dark colour never failed to make his eyes shine a brighter blue under the lights, or how the glossy lip balm he put on smelled like apricot and it ended up making her wonder how it would feel on her mouth.

That’s why she decided to ask Luka to help her with her make up.

To… you know, spend time together. And stay close to him. Really close.

Have his hands on her face, feeling his breath on her skin… The usual things friends do when they are together. Nothing much.

And Luka agreed only because he wanted to help her, there wasn’t any hidden reason behind it.

He grabbed two hairpins from her vanity and used them to keep her bangs away from her forehead before he started applying a light eyeshadow as a base, adding a shimmery golden eyeshadow to highlight her eyes. Not that she needed to, her eyes were beautiful just from the way they twinkled when she was happy.

Marinette took a deep breath when she felt Luka catch her chin between his fingers and raise her head delicately, she relaxed under his touch while he hummed soft melodies, his work only interrupted when he had the had to check it in its entirety to make sure that he wasn’t making her look like a clown.

At least his hands didn’t shake as he put on the make-up on her, she didn’t complain when he made her head move the way he needed to, and he was happy to see her finally calm and relaxed.

Luka had to take a deep breath to steady himself when he asked Marinette to open her eyes, revealing the bright sapphires he had fallen for so long ago.

He still managed to draw even lines of eyeliner on both her eyes, and when he was done he couldn’t help but unintentionally whisper a “Beautiful” that made Marinette’s cheeks turn pink as he took a bigger brush to apply some blush on her cheeks.

He smiled fondly at her, his knuckles ghosting her cheeks before he shook the brush in front of her eyes, “I don’t think you need this”, he teased, causing Marinette’s cheeks to turn into a deeper shade of red. Her hands covered them as she squeezed her eyes, shaking her head. “Stop it!!”, Marinette whined, making Luka chuckle.

“I’m sorry, I just really like to see you blush”, he said, his eyes widening at his unexpected boldness. It’s cute, was what he wanted to say.

“Soooo... Do you want to wear any lipstick?”, he asked, trying to change the subject.

Marinette opened her eyes and let her hands fall on her sides, her cheeks still flushed. The make-up he gave her was something she could have easily recreated and didn’t look too heavy on her soft features. Her eyes were framed by gold and brown eyeshadow and a thin sharp line of eyeliner, but her face was clean and delicate as always. Beautiful and mesmerising as always.

She gave him a shy smile before looking at her reflection in the mirror, and her smile widened as she admired his work, “This is amazing, Luka!” she said, making him look down and bite down the smile that was forming in his face as he tried not to think about the butterflies dancing in his stomach.

Marinette’s lips twisted in thought as she valued which shade of lipstick she would go for, and hummed in satisfaction when she eventually picked the deep red she was too shy to wear outside of her room.

She wasn’t very accurate when it came to putting on bright shades on her lips, she always ended up ruining the lip outline because she spent too much time trying to make it perfect, which led to her taking the make-up off and sticking to light colours or her strawberry flavoured lip-gloss.

She waved the lipstick in the air, and Luka had to focus on stopping the voice that started singing in his head about wanting to wear her lipstick because it meant he got to kiss her lips before he took the small  stick in his hands. Only then he noticed that they were shaky, and he took a deep breath as he studied the lipstick and tried to gather himself before moving it closer to her mouth.

“Don’t make me look like the Joker, please”, Marinette teased, and her voice soothed Luka’s nerves, he shook his head and felt his shoulders relax. He went on applying the smooth blend of lipstick on her lips delicately, concentrating on the task and trying to avoid the thoughts forming in his mind.

The tiny smile gracing her lips got wider when she looked back at her reflection in the mirror, and Luka couldn’t help but smile with her as he admired her in silence. Marinette scrambled to get up, ignoring how she almost tripped on her own feet, too focused on reaching Luka and hugging him. He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her and enjoying her sweet scent as she thanked him. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling away, giggling as she pointed at the lipstick stain on his cheek.

Luka frowned as he realised that some of the lipstick had smeared under her lower lip, and his thumb automatically reached for it to clean it. He let it rest there, too entranced in admiring how good the colour looked on her, fully taking in her beauty. It made him feel breathless.

Marinette’s eyes were fixed on his, leaving him unable to move. Her lips were slightly parted, and she put her hand on his, slowly making it move away from her face and intertwining it with hers at their sides.

Luka felt his heart pound in his ears as Marinette pushed herself on her tiptoes and leaned to his face, he followed her movements, leaning in until their lips finally met.

She kissed him, and he kissed her back, following her slow hesitant pace before guiding her into kissing him the way she wanted to. He could feel an unfamiliar warmth spread through his body as he got lost into the kiss. Luka smiled on her lips, his free hand tangling in her hair as he deepened the kiss. It was slow and soft, and Marinette felt her skin tingle as he kissed her with all the love and care he had always kept for her.

She reluctantly pulled away when she needed to grasp some air, and Luka let out a breathless giggle before pulling her in again. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling on her lips, and as he kept kissing her he felt like he was falling more and more in love with her.

It was perfect, her hands cupped his cheek, and she guided him to the chaise longue at the back of the room with gentle pecks on his lips, leaving him chasing for more. Then he finally fell on the soft surface and Marinette adjusted herself beside him, not hesitating to kiss him again and sighing happily on his lips.

But then the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of their friends. Luka groaned as Marinette scrambled to get off him and grabbed a cleaning wipe from her vanity before rushing downstairs to open the door, leaving a star struck Luka in her room. Was it real? Did he really kiss Marinette?

He kept replaying their kisses in his head as his fingers reached for his lips, the dazed smile not leaving his face until he felt Marinette’s voice call for him and he had to shake himself from his hazy state and walk downstairs. He greeted his friends with more enthusiasm than usual, and sat next to Marinette.

Silence filled the room as everyone looked at him with an amused expression, “What?”, he asked, but the laugh that escaped Marinette’s lips was enough to make him realise that he forgot to take her lipstick off.

He blushed, lowering his head at Juleka’s snickering comments. He knew that she was going to give him a hard time about it, but as the afternoon passed, Luka found himself not to care about it.

Marinette was by his side, and that was all that mattered.

[aliensunflower-fics]

Wildfire

(( Hia! So here’s a little Lukanette fic I wrote because I get inspired way too easy and it happened. Enjoy because it’ll be back to Daminette right after this! ))

It hadn’t been intentional. At least not at first. All Marinette had wanted was a way to express herself a way to let out the emotions that threatened to pull her under, drown her, destroy her. She was Ladybug and if she let that negativity eat her up alive she would not have the luxury of getting akumatized having a tantrum then being saved. That wasn't how this worked. Luka was the one who saved her he saw the dark water filling her lungs and when she felt ready to take her last breath he extended his hand. And she had taken it unaware that the water would turn to gasoline or that Luka would help strike the match that would light her on fire and turn her into a star for the whole world to see.

 It had started with music lessons. A guitar being slid into her waiting hands and a patient teacher. Luka had seen her spark fading bright eyes dimming Juleka who had always spoken kindly of Marinette began to hesitate and change Luka watched as she let her purple fade from her hair and changed clothes when he tried to ask her why shed mention a new girl Lila how Lila said this or that picking at anything and everything Luka tried to tell his sweet baby sister that she didn't need to change for anyone but she was scared to lose everyone but especially Rose. It has been only a week after that event when suddenly Luka was told he was being kicked out of Kitty Section. When he looked for an answer it was the name Lila Rossi that came back.

 Eventually he set out to find Marinette hoping she would have answers to his questions, but what he found was hardly the girl he knew more like a scared husk the song in her heart was a nightmarish harmony. Fearing she’d be akumatized before his very eyes he took a seat behind her slid his guitar in her hands and helped her work her emotions out. The melody she created was heartbreaking the tears she cried were worse. After that Luka made it his goal to seek Marinette out and help her work out the emotions. She started picking it up and they started regular lessons. Her parents were left speechless when Marinette asked for a guitar instead of a mannequin or fabric for her birthday.

 The day Marinette first sang Luka was left speechless. They had been playing together for months, in that time Luka learned just who Lila Rossi was. A liar a manipulator a bully. She had the school running like her personal kingdom and after stripping Marinette of everything, her reputation, her friends, her position as class president, she started targeting other students. It was not as head on as it had been with Marinette but rather subtle manipulation she made Juleka change herself to fit in, she broke up Kitty Section, she ruined relationships, and kept Adrien as a pet. But even still Marinette loved him until one day Lila decided that even the feeling love was too good for Marinette. Luka had still never found out what Lila or Adrien or both had done but that day Marinette played her new pink guitar like it was the only thing keeping her a float but then she started singing her gorgeous voice carrying lyrics of pain, anger, and betrayal.

 When she was done she all but collapsed. Luka felt as though he'd seen her soul and what he noticed was that the spark in Marinette wasn't dead yet just waiting to be fanned into a fire. And Luka, well all he wanted was to see her light up the world like she was always meant to do. Luka knew someway somehow he needed to get Marinette up on a stage. She was a born star and Luka would do anything to see her shine.

 Jagged Stone had been not only eager but insistent on hearing her sing and play. Marinette stared down at her pink guitar she had no one to blame but herself. After all she had been the one to introduce Luka and Jagged and they’d hit it off so when Luka told Jagged that his honorary niece was a star in the making what was she really expecting. But Marinette was terrified she wasn't meant to be on stage but behind it yet here she was guitar in hand with Jagged and Penny looking at her expectantly. She wanted to cry and puke and hide she had no control of her body when it ran from the room. Luka was quick to catch up, finding her hyperventilating in the hallway.

 “I-I cant! I cant Luka! I’m not made to stand on a s-stage! I can't do this! N-not alone!” She tried to control her sobs but tears kept falling and her body was shaking. Luka knelt by her side and wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders offering the support she so needed.

 “Who said anything about you doing this alone?” He saw the way her eyes widened as she looked at him. Truthfully he had not pictured himself next to her on that stage but he suddenly understood that if she was to shine for the whole world to see then she needed him by her side and really how could Luka ask for more?

 They returned to Jagged’s room and with Luka at her side Marinette played and sang. When the duo finished Jagged and Penny erupted into applause and by 7pm that evening Marinette found themselves agreeing to be trained by Jagged Stone and all his many connections. That night Luka laid on his bed exhausted when he heard a knock at his window when he opened it Ladybug slid in. Seeing her up close Luka could see how tired she looked. He had noticed Chat’s many absences and how much harder Ladybug had been working as a result clearly it was taking its toll on the superheroin. Wordlessly she held out the snake miraculous and Luka took it with great confusion. The news playing in the other room gave no indication of an akuma attack and Ladybug herself did not seem in a rush. Just as he was about to open his mouth Ladybug spoke.

 “You were right… who said ANYTHING about me doing this alone.” Luka’s eyes widened and he tightened his hold on the miraculous. Just how long? How long had Marinette been facing the world alone? Well no more! Putting a comforting hand on her shoulder he smiled and nodded understanding flashed between them and she burst into tears before hugging him closely and de-transforming. The next morning when Luka and Marinette left the boathouse together hand in hand with pink cheeks and shy smiles only Juleka was surprised, later when she asked her brother about the incident he answered honestly that Marinette had cried herself to sleep in his arms and he hadn't had the heart to wake her.

 Having someone by her side in and out of the mask who liked her as she was changed the music in her heart. Luka would not lie, being a hero was tiring but akuma were back to being defeated in record time. Opinion of Ladybug skyrocketed back up and soon Viperion merchandise started selling better than Chat Noir. Every news outlet was all over the Ladybug and Viperion development theories of all kinds sprang up that Chat Noir wasn't helping because he was jealous or that he and Ladybug had broken up, that Viperion and Ladybug were in love. People got pictures of the pair holding hands on a late night patrol and it was all anyone could talk about. Luka could not help but be pleased when Marinette relayed the news that Lila Rossi was furious at not being the center of news at school for a few days. But what made him happiest was the confidence and strength he saw regrowing in Marinette.

 A few weeks later, Marinette had introduced Kagami and Chloe to Luka. It had been awkward with all the different personalities but Marinette gave them balance, she was growing with each rehearsal with every song and practice she got brighter. Chloe who had never known real friendship where she wasn't in control and now was just as alone as Marinette in school seemed bothered and annoyed at first but Luka could tell her melody was softer then she showed and was eager to preen under Marinettes genuine encouragement and praise. Kagami who had met Marinette through an old mutual crush was cold and harsh but melted easier than expected when treated with the friendship she truly desired. They made an odd group and Luka was honestly confused but happy that the old Marinette was coming back stronger than ever and was eager to find honest people in the world.

 The first time Kagami and Chloe were invited to rehearsal they ended up holding hands as they listened to Marinettes newest song a duet with Luka about growing love in unexpected places. And if Luka and Marinette could hardly make eye contact afterwords no one said anything about it in between teasing Chloe and Kagami. When both girls asked to join everyone was shocked. But Chloe was quick to scoff.

 “Jeez, Marinette! Did you really think two rich girls from influential families wouldn't know how to play an instrument? Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” Chloe refused to admit she’d learned the piano in hopes of playing with Adrien and Kagami knew multiple instruments and shyly admitted to having self taught how to DJ in hopes of being able to throw her own party.

 Of course Marinette was over the moon to have them join the duo. But now they needed to name themselves, they argued about it over pizza in Jagged Stone’s suite while Penny and the aforementioned star listened in and laughed. In these moments away from those who hurt her Marinette was filled with light and fire her hand racing as she sketched all manor of designs. Luka who could not help but look at her in awe suddenly felt a name bubble to the surface.

 “Wildfire.” They all paused to look at Luka a heavy silence falling over the room giving Fang the opportunity he needed to drag away half of Chloe’s unattended pizza. Feeling his cheeks flush Luka scrambled to try and find the words he needed to explain but Marinette spoke before he got the chance.

 “Its perfect.” She grinned a wild look filling her eyes. “Our music its wild its raw! No one would expect it from any of us! But thats what we are! Were wildfire! And we are going to light Paris on FIRE!” The room erupted into cheers and Jagged Stone screamed out his signature Rock n Roll! Luka didnt cheer he just let Marinettes words vibrate inside of him as he watched the fire in her eyes blaze.

 A day later when two new heroes joined Viperion and Ladybug, Luka wasn't surprised at all he felt Chloe made an excellent ‘Wasp’ and Kagami was definitely a perfect fit for the dragon miraculous. But whether they were in or out of costume the group worked like a well oiled machine. They spoke without speaking backed each other up without question and the double dates were not only fun but were impossible to ruin akuma attack or not. But maybe even better was that with the final pieces in place ‘Wildfire’ was finally able to put finishing touches on songs and begin releasing them. Jagged insisted that the music be released without revealing who any of them were just yet his arguments were pretty solid, all of them needed to be coached on how to deal with the stress of stardom but apparently more importantly Jagged stressed there was NOTHING Rock n Roll about just revealing who they were without an epic concert of some kind.

 When Wildfire hit the number one spot in fan popularity Marinette felt grateful for heading her honorary Uncle's advice. The secrecy surrounding the band had fans running wild, theories from the realistic to the alien were circulating. They continued writing and releasing songs all the while being trained for everything from live performances to dealing with the press. Marinette felt like maybe dealing with the press would be easy after she let her parents know about Wildfire in their eagerness to show support while still being secretive they played all of Wildfire’s song on repeat in the bakery and regularly sent her to band practice with macaroons. Marinette blossomed under all the fresh positivity in her life Tikki and Master Fu were practically glowing with pride at the young chosen. Luka felt like he might go blind from how brilliantly she burned his heart that he felt could never hold more love for her filled even more and he knew he'd do anything to keep her happy.

 The day she arrived at practice bruised and bloody broken guitar in hand Luka would have given Hawkmoth anything for revenge until Marinette collapsed into his arms and asked to play guitar with him the same as when he’d first started teaching her. Chloe had left school early to catch Kagami’s tournament, Marinette had wanted to go but had been late so many times to school that week that the teacher threatened to give her detention if she missed one more class. So Marinette had waved Chloe off telling her to cheer twice as loud so that it was like she was there also. The rest of the school day had been mostly uneventful, with Luka and her friends help Marinette’s confidence had returned so even with the whole class sneering at her day in and day out she no longer backed down. But it seemed like Lila had not been happy about that and had only been biding her time. Now with Chloe gone she struck.

 “I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THIS MARINETTE!” Marinette who was pulling her guitar from her locker froze and looked at Alya with confusion. The girl was absolutely furious.

 “And what, may I ask is Lila accusing me of this time?” The whole class was glaring at her and Marinette felt herself grip her guitar tighter.

 “UGH! I can't BELIEVE I use to be friends with someone like YOU! But I’m sure you’ll just keep playing dumb! So il jog your memory! You DESTROYED Lila’s dress! That was a gift from her late grandmother! Oh but I guess you can't stand the idea of anyone else dressing up for Adrien!” Marinette mentally sighed she hadn't so much as spoken to Adrien in months. Hearing the pitiful fake sobs Marinette glanced over Alya’s shoulder sure enough there was Lila sobbing into Adrien’s shirt vague stain covering the clearly cheap dress. The blonde was glaring at her but Marinette felt nothing. Finally Marinette sighed.

 “Listen, if I say im sorry and vow never to speak to Adrien again can I go? I have somewhere else to be.” Alya narrowed her eyes and Marinette knew that would not be the end of it. She began looking around for an escape route but quickly noticed she was surrounded. Alya smiled a ugly horrible smile and Marinette felt her stomach twist.

 “Oh your not going ANYWHERE Marinette.” Marinette saw the girls eyes fall on her beloved pink guitar, the one her parents had struggled to buy her, the one that held so many precious memories. She felt Kim grip her arms tightly and she screamed as she was lifted into the air kicking wildly. “Oh calm down Marinette, this is just justice. An eye for an eye right?”

 Alya had all but ripped the guitar out of Marinette hands before slamming it against the ground over and over. Marinette had wanted to close her eyes but she kept them open and watched. Watched as her old best friend grinned like a madwoman as she slammed the precious instrument into the ground. Watched as Lila Rossi held Adrien close and smirked. Watched as Adrien did nothing but pout like an inconvenienced child at Marinette for crying as her guitar broke. Watched as they all bore witness to it, all except Juleka who closed her eyes tightly and looked pained and ashamed while holding Rose tightly. At least some felt guilt but Marinette was too devastated to care. When Kim let her go Marinette rushed to the remains of her guitar sobbing but the tears blurring her vision kept her from noticing Alya’s well placed foot she landed hard face first in the remains of her guitar, the wood cutting into her skin. But she didn't care all she could do was gather the remains of her precious instrument before she ran out. Not stopping till she was safe in Luka’s arms.

 Now they sat as they once had when it had all started. Her back in his chest his arms wrapped around her guiding her small fingers over the guitar strings but it was different this time. In the past he had helped her play out her feelings but this time they played out their feelings together. His anger deep resounding, her sadness echoing soft, his concern questioning gentle, her relief delicate easy. Luka removed his hands from overtop hers to wrap his arms around her waist protectively letting his head fall into her shoulder. Marinette continued to play letting her feelings out as she did so, comfortable in the knowledge that that only Luka could understand what she was truly saying. The melody was confused at first trying to find itself Luka smiled to himself thinking how it was just like Marinette to struggle for words. Marinette soon found her music soft gentle there was an underlying sadness but that was to be expected, she found a rhythm and Luka hummed along he was still angry but he knew Marinette did not want revenge she wanted only for the truth. The music grew slowly it was warm and loving his heart melted and his grip tightened but Marinette played unbothered pouring her love and care into each note. She loved him and he loved her and in that moment even with all the horrible things that had happened and had still yet to come they were content.

 An hour or so later when Kagami and Chloe arrived the store was retold and new anger sparked Chloe fumed and yelled while the ever calm Kagami sat like stone eyes staring into the remains of Marinette's most precious guitar as if trying to comprehend the senseless act of cruelty. But there was nothing to understand, only cold cruel reality.

 “We can’t just let this go! They’ve gone too far!” Chloe despite all the advancements she’d made stamped down her foot angrily. It made Marinette who was burrowed comfortably in Luka’s arms snort in amusement. She shifted turning in Luka’s lap to better address her friends.

 “We won’t. But were not stooping to their level either. I want the truth and I want to live my life free of lies and guilt and shame! They may have made me feel useless took me lower than ever before but Im not ever letting anyone do that to me again!” Marinettes words were so firm so full of fire that no one questioned her. There was a moment of silence before Chloe grinned.

 “Alright. What do you need?” Marinette returned the grin her eyes darting around before she spotted her sketchpad. She had a song to write.

 Months passed by and Wildfire announced that they were ready to be seen for the first time by the world in their first ever concert and a few days after that mysterious envelopes appeared on the desks of almost every student in a certain class at College Francoise Dupont. Almost because one Chloe Bourgeois and Marinette Dupain-Cheng had not received any such mystery envelope though they didn't seem bothered by that at all. As the class filtered in no one paid attention to the two girls sitting in the back together chatting amicably and sharing macaroons. Instead everyone was busy looking curiously at the unmarked delivery on their desks though none dared open it without Lila. Finally the class queen arrived followed by her ever loyal reporter they took their seats and sure enough Alya with permission opened the envelope, the following scream of joy was almost enough to shatter glass.

 “Oh my GOD! Lila girl! You are to good to us! Front row seats to the first ever Wildfire concert hosted by THE Jagged Stone! Pinch me I’m totally dreaming!” Everyone now eager to see if what Alya said was true ripped open their envelopes and gasped. Lila knew she had not bought tickets she knew she wasn't responsible but her sheep were well trained so anything good was obviously her doing and she was quick to lie.

 “Well of course! Didn’t I tell you guys I had a surprise in store! And Jagged was so insistent on me being there but I totally refused to go unless all of YOU could come!” The class erupted into compliments showering the girl in praise for her selflessness.

 “I just hope you didn’t extend your generosity too far SOME people really don’t deserve it!” Alya shot a look at Marinette and Chloe. Lila was pleased to note that neither girl had an envelope it was almost too easy.

 “Oh Alya you know I would have invited them but everyone in Wildfire and me are actually good friends of mine and they refused to let me invite my bullies! But I really wish it could have been the whole class.” She wiped a fake tear from her face and practically threw herself at Adrien demanding comfort from the boy.

 Chloe and Marinette however said nothing only watched the charade with growing amusement. Marinette caught Juleka looking at her and an invisible message passed between the two before Marinette smiled warmly. Juleka had finally had a long talk with her brother and Marinette and had finally redone her purple streaks there was no more tension between them and if anything Juleka was excited to see Lila’s empire fall. For the rest of the day all anyone could talk about was the concert and Lila eager to keep eyes on her kept piling on lie after lie.

 “I'm sorry I didn’t get us backstage passes but you know how celebrities are! Oh but don’t worry Alya i'm SURE I could get you an interview! I mean were just that close!” Lie after lie the bubble grew larger and Chloe could not wait to watch it pop.

 On the night of the concert weeks later the one who might have felt the bubble pop hardest was Alya. With their tickets in hand the class had been treated wonderfully they got in easily had the best seats and compliments rained down on Lila for everything. Jagged Stone had played some music to keep the crowd entertained but then finally the time came for Wildfire. The lights dimmed and Alya felt her heart pounding in her chest this was it! The music that started was unfamiliar and Alya heard Nino and Adrien excitedly whisper about how they must be starting with a totally new song! The music got louder instruments being added Alya felt shivers run over her body the dark stage not betraying a thing until all at once the music hit a peek the lights flared and there they were Wildfire for the first time in the flesh.

 Alya was dizzy with excitement her eyes darting around trying to take everything in she was obviously recording everything on her phone that dizzying excitement at the thought of her next scoop is why she remained blind to what was truly in front of her. The lead singer had her eyes closed letting herself soak in the music as she played with her band Alya felt she was so familiar but it wasn't until her eyes slowly opened as she sang the first words that it dawned on everyone. Those bluebell eyes were unmistakable.

 “MARINETTE?” It was Adrien who shouted it first he sounded horrified. Alya wanted to say he was wrong but despite how different the bluenette looked from earlier that day it was her. The blue flames that danced in her eyes the confident and almost wicked smirk as she sang her voice so different but now familiar like a siren drawing in the crowd.

 “Its… not just Marinette.” Alya could barely hear Nino from the roar of the crowd and fire filled song on Marinette’s lips. But he was right slowly the class looked from person to person. Luka was possibly the easiest to recognize having changed his style the least. Chloe was next her hair and makeup altered but her unmistakable yellow theme showing through. The other girl was harder to pinpoint but finally Alya brain supplied a name ‘Kagami’ she remembered seeing Marinette climb into the girls car with Chloe for a shopping trip.

 The memory made her jaw clench. Why had she not been invited? Why had she not been told? Marinette was lead singer for THE most popular band is paris and yet Alya her best friend knew NOTHING. ‘But are you really her friend?’ Alya felt her grip on her precious phone tighten until her knuckles were white. Of course they were friends! They had to be… Alya felt her shoulders sag as she listened to Marinette’s song. It was raw, anger, betrayal, fire, and Alya couldn't help but feel the lyrics were aimed at them. Her eyes looked over the pink guitar in Marinette's hands the one she played so expertly now and Alya bit her lip remembering the precious guitar she’d ripped out of Marinette’s hands and destroyed. The lyrics and tone of the music changed it was still heavy still the rock and roll Alya never would expect from Marinette. She tried to focus on what she was singing but it was painful to hear, moving on, getting stronger, burning those who wronged her into the ashes of the past. It got louder and louder and the concert Alya should have been loving felt like torture Marinette and her band all of Wildfire was practically screaming now it was passionate it was raw, it was a slap in the face.

 When the song finally ended there was silence then a roar of applause the crowd loved it. But near the front the group save Juleka who was overjoyed and yelling wildly sat numb the lyrics coupled with realization of what was done and said leaving them feeling exposed. Lila however felt nervous her gut churning her mind racing, before the concert was over she needed to find a lie to cover for everything or her kingdom would crumble. When the applause died down the music began anew each song was different and unique each conveying emotions wild and unchecked and in Paris a land where emotions were kept so lidded due to Hawkmoth it was like a breath of fresh air. Then the music slowed the love duet that had helped skyrocket the band into popularity in the first place. Marinette who for the most part stood apart and in front stepped back to be near Luka the two looked at each other as they sang their eyes never parting as they sang together then back and forth the soft loving smiles they had was enough to fill Lila with jealousy, the liar had thought she'd taken away the love of Marinette’s life but here on stage for all to see the two were practically declaring their undying love for all too see. And one glance at Adrien Agreste showed how unhappy how clearly jealous he was.

 Finally what felt like an eternity later and 2 encores later the concert came to a close. Marinette grinned as she took the microphone into her hand waving enthusiastically to the crowd. “Thank you each and every one of you for coming out to Wildfire’s first ever concert! We cannot wait to perform and sing more for all of you another day!” The crowd cried out praises as the group disappeared behind stage. Soon people began to file out but the class stayed where they were struggling to process all that they had just heard and witnessed. Finally it was Rose who broke the silence.

 “Lila you…You! Lied! To us!” The small girl was trembling huge tears threatening to fall from her large eyes. Juleka placed a supportive hand around her to keep her steady. Alya reflexitively went to defend Lila only to bite her tongue. Lila had said she was best friends with Wildfire, she claimed the tickets were her doing, she’d been saying for months all Marinette wanted was Adrien and she’d bully anyone for him but she sang of Luka and smiled for him. Just how many lies had Lila told?

 “R-Rose how c-c-could you! I would never lie! Right Alya!?” Lila sobbed out. “I-I’m so hurt you would say s-such an AWFUL thing!” Lila threw herself into Adrien’s arms crying into his chest.the class exchanged a look they were confused. It was Nino who came to Rose’s defense first.

 “You said you were Wildfire’s friend but Marinette like hates you dude.” The class murmured in agreement which gave Nino the encouragement to continue. “Also I just don’t believe Marinette would sing like that about Luka if she was really after Adrien you know?”

 “SHE- SHE’S JUST USING THAT LUKA GUY!” Lila’s facade was cracking the panic she felt bubbling into her desperate words. The class was muttering now, were the tickets really her? What about saying she was Prince Ali’s secret lover? Or saving Jagged Stone’s cat? Had he had a cat?

 “There’s an easy way to solve this you know.” The class looked at Juleka stunned waiting for her to continue. “We just ask Marinette.” She pointed to Penny Rolling who stood at the entrance to the backstage checking her clipboard. Lila was quick to try and cut in but Alya gripped her tightly and dragged her towards the backstage the class in tow none noticing the amused smile on Juleka’s lips.

 Getting back stage was surprisingly easy Alya had all but demanded to see Marinette and Penny would normally refuse but when she saw Juleka in the group she gave a forced polite smile and guided them. When they entered the room where Wildfire was relaxing Alya felt the air and whatever she had planned to say leave her body along with her soul. Marinette sat her back to Luka’s chest the boy holding her tenderly a soft smile on his face as he watched his beloved Marinette negotiate with a CROCODILE ‘Fang’ Alya’s mind supplied about how no the scaly creature did not NEED another slice of pizza and no puppy eyes would change that. Chloe meanwhile had her head in Kagami’s lap while she redid her nail polish. Kagami was lovingly stroking the blondes hair while arguing with Jagged about which pizza toppings should be illegal. The whole scene was too much and Alya felt her brain short circuit and rage build it should have been HER she was Marinette’s best friend!

 “Well, well, look what the alley cat dragged in~” Chloe had been the first to notice vengeful wicked smile plastered on her face as she sat up and wrapped herself in Kagami’s arms. “I hope you all LOVED the show!” Alya felt her rage build until she felt she’d pop.

 “HOW COULD YOU MARINETTE! I thought I was your BEST FRIEND! Why didn’t you tell me!” Fang who’d previously been relaxed turned and growled at Alya causing the girl to shrink back.

 “Oh please Alya.” Marinette’s voice was cool, the blue flames dancing in her eyes. “You? My best friend? I think that would require us to talk. And your daily insults hardly count.” Alya felt a pang in her chest guilt eating at her shame staining her cheeks.

 “Tch. I  know Ive certainly never heard of any friends who break each other guitars on purpose.” Kagami’s voice was like ice piercing the classes hearts shame and guilt wracking them.

 “So… Lila really was lying then?” Alya shot a glare at Nino causing the boy to wither under his demanding girlfriend gaze. It was Chloe who burst into laughter first high and mocking followed by Marinette. Alya bristled not understanding what was so funny. When Marinette was done laughing she stood Luka easily letting her go his loving eyes watching his now confident sweet girlfriend.

 “Lila is a liar.” It was a fact nothing more but it bit like teeth. Marinette began slowly walking back and forth in front of the class “She’s lied to all of you. About everything, she isn’t Prince Ali’s secret lover, she isnt Wildfire’s good friend, Ladybug’s got no clue who she is, no she didn’t buy you the tickets tonight, I’ve been dating Luka for months, I don't care enough to bully her, and for the last time Jagged Stone never owned a cat.” To that Jagged cheered and threw his beloved Fang another slice of pizza.

 Lila burst once more into sobs and clung onto Adrien as she whined about how cruel Marinette was. “Oh those are the fakest tears I’ve ever seen! I can’t believe any of you fell for it! Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous!” The class looked if possible even more ashamed. Finally Adrien who’d been silent broke.

 “I can’t believe you Marinette! I thought we’d agreed but no you had to pull this ACT all because I didn’t love you.” Marinette simply scoffed letting herself fall back on to the couch and into Luka’s waiting arms.

 “Oh please Agreste. I never agreed to anything. And in case you didn’t notice. I don’t need or want YOUR love.” Luka who had seemed previously content to sit by pulled Marinette close to himself protectively she giggled at the rare show of jealousy. Nino’s eyes widened as he stared at Adrien.

 “You knew?” The class paused finally realizing. “Adrien, bro answer me! DID YOU KNOW!” Adrien stiffened and nodded. That was it the class erupted accusations firing in every direction Lila sobbing trying desperately to get pity. The noise was silenced when Kagami loudly whistled. But it was Chloe who spoke.

 “Listen. As fun as it is to watch you idiots realize just how stupid you’ve all been its been a long night for us~ So I think its time for dear Uncle Jagged and auntie Penny to give you your farewell gifts. What do you think Marinette?” The bluenette was comfortably nestled in Luka’s arms gently caressing her boyfriends cheek with a small hand but she gave an absent nod to go ahead. With the signal to go ahead Penny handed out large stacks of paper to Lila and Alya respectively.

 Alya felt the numbness return to her body. Adrien had known, shed destroyed Marinette’s guitar and trust, Lila had lied potentially as Mari had said about EVERYTHING, how could things be worse. At Lila’s screech of horror Alya finally looked down at the papers. “Your… Suing us?” Her tongue felt like led.

 “Oh not us.” It was finally Luka who spoke the usually calm boy clearly containing some hidden rage he felt toward the class though it seemed Marinette’s touches helped him remain composed. “Just some celebrities including Jagged are. After all you wrote a LOT of stories about them.” The boy looked pleased.

 Beside her Lila kept sputtering angrily but Alya was completely frozen this had to be some mistake! Marinette! Marinette would help her. “Mari gurl! Your joking right?” Alya grinned wildly looking much like a crazed animal “I mean you won't let anyone sue me! You’ll help me right? You know I'm sorry about the guitar thing!” Marinette’s eyes grew uncertain the fire in them dimming Alya felt her heart leap in hope until Luka took her gently by the chin and they looked each other he silently shook his head no and just like that the wildfire in her eyes returned. The bluenette looked at her old friend and Alya felt like her skin was on fire.

 “I think its about time you all went home.” Alya screeched trying to protest Adrien and Lila joining in. Juleka left the rest of her stunned classmates to sit with Luka absently petting Fang as the chaotic confused student body was pushed out by security. Luka smiled proudly at HIS wildfire his beautiful brave Marinette the spark in her was brighter than he'd ever thought it could be she was a beautiful star one he felt undeserving to be loved by. As if reading his thoughts she smiled and kissed him sweetly.

 All of this, none of it had been intentional. Not falling in love with both music and Luka. Not exposing or getting her class sued. No all Marinette had ever wanted was to express herself proudly to feel each emotion good and bad. But as a member of Wildfire Marinette had gotten everything she’s wanted and more. As she curled into Luka ever warm and comforting arms she felt herself relax in a way she’d never thought possible. Yes nothing had been intentional but it didn’t need to be.

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[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: T

Summary: Ladybug shows up to return his lucky charm. Adrien should've put on something other than a towel. (Ladrien identity reveal fic)

Word Count: 2600

XXX

“When you walk away, you don’t hear me say, pleeeeeease, oh baaaaaaaaaby, don’t go!”  he sang over the spray of the shower.  The acoustics in his bathroom made his voice bearable.  He knew his singing wasn’t the greatest, but there was nothing like being able to let lose and caterwaul in the comfort of a warm bubblebath.

“Simple and clean is the waaaaay that you’re making me feeeeeeeeel tonight, it’s hard to let it go—” 

“Hey, kid—don’t scream, it’s just me—”

Adrien swallowed his shout as he dove under the bathwater.  Soap went up his nose, and he coughed it back out.

“Plagg!  What did I tell you about barging in while I’m in the shower?”  He hugged his knees and scowled.

The kwami lounged on top of a bubble, his paws crossed behind his head.

“Relax, I’m thousands of years old.  I’ve seen plenty of naked Chat Noirs before.  And keep your voice down.”

“What?  Is there an akuma?  Plagg, claws—!”

Plagg flew up to his face, pressing a tiny paw to his lips.  “Shhh!  You’d be better off with her seeing you naked than suited up!”

Wait.  Her?

“Why didn’t you tell me someone was here?”  he hissed.

Plagg rolled his eyes.  “I was trying to.  Someone was too busy screaming and hiding in a pile of bubbles to listen.”

“Who is it?”

“Oh, no one important.  Just your little lovebug.”  He grinned.

“Ladybug?” 

Oops.  He probably shouldn’t have shouted that.

“Oh, uh—I’m sorry!”  Her unmistakable voice filtered through the door.  “I can come back later if this is a bad time!”

“N-no!  It’s never a bad time to see you!”  Even if he did want to just sink into the bathwater and drown at the thought of her hearing his wailing earlier.  “Just give me a second!”

Plagg cackled as Adrien turned off the shower and hastily wrapped a black towel around his waist.

“Oh no,” he groaned, scanning the empty counter.  “I didn’t bring my pajamas in.”  From now on he’d always keep a change of clothes on him, just in case Ladybug ever decided to drop in.  

“Eh, it’s not like she’ll complain at seeing you in a towel.”  Plagg shrugged.

Adrien flushed from head to toe.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice.  If Ladybug was here, it had to be for something important.

Making sure his towel was tied securely, he cracked open the door.

“Ladybug?”

“A-Adrien!”  She leaped back from his bed.  Had she been… sniffing his pillow?  Ugh, Plagg must have left his Camembert to ferment under there again.  She probably thought he was a disgusting slob.  He could only hope she’d catch a whiff of his freshly-showered scent and change her mind.

“Do you mind passing me my clothes?”  he asked with a nervous grin.

“Oh, er—yes, of course!  Clothes!  That’s what people wear after showering…”

Was she okay?  He couldn’t remember ever seeing her so flustered.

Before he could tell her where his pajamas were, she was rummaging in his dresser...  and then she was pulling out his red-and-black-spotted underwear. 

Was drowning in the bathtub still an option?

“Nevermind!”  He stepped out from behind the door.  “I’ll just, uh, wear this towel.  It’s more comfortable anyway.”

She dropped his underwear back in the drawer.  “Er, if you insist!”  She grinned widely.

For a moment they just stood there, staring at each other, while Adrien slowly died inside.  Then he noticed her eyes flicker to something on his shoulder.

“Huh?”  He tried to turn his neck at angle to see whatever it was.  He’d just showered; what could be stuck to him?

“Let me,” Ladybug said, rushing forward to brush off his shoulder.  A red rose petal drifted to the ground.

“Oh, haha, where did that come from?”  He ruffled his wet hair.  There was no way he’d admit that he enjoyed bathing in rosewater.  She’d think he was just a snobby rich boy for sure.

(Even if at least half the reason was so that he could smell nice for her.)

He cleared his throat loudly.  “So, um, what can I do for you?”

“Right!”  She smacked her face, and then she flipped open her yo-yo. “I just noticed that you left this behind at your photoshoot when the akuma attacked today…”

She pulled out a red string of pink, blue, and green beads.

“My lucky charm!”  He nearly dropped his towel in his rush to take the charm.  “Thank you so much, my—Ladybug.  I don’t know how I lost it.  This charm is so special to me.”

He cradled it to his chest in relief.  Though at least part of it was probably silly superstition, he always felt better with the charm on him.  

“R-really?”  Her face reddened.  “Why’s that?”

“A really good friend of mine gave it to me.  I always take it to my photoshoots for a bit of extra luck.”  He rubbed the beads between his fingers.  He didn’t have any pockets to put the charm in, so he tied it around his wrist.  “But… how did you know it was mine?”

“Oh!  I must have… ah… seen it fall out of your pocket?”  She ruffled the back of her hair, disheveling her pigtails.

He leaned in closer.  Why did her nervous face look familiar?  His Lady usually seemed so composed.

“Are you lying?”  He grinned, a bit of his Chat slipping out.  

“What?  Psh, no.  It’s not like I know you in real life or anything—that would be crazy!  I’m just—I’m a fan of fashion, so I might have been watching your totoshoot glosely before that akuma attacked—”

“Totoshoot?”  His brow furrowed.

“Exactly, the grotoshoot.  So—you’re charming, I mean—you’ve got your charm back, so I should put a shirt on—I mean—YOU should put a shirt on, and pants, and underwater—underwear!  Which I’m not going to touch again, so.  So I’ll—BYE!”

Adrien should’ve cut off her ramble sooner.  But each garbled word out of her mouth felt so familiar. He couldn’t help trying to place it.

“Wait, Marinette!”  He grabbed her wrist before she could unhook her yo-yo.

“What?  Is something else wrong?  Or did I just sound like such an idiot you don’t trust me to protect Paris anymore—”

His heart sped up as he enfolded her spazzing hands in his.  Marinette.  That’s who her frantic stammering had reminded him of.  And she’d responded to his slip without missing a beat.

“Of course not, my—Marinette.  I’ll always trust you.”

Her eyes blew wide beneath her mask.

“Wha… what did you just call me…?” 

“Marinette,” he repeated, the name sweet in his mouth.  “You’re Marinette.”

“N-no, of course I’m not!  Marinette’s waaaay too clumsy to be a superhero, psh.”

“You gave her the mouse miraculous.  You obviously didn’t think so.”  He smirked and crossed his arms.  The beads on his charm clinked together in her stunned silence.

“You—what—nobody knows about that!  Nobody except—Chat?”

Oh.  Crap.

“Hehe.  Oops?”

She smacked her forehead again.

“Careful, bugaboo, I wouldn’t want you to hurt your mewtiful face.”  He grinned against the rising panic.  Why did he say that?  Why was his gut instinct to pun in times of emotional crisis?  Ladybug knew his identity!  And from the blue-screening look on her face, she wasn’t thrilled about it.

“Oh yeah, you’re Chat Noir alright.”  She groaned and pressed the heels of her palms to her forehead.  “I can’t believe I’ve been staring at Chat Noir’s chest!”

“You—you were?”  He giggled hysterically.  “Like, staring because it’s a nice chest?  Or because it’s just kind of there and I should really put a shirt on because this is weird, isn’t it—?”

“Adrien, your chest is more than nice.  But it might be a good idea for you to put on a shirt before I drool all over your floor.”

They both locked eyes, equally shocked that she’d said that.

“I—you wouldn’t happen to have a bathtub I could drown in, would you?”  she croaked out.

He laughed.  “Not a chance, bugaboo.”   

“Maybe he could kill you with his singing instead,” Plagg said from where he was hovering by the bathroom door.

Adrien and Ladybug both jumped.  Of course Plagg had overheard all of that.  Adrien found himself turning the same color as his Lady’s suit.

“Excuse you, Adrien has a wonderful singing voice,” she said with a pout.

“I—I do?”  He blinked.  “You’re sure you actually heard me?” 

Chloé had always made fun of his voice.  His father wouldn’t let him audition for voice acting positions with singing roles.  Even Plagg, who had an… interesting voice himself, could hardly stand Adrien’s singing.

“Of course I did!  I mean, um… what’s the answer that makes me sound the least weird?”

He laughed, shaking so hard the towel almost fell off.  Again.  He tucked the corner of it more securely against his waist.  He should really go ahead and get dressed, but he was afraid Ladybug—Marinette!—would disappear the second he took his eyes off of her.

“I’m the one standing here in a towel, and you think you’re weird?”

At that, she laughed back.  “I’m the one who didn’t let you get dressed!”

“I’m the one who didn’t let you get my clothes because I was too embarrassed about you seeing my Ladybug underwear!”

She collapsed back in his computer chair cackling.  Both of them were redder than her suit by that point.

“Yeah, yeah, you guys are both disgustingly in love.  Unless you’re going to smooch my kid while he’s practically naked, you should let him get dressed.”

“In—love?”  Adrien squeaked out.  “Ladybug?  In love—me?”

“Can dish it but can’t take it, huh?”  She stood and smirked while leaning into his space. 

He licked his dry lips.  If Marinette wanted to play that game, he wasn’t going to back down now.

“I can take it,” he said quietly, his lips centimeters from hers.  “As long as it’s you doing the dishing.”

“The only dish I want is a nice dish of camembert,” Plagg complained.  But for now, Adrien ignored him.

“Hmm.  Let’s see about that.”  Her arms wrapped around the back of his neck, leaving tingling trails where her suit brushed bare skin.  He was going to pay for procrastinating getting dressed.  If he was unraveling already, there was no way he could handle whatever else she planned to throw at him.

Her lips brushed his.  It was just the faintest touch, but it set his heart pounding.

“Is this okay?”  She asked quietly, her voice suddenly turning shy.  “I know we always joke together, but if this is too weird, or—”

“Marinette.”  It came out as a rasp.  “If you don’t kiss me right now, I might actually die.”

Her laugh fanned out across his collarbone.  “Well, we can’t have that.”

She kissed him.  Really kissed him, her lips interlocking with his, hands roaming down his bare back, and oh man he was wrong.  He might have died if she didn’t kiss him, but he was definitely going to die now that she did.

He held her tighter, tilting his head to allow her better access.

To think that just minutes ago, he hadn’t known his Lady was Marinette, or that she was in love with him.  And now this.

He finally pulled back, needing to breathe before he melted into a vaguely Adrien-colored puddle.  Another jolt of ecstasy shot through him when Marinette continued to chase his lips.  She pouted when he laughed.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who might die without kisses,” he teased.

“If you’re trying to embarrass me, you’re going to have to work a lot harder than that,” she said even though her face was still bright red.  “You already heard me say totoshoot.  And you saw me sniff your pillow!”

“That’s just today.  Don’t forget the time you kissed me while I was pretending to be a statue.”

Her eyes widened, and she pushed him back.  His chest felt cold where she was no longer pressed to him.

“Too soon?”  He asked, though he couldn’t help grinning.  He should’ve known she was in love with him.  Why else would she have acted like that?

“It will always be too soon.  I vote we pretend that never happened.”

“But Marinette, don’t you want to be molded together in the plaster of destiny?”  He batted his eyes innocently.

She dropped her head into her hands, hiding the adorable blush there.  “That’s it.  I’m leaving.”

“But I thought we were going to be entwined for eternity!”

She looked torn between laughing and punching him.  He would’ve welcomed either.

“It sounds like someone doesn’t want any more kisses.”  She crossed her arms instead, turning her back to him.

“Nooooo, Marinette!  Anything but that!”  He draped himself over her back, arms dangling over her shoulders.  “I hope I didn’t upset you.  I just think hindsight made it hilarious, but I’ll shut up if you really want me to.”

“I don’t think you could shut up if you tried.  But that’s okay.  I love you just the way you are.”  She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Warmth spread through him from head to toe.  “Really?”

“Yes, really.  You think I’d make out with just any shirtless guy?”

“Hmmm.  I guess you have a point.”  His hands played with the string of her yo-yo around her waist.  “But I wouldn’t complain if you wanted to prove it again.”

She took hold of one of his hands, spinning him so they were face to face again.  “Go put on some clothes so I don’t have to worry about knocking your towel off, and then we’ll see.”

He blushed again.  He’d better get used to that though.  If he got any more kisses from Marinette, the color of her suit would rub off on him permanently.

“I can live with that.”

He dug out his pajamas—including his Ladybug underwear—and darted into the bathroom.  

“Are you happy now?”  Plagg asked.  It took a second for Adrien to spot him, snuggled up in one of Adrien’s black hand towels next to the sink. “I sure heard a lot of gross smooching noises back there.  You think I can use this to plug my ears?”

The kwami held up a q-tip and snapped it in half.

Adrien cast a glance back at the door, where he heard Marinette giggling on the other side.

“Could you keep your voice down?”  He hissed.  “And no, don’t do that.  You’ll hurt yourself.”  He took the broken q-tip and tossed it in the trash.

“You better get me some real earplugs if you’re gonna keep this up, then.”

“Done,” Adrien said while pulling his shirt on over his head.  “I’ll do that and get you that special sprucewood cheese if you leave us alone for the next hour.”

“Deal!  Good luck, loverboy!”  Plagg waved.  “I think you’re forgetting something, though.”

“Huh?”  Adrien’s hand was already on the doorknob, but he turned around and saw his pants still lying on the counter.  That would’ve been awkward.  “Thanks, Plagg.  I’m kind of surprised you didn’t let me just embarrass myself though.”

“Nah.  You can do that plenty well on your own.”  The kwami grinned.  “I still think she’s lying about your singing voice.  You could scare off akumas with that.”

Adrien stuck out his tongue.  It didn’t matter what Plagg thought.

On the other side of the door, Marinette was waiting.  And no matter how embarrassing he was, she still loved him.

[ao3bronte]

Obey

4 | 5 | 6

Warnings: Characters are aged up but still drinking underage (legal drinking age is 18 in France). Wild parties, hypnosis and NSFW themes will ensue.

This chapter includes explicit sexual content. Reader discretion be advised.

Below deck...

“Marinette…” Luka chokes on his words, his hands unable to stay idle. He cradles each of her breasts in his palms and brushes his thumbs across her nipples, powerless to tear his eyes away as she inhales against the feeling, so new and addictive. He does it again and again until Marinette is mewling, the pace of her hips increasing, and when he finally looks up at her face again, it’s with the implicit understanding that if they go any further, there will be no holding back.

“I want it,” she throws her head back as he grasps her breasts and squeezes, “It feels good.”

Luka doesn’t have the ability to answer, his tongue thoroughly tied as he pulls one hand back to unfasten the button of his jeans. She watches him as he tugs the zipper down his length, exposing a sliver of his bright purple boxers beneath.

“Are you sure?” his voice hitches as she shimmies backwards, giving him a chance to push his jeans down his thighs. She nods as he steps out of them, gnawing on her lower lip.

“I’ve thought about this moment,” she admits, unable to keep herself from telling the truth even if she tried. The old Marinette had certainly mulled over her first time, with the boys in her fantasies alternating between Luka and the forbidden boy she was determined to let go of, “And I want it to be with you.”

“Oh god,” Luka babbles, barely able to stop himself from shaking. His hands twitch at his sides before reaching out and settling on her hips once again, “Can I?”

“Yes,” she whispers, shivering as he hooks his thumbs into the straps of her panties and drags them down her bare legs. When he looks up, he falls back onto the bed and locks eyes with her, his expression wrecked and helpless all at once.

“Your turn.”

It takes a moment for Luka’s brain to catch up with her words, her gaze impossible to shake as he blindly pulls his boxers off. His erection bobs and Marinette’s eyes widen as she catches a glimpse of something she’s only seen in a textbook.

“Marinette…” He squirms under her gaze, bashful at the prospect of being completely naked in front of her. His hands start twitching again for something to do and he drives his fingers into his bedspread and clenches, the sheets bunching while he tries to fight for his composure, “I…”

She silences him with a kiss, quelling both of their nerves as she slides back into his lap. He cries out a little as his cock brushes against the skin of her belly, sending a lightning strike up his spine.

“Remember what I told you?”

Luka pulls away and melts like putty in her arms, “Please…”

“Yes,” she breathes, “And whatever you do, don’t hold back.”

~

Intelligent. Clever. Bright. Luka is all of these things, although he doesn’t always show it. At first glance, he looks like the kind of rough-and-tumble twenty-something who grows pot in his bedroom window. But beneath the surface of his smile, Luka’s brilliance roars in like the tide and brings melodies in its wake, only for his heartsong to suck you into his orbit like a rip current. Marinette feels like she’s floating in the whirlpool of his soul right now, their bare chests pressed against each other, their bodies entwined as he falls back against his bedsheets and she falls with him for the very first time.

“I really don’t know what I’m doing,” he murmurs against her lips, his cheeks flushing with a mixture of lust and embarrassment as she brackets his hips with her own.

“Neither do I,” Marinette admits in kind, bracing herself on her hands and knees above him, “But that’s never stopped me before.”

Luka’s lips curl into a smile as he combs his fingers through her hair, lost in the wonder of her gaze. She’s always burned the brightest of the two of them and he’s addicted to the light she sheds on his life, even while they’ve been apart, “True.”

“And we’d still be together, you know…” Marinette brushes her thumb across his cheek and presses a quick kiss to the corner of his lips, “Maybe we could figure something out.”

Luka feels his blood burn like it never has before, “Do you mean that?”

“You’re going on tour soon,” Marinette sits up straight and runs her fingernails down the planes of his chest, “And Le Papillon can’t akumatize you if you’re in Berlin or Bangkok. You can still be mine, if you want to be.”

“Yes!” Luka cries out before he can stop himself, excitement and joy welling up in his chest. The surge of adrenaline spurs his body into movement and he lets his instincts take the wheel as he flips them over and pins her underneath of him, kissing her recklessly, “You won’t regret this. You’re mine .”

Marinette’s eyes widen with surprise at the sudden change of scenery and keens as Luka leaves a trail of wet kisses along her neck, her collarbone, the swell of her breasts. He draws one of her nipples between her teeth and she squeals at the newfound sensation that tingles all the way down to her toes. She knows why the old Marinette put this off for so long but now that the new Marinette has taken over control, she can hardly come up with a single argument to stop her from making love to him tonight.

“Does that feel good?” Luka asks, his expression hopeful as he rests his chin against her sternum. He waits until she nods before flashing her a toothy grin and going back to town like he was born to please her, to run his tongue and teeth against the sensitive skin of her breasts. She likes it when he circles her nipple with his tongue and she tells him so, burying her fingers in the shaggy blue hair at the nape of his neck to guide him.

“Use your other hand,” she whispers, a breathy gasp escaping her lips as he does exactly that. He swirls his thumb over her other nipple until the nub is impossibly hard and sensitive in a way Marinette can hardly stand. It’s like she wants more but she also wants him to retreat and her mind sings with the contrasting sensations, sending all sorts of strange and addictive signals to the apex of her thighs.

“Can I...?” he pulls away from her breast and his eyes easily betray his intentions, his lashes casting downwards as his gaze locks on her navel. She mumbles a shaky yes and suddenly she’s awash in a flurry of anticipation and need as he leaves wet kiss after wet kiss along her belly, tinted with hunger. He laves his tongue just below her belly button and his eyes suddenly bear the question they’re both too overwhelmed to ask; she can’t quite verbalize it, her nerve endings on fire, and hopes that spreading her legs as widely as she can answers his concern.

“Oh god,” Luka murmurs, having only seen this kind of thing through the screen of his computer. He’s orgasmed a thousand times to the tune of burying his face between her thighs and having her fall apart against his tongue. He doesn’t want to waste a moment — this time between them too fleeting to ignore — and peppers kisses against the inside of her thighs to try and reign himself in.

To Luka, Marinette has always been a puzzle to solve and this moment is no different as he parts her lips with his fingers and flattens his tongue against her core. She’s making those lovely noises again, the ones she’d been mewling over and over when he’d been kissing her breasts, and he pays close attention to their modulation and tone. He repeats the motion and draws his tongue up and against her clit, blooming with pride as she all but begs for him to do it again.

And who is he to deny Marinette, the heroine of Paris and his childhood crush for years ? She could ask him for the world and he’d present it to her on a platter, utterly committed to her every want and need.

He draws on what he’s watched on the internet, the amateur videos he jacks off to now and then in the solitude of his bunk on the tour bus. It’s always her he thinks about when he shuts his eyes and rolls onto his back, taking himself in his hand and pumping furiously on the nights where he can’t sleep. And now, lapping and sucking and fucking her fervently with his tongue, he knows he’ll never have to look at porn again. Not with this memory, with her taste on his lips and her cries of passion in his ears. She’s ordering him, begging him to go harder, faster as he slips a finger inside of her, the tight resistance of her entrance doing all sorts of wonderful things to his imagination.

“Please,” Marinette wrenches her knees upwards and Luka can sense that something’s about to change. She’s wound like a live wire and her heartsong is absolutely singing with harmonies he’s never heard before, building into a crescendo at five times the forte. She’s cresting at the decibel of a Jagged Stone concert and the giddy feeling in Luka’s chest swells as her thighs clench around his ears. He’s written songs about this moment as she clenches around his fingers and gasps his name like a supplication, tossing her head back into his pillow.

(And he’ll write a thousand more.)

She melts a few moments later, her eyes lidded and lovely as she beckons him back up towards her. He follows, completely under her spell and perfectly happy to be under her control.

“I’ve never felt like that before,” Marinette whispers, nothing but honest beneath the influence of Mesmer’s power, “I’ve...it’s so much different when it’s with someone else.”

Brimming with newfound confidence, Luka claims her mouth in a wrenching kiss, “Are you admitting that you touch yourself?”

“Well...yes,” Marinette gasps, the sting of his teeth on her lower lip quickly soothed with his tongue, “Once or twice. I wanted to know what it was like.”

“And now you’ll never have to wonder again,” Luka says, his cock brushing against her inner thighs. Marinette’s eyes sharpen with focus as she worms her hand down between their bodies. She caresses his side and slowly explores the vee of his hips before pausing, hesitating as her fingers brush through the tuft of black hair below his navel. She’s never done something like this before but she heeds Mesmer’s every word, every temptation; she is their Queen and she will show them what it means to be her lover! When she emerges on deck, thoroughly fucked and proudly his, everyone will see the true Marinette. She’s not innocent, not anymore. She’s a woman on the brink of destiny, a hero with the weight of the world on her shoulders and the weight of her lover holding her above water. She’s a force of nature and a sexy one at that if Luka’s whimpers have anything to say about it, mewling into her ear as she wraps her hand around his shaft and slides her palm from root to tip.

“I want you,” she whispers, intoxicated by his raw expression as she guides him towards her centre. He braces himself and draws the lobe of her ear between his lips, nearly deafened by the cadenza of this moment. He wavers, his apprehension of hurting her niggling at the forefront of his mind but there’s no stopping now; it’s just her and him and the need to obey Mesmer’s decree to allow themselves to be free from reservations.

“Let me know if you need me to stop,” he hisses through gritted teeth as he slowly pushes inside of her. Her slick, tight heat almost stops his heart right then and there and he’s never felt so good, so high, so utterly entranced as he feels right now, listening closely to her voice between the blood pumping through his ears. He pauses twice, sensing her tension and kisses her in the hopes of distracting her from the pain, her taste still heavy on his tongue.

“You can...move now,” Marinette takes a deep breath as he slowly drags his hips back and pushes them forwards again, committing to a steady rhythm almost immediately. She times her inhales to his inner metronome and soon the sting dissolves into a torrent of pressure that feels better than she could have imagined. The sensation of his cock rocking into her is addictive and she doesn’t know how to describe the friction except she never wants it to end, hooked on the slide and catch of his hips as his thrusts begin to accelerate in tempo.

He’s lost, panting and sweating as he tries desperately to clamber for control. He wants to make this good for her but she feels so so so good and he’s helpless to her whimpers and moans in his ears, a siren’s song that’s dragging him beneath the waves upon waves of pleasure she’s given him. He didn’t think his first time would ever be this good but, then again, he never thought Marinette would come back to him and make every single one of his dreams come true.

“Mari…” he groans against her lips, his rhythm stuttering. It feels like being struck by fireworks and lightning all at once as he comes inside of her, the sensation surging through his fingers and toes. His mind blanks for a moment and Marinette kisses him happily, catching every prayer with the sweetness of her tongue. Eventually, he braces himself on his elbows and flops onto his side, dragging her over into his embrace.

“I love you,” he murmurs, still buzzing somewhere in the stratosphere. She smiles and pecks him on the nose before burying herself in his arms.

“I love you too,” she says and she’s not even remotely surprised that she means every word. Mesmer gave her the opportunity to speak freely, to make decisions with a clear mind and admit everything she’s ever held back. A relationship with Luka wouldn’t be easy and they’d have to find a way around the long nights alone…

...she wonders if Luka would be willing to share.

[hateswifi]

Lips are Chapped and Faded

SOOOO I did it again, accidently deleted the text, WARNING FEELS AHEAD. Hope you enjoy this quick fic, can anyone name where the title came from?

The Master: Master List

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

When he first saw her again she looked broken, she was hunched I’ve the bar with a glass of bourbon, not her usual drink. “Angel?” She sat up straight and looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying. 

“Oh hey Damian,” She greets, throwing back her drink before wiping her mouth and eyes, smudging her mascara. 

“What’s the matter? Why’ve you been crying?” He asks, taking the glass from her hand. She stands, wobbling a bit. 

“Oh nothing just drunk crying. Have you ever done that before? Nah! You wouldn’t do that,” Marinette says, falling forward having tripped on her heels, luckily, he caught her before she could hit the ground. “Oh wow! You’re sooo strong! Have you been working out! You must be. I’m tired.”

“Then let’s get you home,” Damian says, unphased by her drunken chatter. 

“I love you ya know? I shoulda asked you out when I got the chance,” Marinette giggles, putting her head on his shoulder. They walk, in Marinette’s case, stumbling, to Damian’s car. He opens the passenger door, wraps his coat around her shoulders, and buckles her seat belt. He sighs and drives her to his apartment. 

When they get into his apartment, with some difficulties, he gives some food and water. “Here, or you're going to regret it in the morning.”

“Thankssss Birdie,” Marinette says, taking the cup. 

“Come on, I’ll help you get situated,” he says, helping her stumble down the hall. He sits her on his bed and takes off her heels before grabbing a shirt from his draw. “If you want to get changed here’s a shirt, and a pair of shorts that one of my sisters left over here sometime.” He hands them to her and she starts to lift the hem of her dress. He quickly turns around, giving her privacy and hiding his blush. 

“Damiii I’m all done, your turn!” Marinette says in a sing-song voice. 

“Angel, just lay down,” Damian sighs. 

“Why! I’m not tired!” Marinette says, crossing her arms. 

“You are and you’ll fall asleep when you lay down.”

“Will you lay with me?”

“Marinette, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Pleaaaase Birdie only until I fall asleep,” Marinette pleads. 

“Fine,” Damian huffs, laying down. She follows, slipping under the sheets beside him. Not too long after, she falls asleep. He gets up to get changed. He pulls on clean sweatpants and pulled off his shirt and was going to put on a different one, when small arms wrap around his chest. Feather light kisses dance across his back. 

“Dami you left me,” Marinette whispers, her breath making the butterflies flutter in his stomach. 

“I’m just changing, lay down, I'll be back in a second,” Damian said, his breathing a bit uneven. She let go of him and padded back to the bed as he finished pulling on his shirt. He evened out his breath before climbing back in bed he laid on his side, facing away from Marinette. They fell into a comfortable sleep. 

He woke up the sheets being thrown on him, followed by footsteps running down the hall. His bathroom door crashed open and puking followed. He got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He held back her hair and rubbed small circles in her back as Marinette threw up everything. 

After she finished she leaned up against his tub and looked up at him. “Ibuprofen,” she panted. “Please.”

He nodded before rushing to the kitchen. He filled up a glass of water and grabbed her two tablets, before heading back to the bathroom. “Here ya go, feel any better?”

She took the pill and gulped down water. When she finished she said, “much.”

“You want breakfast?”

“Sure, pancakes?”

“I could manage, but after your done eating we have to talk about the message you sent me yesterday, you know considering I haven’t seen you in months,” Damian said, holding out a hand, she took it and he helped her stand up. They walk to the kitchen and Damian grabs out the ingredients as she sips more water from her spot at the island. 

“Could you remind me what the message said?” Marinette asked, putting her head on the cool countertop.

“I’ll play it,” Damian says, pulling out his phone. ‘Hiiiii Dami! I’m in Gotham for a month or so and I would love to spend it with you hanging out and doing stuff ya know?’ Her voice filled the apartment. 

“God, what the heck is the matter with me?” Marinette said, rubbing her face. 

“So it’s not true,” Damian asks, flipping a pancake, his disappointment hidden because his back was turned. 

“No! No I do, I just didn’t want to ask drunk, ya know?” Marinette said quickly. 

“Uhhh… yeah, here’s the first one,” Damian says, plopping a pancake on her plate. “Sure It’d be fun to hand out with you, just let me know what you wanna do ok?”

“Cool, this is a really good pancake, can I have another one?”

“Sure.”

A week later is when she called him. “Hey Damian, wanna meet up at out cafe for lunch?”

“That would be fine,” Damian answered, looking over some papers before checking the time, ten thirty. “Eleven-thirty?”

“Yep! I’ll meet you then,” Marinette responds cheerfully before hanging up. He sighs, running a hand through his previously styled hair. 

He decided he wasn’t going to get anymore work done before leaving so he just left early. Their cafe doubled as a boon store so he looked around a bit till he saw Marinette. She wasn’t looking good, her hair didn’t look as full and she looked pale. 

“Hey Angel, are you feeling alright?” Damian asks, pulling out the seat across from her. 

“Oh umm I’m fine I just don’t get a lot of sleep and I forgot to put in makeup,” Marinette quickly explained. Not wanting to upset her, he didn’t touch the excuse. 

Their lunch was lovely, they talked about what they would do the incoming week. Half way through they were interrupted by a call. 

“Sorry, this is really important I have to take it,” Marinette said, standing up quickly. Not too long after she rejoined Damian. “I’m sorry that was a client, they had to reschedule a meeting so I’m going to meet them. See you later!”

“Bye Angel,” Damian says, hugging her before she rushed off. As soon as she was out of sight he plopped in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. 

Over the next two weeks, they did a bunch of activities such as going to the arcade, walking in the park, Six Flags, dancing under the stars, and dinner among other things. The day before she was supposed to leave it was almost midnight when he got a call. 

“Hey Damian, I hope I didn’t wake you,” Marinette’s voice, which has progressively gotten worse, came through the phone. 

“No I was finishing up some things for a meeting next week,” Damian said. 

“Can we meet up for a star gaze?”

“Uhh sure I’ll pick you up?” He said, throwing on a sweatshirt. “I’ll see you in a bit, bye.” When he pulls up to her hotel, she gets in the car silently. She was wearing a sweatshirt as well and she looked awful. They get to the park and he lays out the blanket he pulled out of the trunk. 

“It’s hard to see them, but I like laying with you,” Marinette said, her head on his shoulder. “I should’ve dated you when I had the chance.” He sat ip and looked at her. 

“Marinette whatever it is, whatever it was we can work through it,” Damian says, looking down at the girl who’s a shell of who she used to be. “Why didn’t you before?”

“When you asked me I was heading back and you were ready to come with me. But I couldn’t do that to you, you love being Robin,” Marinette said, placing a hand on his cheek. 

“But I loved— love I don’t know you more,” Damian states. 

“Damian, you wouldn’t have been happy,” Marinette says, letting her hand fall to rest beside her. 

“What about now? I know you're not well but let me help you,” Damian says, pulling her up into a hug. 

“I love you Damian Wayne, but I can’t be with you,” Marinette cried into his shoulder. 

“Please let me help you, we can solve this together,” Damian says, rubbing her back. 

“We can’t solve this, no one can, but you made these last weeks amazing,” Marinette said. “Can I kiss you?” He didn’t respond, just leaned forward, it was a short kiss, but that spark everyone talks about, it was there and now it is too late. “Can you take me back to my hotel?”

“Of course,” Damian says, standing before helping her up. He picks up the blanket and they walk to the car together. The drive back was silent and when she got out she left an envelope that had his name on it. It also had instructions to not open it until tomorrow. He wanted to open it and disregard what it said but he couldn’t, it was what she wanted. He sighed put his head on the steering wheel for a couple of minutes to collect his thoughts and feelings before driving back to his apartment. 

It was midday when he got a call half expecting it to be Marinette he picked it up. “Hello this Gotham Hospital, is this Damian Wayne?” an unfamiliar voice came. 

“Hello, yes this is he, what’s the matter?” He responds, leaning back in his chair. 

“We have you as an emergency contact for Miss Dupain-Cheng,” he continued. 

Damian sat up quickly.  “What happened?” He asked, standing up and grabbing his coat. 

“She was brought in after collapsing, she’s on life supports and there’s enough time to come say goodbye,” the doctor says, as Damian is running down the hall before clicking the elevator button multiple times. 

“I’m in my way,” he says, curtly as the elevator descends. He runs his hand through his hair as he sticks a hand in his pocket, he feels a paper. He pulls it out and his breathing hitches, her letter. He tears it open. 

‘Hey Birdie,

I’m sorry that you had to find out this way, but I’m dying of cancer. I found out a couple of weeks ago and by the time the doctors found it, it was too far along to do anything but make my last weeks of living less painful. I decided to fly to Gotham to spend them with you, because even though I rejected you, I loved you more than I could ever express. Thank you for the lovely weeks. I really hope I got to tell you this in words but I love you and I would have loved to have a relationship with you. 

You deserve everything I can’t give you, love,

Marinette.’

The elevator opens on the first floor and there are tears rolling down his face. He gets odd looks but he doesn’t care. He needs to see his Angel. 

He rushes to the hospital, it’s a miracle he didn’t get pulled over for speeding. He ran to the entryway, giving his keys to the valet. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng please” Damian’s breathe out. 

“Down the hall on the right fourth door down,” she says nonchalantly. 

He rushes into the room and sees her there, truly a shell of who she used to be. IVs attached to her arms and breathing on a ventilator. 

He walks to the foot of her bed and falls to his knees. “Angel, why didn’t you tell me? I love you please stay, I can’t live you again.” He whispers pleas and promises of love to her, he hopes she can hear him. Not to long after he got there and started pleading with her to stay the deafening flat line rung throughout the room, leaving a now free Angel and a broken-hearted boy to pick up the pieces she left him with. 

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

Hope you enjoyed!!

Permanent Tag:

@ash-amg @bee-wrecker @damianette-is-life @mjisntme @i-will-be-your-ace

[ethelphantom]

Form A Family Of Our Own

Just silliness and fluff and lots of romance and attempts at humour here, and absolutely no angst. You’re welcome! It’s a continuation to the Timari Soulmates Secret Santa I created for @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry, though I’m just skipping things in the chronological order (aka the BartAdrien reveal but we all knew that was going to happen so it’s fine. This is also my Maribat March day 9, Sleepover at the same time. Have fun!

Ao3 | Part 1 | Part 2

This is Maribat -- don’t like; don’t read

_____________________

“Does everyone have everything they need? No one needs to use Mari to use the puppy eyes to get Dick to go to the store?”

Marinette laughed at Tim’s words while the others shook their heads. They had checked they had everything at least thrice already, it wasn’t going to change no matter how many times he wanted them to make sure of it. When Tim still didn’t look convinced, Marinette simply grabbed his wrist and stroked the skin with her thumb to help him calm down, just like he sometimes did for her.

After all, touching your soulmate’s mark would always be a comforting feeling.

Tim’s shoulders slumped a little as he relaxed before he turned to her and smiled gently. Marinette recognised this as a silent thank you, and so she beamed in response.

“Are we ready to ruin everyone else’s day now?” Conner then asked, leaning against the doorframe. He seemed to be trying to look relaxed and not in the least excited for this, but they all knew better, considering he seemed to be itching to go do just that.

“Oh yeah. I’ve got the cameras and the scavenger lists. Two teams of three, soulmates in the opposite—” Cassie began, but after she got the puppy face from both Bart and Adrien, she sighed in resignation. “Fine, soulmates in the same team. This is why I’m not supposed to look at either of them while giving orders. Damn it.”

Tim rolled his eyes. All of their friends were idiots (“Like you aren’t as well,” an accusing voice said in his head, and it was a bit concerning how much it sounded like Marinette), but they were also the best — Tim wouldn’t change them for the world.

“I love how the rule is supposed to be ‘no metas in Gotham’, but we’re getting like three metas and two that technically count as metas because Miraculous coming anyway to the home of the one that actually originally set said rule in place,” Adrien mused, remembering what he’d been told at some point after the reveal. And after they had already met Cassie.

Marinette let out an amused laugh. “Oh yeah. Anyway. Could someone please get our bags to the Manor so we can just start with the scavenger hunt?”

“On it!”

There was a flash as all their bags, Conner and Bart disappeared and Cassie took out a clock. She watched it tick for a few seconds before she lifted her gaze again to find her missing friends. “You’re slow. It took you two nearly ten seconds. We’re not even outside the city boundaries, boys.”

“Well, fuck you too, we were carrying five bags each because some of us don’t know how to pack small.”

Cassie simply flipped Conner off before she handed him a scavenger list. “You wanna be with Tim and Mari or Bart and Adrien? I’m fine with either one, just decide fast.”

“Bart. And Adrien, I guess.”

“HEY! ”

Idiots, the lot of them.

It didn’t take them long to sort out into teams and get to the centre of the city. Mari, Tim and Cassie stood on one side, looking down at the people that were all a lot taller than them. Mari cocked her hips and tilted her head, her dark blue sundress following the movement.

“Oh, you’re going down, Chaton.”

“I don’t think so, Buginette — I’m not sacrificing my win even if I’d sacrifice my life for you.”

“Okay, too far too soon, go away.”

Their lists were as followed:

Ask a cashier for the nutritional value of an inedible thing

Act like a stranger were famous and ask for their autograph

+1 if you can get them to take a picture with you

Offer a stranger a penny for their thoughts

Ask a stranger to sign your petition against the euthanasia of rabid puppies

+1 if you can get them to sign your palm

Lie in the grass next to a road and pretend to be making snow angels

Ask the opposite gender if they believe in fate

Ask a stranger where the closest local Christmas festival is

+1 if/when they say they don’t know, ask them how else do they appease the gods

Ask if you can get a discount on a thing that costs less than a dollar

+1 if you pronounce it horribly wrong

+1 if you buy the product with pennies

Ask a stranger if they have seen your cat and proceed to describe a full-grown tiger

Knock on someone’s door and sing them a Christmas song

+1 if the person is a stranger

+1 if you sing Frozen’s Let It Go after you’ve said you’re going to sing a Christmas song

Fake a cheesy proposal in a public place

Ask a cashier if dentists recommend using a toothbrush

Ask a cashier if they have healthy cigarettes

+1 if they say no, you yell “you’re lying” and run away dramatically

Ask a stranger if they can see anyone and point to an empty spot

“You’ve got two hours. The clock starts now,” Tim announced, set an alarm in their group chat so everyone would hear, and then they were all running to get things done.

❋❋❋

“Alright, Bart, go on. You’re the first.”

“You’re not allowed to complain if you wanted to do the same thing, then.”

“Remember, if it involves talking with someone, you can’t be going on your own pace, especially not with a civilian! The camera won’t be able to catch it!”

“Well, your cameras suck!”

With a blink, Bart was standing in front of a door and knocked on it. Adrien, who was right behind Kon, had to contain his laughter somehow because he knew that to Bart whoever lived there was taking ages, even if it was less than a minute — and thus bearable — to him.  

When the door was finally opened, Bart immediately started speaking. “Hello, are you interested in hearing Christmas carols?”

“...In the middle of the summer?”

“I know what I said.”

“Uh, no thank you. Have a nice day.”

Bart returned to them pouting. “They didn’t even give me a chance. I’m not that horrible of a singer,” he huffed, crossing his arms.

Adrien took Bart’s hand in his own and pressed a light kiss on his fingers. “Don’t worry, we still have plenty of time, and I doubt it was because of your singing voice. It’s just a weird thing to ask this time of the year. Try again.”

He did. Fortunately for Bart, the next-door neighbour opened their door much faster than the previous one.

“Hiya, are you interested in hearing Christmas carols?”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I guess. Sure, go ahead.”

And then Bart proceeded to sing Let It Go off-key. The person listening to him even applauded his singing and gave him a candy (that Kon forced him to throw away or at least not eat until Tim could do a check up on it in case someone was trying to poison him or something. The Bat paranoia was getting to all of them.) It was fun.

“So, three points for us. That was a great start, Bart!” Adrien said, checking the boxes on the list. “You did film it, right Kon?”

“Obviously. I wouldn’t accidentally not. Hold the camera, Adrien. We’re going to a shop now and annoy the heck out of everyone. Tim is so not going to be happy when he realises some of us might get banned from the shop forever,” he snickered.

“I’m already feeling sorry for the employees.”

“At least we aren’t about to be assholes, really.”

“No, just weird as hell. Maybe they’ll get a story or two to tell others and discuss in the break room when they’re talking about the weirdest and worst customers they’ve had.”

“Do they really do that?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Damn.”

It didn’t take them too long to arrive at the store. Adrien and Bart went in first, pretending to be actually considering buying something when Kon came in and looked around for a moment. Then he walked to an unsuspecting employee. “Excuse me, do you have any of those clairvoyance foes? I was thinking of getting one.”

“I must ask you to repeat what you asked for, sir, I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch it,” the woman working said.

“It’s alright. I meant classical woes.”

“I’m so sorry, sir, I must say I don’t understand what exactly you mean by that.”

“Clarification folds, miss.”

“Oh, do you perhaps mean classification folders?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“...Of course, sir. Yes, we do have those. Do you want me to show you where they are, or would you like me to just point you in the correct direction, sir?”

“If you could show me where they are, that would be great.”

“Of course, sir. This way.”

The woman led him through the shop as Kon glanced behind himself and saw Adrien following them from a safe distance. Bart looked like he was practically vibrating, like he wanted to do something, but all he could do was jerking aborted movements. Actually, scratch that, he probably was vibrating. Of course.

“Here they are. Is there anything else I could help you with?”

“Is it possible to get a discount on these?”

“I— I’m afraid not, sir, but they’re only a dollar so…”

“That’s fine. Thank you for your help anyway.”

“It was no problem.”

Once the woman was gone, Adrien and Bart walked to him. “Oh my kwami, I pity her so much. I’m genuinely sorry she had to deal with you and I’m kind of considering going to find her and give her a tip for dealing with you,” Adrien snorted after he cut off the filming. “I don’t even care that’s not a custom in stores, I still want to do it.”

Bart laughed. “I’m gonna go do just that if you give me some money.”

Adrien did. He gave him twenty dollars. He could almost feel Wayzz shaking his head at the two of them even despite the fact Wayzz was with Marinette at the very moment.

“I hope you’re ready to keep recording cuz I ain’t done yet,” Kon said, earning an eye roll from Adrien.

“Sure. Let’s do this.”

Adrien kept his distance while they were walking to the checkout, Bart appearing next to him at some point. Adrien bumped his shoulder against Bart’s to express he knew he was there, the act soon returned. A smile made its way to his lips. They only started paying attention to what Kon was doing when they heard him speaking to the cashier.

“Excuse me, mister, but what is the nutritional value of this thing?”

“I’m sorry to inform you, but folders aren’t edible.”

“I am aware. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have nutritional value.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what it is, sir. I’d only be able to find out if they had given me a list, but unfortunately, they did not.”

“Oh, alright. Well, I’d like to purchase it anyway.”

“That makes one dollar.”

“Sure, wait a second.”

Kon pulled out his wallet and went through his money, counting it silently and quickly. Then he offered the cashier a handful of coins — all of them pennies. The disbelieving face on the cashier’s face, as he started counting, was miserable and a little sad to see, but no helping it now. Thankfully the product only cost a dollar, it didn’t take him that long to do it.

After paying, he went back to the end of the line, waited it, and asked the same person if they had healthy cigarettes. The cashier looked rather resigned at that point but stayed polite and told him that no, they didn’t have those because those didn’t really exist, and “are you sure you’re old enough in the first place?”

Kon gasped loudly. “You’re lying!” he yelled and ran dramatically out. The other customers didn’t even pay attention to him as if it was just another day. It probably was. This was Gotham, after all. Bart and Adrien made their way out behind him, slipping a twenty-dollar bill to the man behind the checkout and quickly apologised he had to deal with that, “please accept this.”

Then they were out and laughing, even if still feeling bad for doing it.

“Mari would kill me if she had to see that, honestly. She used to do this at their bakery and god, the stories she sometimes tells me,” Adrien said, shaking his head. “I hope that paying for them for suffering because of us was good enough. I don’t really know what else I could have done to compensate for having to deal with us.”

“No one does!” Bart told him before he snatched the camera from him. “Go on, your turn, Sunflower!”

The nickname was kind of fitting — blond hair and being a bit taller than Bart tended to do that. Adrien blushed a little at the pet name and then forced himself to get his thoughts back on the trail.

He buried his head in his hands before taking a look at the list. Then he grinned, getting a wonderful idea. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hurt anyone by doing it. If he was lucky (for once, considering he was the Bad Luck incarnated), he would end up finding someone who would ake it more as a joke.

Stopping someone who didn’t look like she was in any hurry, Adrien asked, “Excuse me, but do you believe in fate?”

“Yeah, I guess. Why?” she responded. Adrien visibly slumped in relief.

“Oh thank god.”

“...What is it.”

“My soulmate and I were just arguing about it a second ago and I needed a new opinion. Now I can tell him he’s very very wrong, and that we clearly belong together ”

The girl looked at him like he was a ghost. For a second, Adrien was afraid he’d hurt her feelings and was ready to apologise, but then she burst out laughing and doubled over.

“Oh my god. That’s wonderful and so hilarious! God, I was afraid you were about to flirt with me, dude, but that’s so much better. I wish you and your soulmate the best of luck. Buy him his favourite food, maybe he’ll then accept that you’re meant to be,” she said smiling and winked. Then she punched him lightly in the arm. “Go on, dude, your perfect happy ending is waiting for you!”

Adrien could feel a wide smile spread on his face. “Thanks, I will! You go get your happy ending as well, whether you’ll find it in a passion, person or a pet!” They exchanged numbers and names (her name was Zoanne, and Adrien had a feeling they’d become good friends over time), both excited about it, and parted in good spirits. Adrien waved to her as he walked to where Bart was staring at them.

Once he actually paid attention to how both Conner and Bart looked like (staring at him, Conner not even focusing on the camera), he tilted his head and arched his eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Dude.”

“What?”

“Duuuudde.”

“What?”

“Only you. Only you could make a friend while doing a scavenger hunt task and basically also pranking her. Wow.”

Adrien just shrugged. He wondered how the girls and Tim were doing.

❋❋❋

Tim was the only one of them who still had any sense of shame or embarrassment at this point (and they’d already completed most of the points on the list between the two young women), but he was determined to win and actually do something for the win as well so he wouldn’t be able to care. Soon enough, he was walking up to a stranger as Marinette was filming.

“Excuse me, miss, but have you seen my cat? She’s a sweetheart and I lost her when I was out with my friends.”

“Oh, you have a cat? I’m sorry, I don’t think so, but what does she look like? I could try to pay attention in hopes to see her later.”

“She’s a beautiful orange with white in her face, chest, belly and the underside of her tail, she’s about this tall,” he put his hand at about his waist, “and she’s got a lot of black stripes. Also, she’s a bit loud when she decides she wants to talk, but it’s not that bad.”

The woman backed off slowly as he was talking with a concerned look on her face. She was gone before Tim finished talking.

Marinette shook her head fondly and placed the camera in Tim’s hands as he returned. “Have fun trying not to laugh behind the camera!”

She wondered around like she was looking for something worriedly. When someone came to ask her what was wrong, she internally congratulated herself.

“Well, Monsieur, I was looking for the nearest local Christmas festival. Do you know where one might be?” she asked, looking innocently at him. “I really do need to find one, preferably close.”

“In July? Yeah, I don’t think I know where one would be at this time of the year.”

Marinette adopted a horrified expression on her face. “But— But— How do you appease the gods you might have angered, then?”

“The what?”

“The gods, obviously.”

“What gods?”

“Those,” she said and pointed behind the man. When the man turned around, he was greeted by the violet eyes of the fox god of mischief and trickery as well as the orange eyes of the pink tiger goddess of stealth and the brown eyes of the small but way too enthusiastic monkey god of jubilation. On any other occasion, she wouldn’t let civilians see kwamii, but this was an exception and she had Wayzz hide them from the view of every other person that didn’t know of their existence already, so it was fine. The most likely case was, the man would forget about meeting the kwamii or think of it as a hallucination of sorts later on.

When the man looked back to where Marinette had been, she was already gone. It was too much fun to mess with people a little bit. She knew the kwamii would be following her and perfectly capable of keeping themselves hidden when she told them so, so she didn’t worry about them.

Cassie snickered as Tim signed she was done filming. “That was amazing. I’ll go next!”

She walked to another stranger, Tim and Mari following her from a distance. Tim already had his camera recording. “Oh my god!” she gasped when she noticed a young person standing alone at the corner of a clothing shop. “It’s you! God, I never thought I’d meet you in real life!” When she ran to them and jumped a little as though she was excited, she also let out a squeal.

The person looked at her weirdly. “Excuse me? Have we met?”

“No, but now we have and it’s the most amazing thing! I’m such a huge fan. Can I please have your autograph? I want to show all my friends I met you!”

“Uhh…. Sure.”

Cassie handed them a piece of paper and a pen (which, where did she even get them?) and watched in anticipation as they wrote their name on it. Then she pulled out her phone. “Could I take a selfie with you? Please? I’m not going to put it all over the social media if you want to keep your whereabouts private, but I just want a picture.”

The person seemed to be already done with her, and probably guessed that this was the quickest way to get rid of her. They agreed and crouched a little to fit in the same picture easily. Cassie did a little peace sign, acting her role of an enthusiastic fan with all her heart. It took Tim and Mari their everything to keep from laughing.

When Cassie returned to them, flipping her hair, Tim handed her the camera. “Film this as closely as you can,” he said in passing and walked where there were as many people as possible, to the park nearby, Marinette and Cassie following in his wake. When Marinette was close enough, he made his way to her and swiped strands of hair behind her ear.

“Marinette, my dear, I love you more than anything in this world, you know that, right?” At Marinette’s slow but still a little confused nod, he continued. “I’ve thought about this long and hard, and I’ve decided I would like to take the next big step in our relationship,” he said loud enough for the people nearby to hear.  

“Every time I look in your eyes, I get a peaceful feeling. When I am around you, everything seems perfect. I promise that I will always be there for you in whatever you do and support you in ups and downs as long as I live. You give my life meaning and make it worth living. You’re the shoulder I can always trust to be there for me to lean on when I need it, you’re the one who I can always count on to be by my side. You were made for me, and I was made for you, and no matter what our souls are made of, mine and yours are the same.” Tim took a deep breath and looked at Marinette, whose eyes seemed to be glimmering as she bit her lip.

“In case you ever foolishly forget this one truth, let me declare it out loud for you, in front of all these people who are here to witness this: I am always thinking about you. I want to form a family of our own with you. Your words are written on my skin for the world to see who I belong to, a reminder for you should you ever doubt it. Feel free to doubt this world — doubt the stars are fire; Doubt that the Sun does move; doubt the truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love. I certainly have never had even a moment’s doubt of that. I believe in you completely. You are my dearest one. My reason for life. You’re the answer to all those lonely prayers at night when I wished for someone to be there one day, and every day I thank God or Fate or whoever gave me you that you’re here now.”

By then Marinette was openly crying and she had covered her mouth with her hands, but Tim kept on going. He was not done, and he was determined to make this proposal the cheesiest he possibly could. As the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, people were bound to notice, and he only had one shot at it. “And I will love you against all odds in this world. Let me defy fate, let me defy stars. Let me defy everyone and anyone who may deny love, who may deny our love. Above all, you are my love, you are my stars, you’re my galaxy.” Tim lowered himself on the ground, now on one knee in front of his soulmate, his Marinette. He produced a ring box from his pocket and held it open for her. “So, as my best friend and the love of my life, will you be my one and only or my everything?”

“Are you— Is this for real?” Marinette whispered, tears glimmering on her eyelashes and staining her cheeks. Tim nodded, biting his lip. He knew it was one of the things on the scavenger list, so he hoped Marinette wouldn’t take this as only one of them.

Marinette swallowed and smiled brightly. “Yes!” she breathed out and fell on her knees next to Tim, not really caring if the action had her scrape her knees. Tim placed the ruby ring with a diamond halo on her ring finger and pressed a kiss on her fingers before Marinette lost her patience, cupped his face and kissed him on the lips.

When they broke apart, they could hear the cheering of the crowd. Tim looked to the side to Cassie who gave him a thumbs-up, the camera still in hand, probably recording as well. Bart, Conner, Adrien and the entire family, as well as Jagged and Penny, were all standing behind them. Thank god he’d half-planned this and told them to get themselves over there at a specific time and to stay behind Cassie so they wouldn’t bother or distract him.  

Adrien just ran to Marinette once they locked eyes and hugged her, congratulating her for the engagement. Bart slapped Tim’s back and did the same. When Tim got nothing from Conner, he raised his eyebrow because there was no way Conner stayed quiet about this without a very good reason.

“What is it.”

“Well. Technically, this can’t be counted as a point since you didn’t fake a proposal.”

“Fuck off.”

“You know I’m right.”

“Go away you overgrown toddler with too many leather jackets.”

“That’s such a creative insult you’ve got there, Timmy. Sounds like you had it memorised, even. How long have you been waiting for a time to use it?”

Tim just stuck out his tongue at Kon as Marinette and Cassie laughed at them.

Kwami, did Mari love her friends (and fiancé — she was never getting over being able to call him that.)

❋❋❋

“Alright. We gotta do something that is like, something people do at actual sleepovers,” Cassie announced as she flopped down on the mattress they had dragged into the biggest guestroom in the Manor they could find. The mattresses were all in a circle around their snacks so that it would be easy for them to talk and eat. Two of the mattresses were also bigger so Marinette could share with Tim and Bart could share his with Adrien. “I don’t know, like, trade secrets or gossip or… Oh, I know! Let’s play Never Have I Ever!”

The sly smirk on Cassie’s face did little to assure Mari or Tim this was a safe idea, but they were going to do it anyway, weren’t they.

“You did bring the shot glasses, didn’t you, Kon? Get them out, like, now. We gotta do this properly! And Adrien, you got the tequila, right? Please tell me it’s not flavoured.”

Adrien took out the bottles from his bag. “They are flavoured. Coconut, mango and chipotle.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.”

Marinette saw it as a good moment to butt in. “Yeah, that works. Tim, choose the flavour.” She looked at her beloved next to her, poking his side when he didn’t answer.

“Huh? Oh. Uh, mango?”

“Alright, we’re going with that then. Adrien, can you please open the bottle?”

He did, and the game began. To the surprise of exactly no one, Cassie was the one to start. “Never have I ever ‘cleaned up’ by piling everything into a closet or pushing everything under my bed.”

She smiled as Tim, Bart and Marinette reached for the bottle with various states of grumbling, filling their glasses and downing them.

This evening was definitely going to end with them drunk. The only reason some of them wouldn’t be was if they were simply damn tolerant, which was basically what all of them except for Tim were — Adrien and Marinette because of the long use of the miraculous, Cassie because she was half goddess and technically an Amazon, Bart simply because of his fast digestion (damned Speedster), and well. Kon was Kon.

This was not going to end well, now was it.

“Alright, I’ll go next. Never have I ever lied to a police officer,” Adrien said. Marinette looked at him like he was crazy before it turned sour as she reached out for the bottle once again at the same time as the rest of them did. “Wait, how have you all lied to a police officer?”

“Well, Kitty, it might be because half of the police officers were corrupt in Paris during Papillon's time of reign, and it was simply safer. That's one thing. A better question would be, how have you never lied to a police officer?”

Tim rested his head on Marinette’s shoulder as he explained his own reasoning. “Then there's the fact my brother happens to be a police officer. I've totally lied to him multiple times. Same with Commissioner Gordon at least once or twice.”

The rest of them nodded along. “Yup, lied to Nightwing, which means, lied to Police Officer Grayson. No regrets, 5/5, would recommend, he's too much of a mother hen sometimes,” Cassie stated.

It was probably good she stated it then and not a minute later, because only a moment after that, the door flew open and Jason marched in. Marinette and Tim buried their heads in their hands or the mattress, Adrien just shook his head, and the three others were staring at Jason like this was somehow that much of a surprise. A minute later, a mattress was pushed inside the room as well.

“Hey kids!” he yelled as he settled in and had Cassie, and Bart and Adrien move themselves away from one another so he could push his mattress between them.

“Jason, what are you doing here.”

The deadpan question shot at him was said in a tone with such an irritated undertone that Jason mock-winced.

“Well. Our dick of a brother—” Jason motioned at himself and Tim, “—sent me here to be a babysitter for a bunch of kids over the fragile age of 21.”

“Dick! ”

Dick looked inside from the door and immediately got thrown pillows at. He scrunched up his nose and looked at them with disappointment. That got him six disappointed eyes staring at him from around the room. “Well, you can’t actually blame me! There are two couples sleeping in the same room and oh my god also on the same mattresses and I am worried and concerned and this is my safety measure to make sure we get no babies after this night.”

“You do know Tim and I are getting married, right?”

“Precisely, you just made my point.”

“Besides, we wouldn’t do it in the same room with these guys anyway, and also Bart and Adrien can’t get children because neither has a womb?”

“Still.”

Marinette sighed. “Fine. As long as you stay away for the rest of the night. At least Jace could be fun. You, instead, are not fun when you’re trying to mother hen us at the same time.”

“Rude much.”

“Now go or I’ll throw you with Jace.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would, and I could, in the transformed form anyway. I’ve thrown Chaton across the city, don’t test me.”

Dick huffed and closed the door. Jason laughed at Marinette’s words and patted her head after reaching towards her a little bit, over all their snacks and food.

“So, whatcha doin’? Drinking games?”

“Yeah. Never have I ever. You in?”

“Am I in? Oh, definitely. You couldn’t stop me even if you tried.”

“Sounds like trouble. I’m already regretting letting him in.”

A chorus of “same” echoed around the room.

“Alright, so…” Kon looked around the room before his eyes landed on Tim and a smirk tugged on his lips. “Never have I ever sneaked out of my house in the middle of the night alone.”

Tim frowned and drank a new shot. Marinette sighed, elbowed Adrien and took the bottle from Tim’s hands.

“Okay, Pixie, explain. You, sneakin’ out of the house, let alone in the middle of the night? Impossible.”

“Nuh-uh. Need I remind you, Ladybug. Papillon hardly cared about our sleeping schedule. Had to sneak out at night multiple times to save the city. Same with Adrien.”

Adrien nodded, agreeing with her. “‘S not like we had a choice in the matter, it was our sleep or the safety and lives of over two million people. Ga-bitch didn’t leave us much of a choice.”

It was Tim’s turn to interrupt. “And how have you never sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night? You, Mr. ‘I do whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want, fuck Batman’?”

“Well, with B it was easier to sneak away when it was the middle of the day and he thought I was somewhere else, and in the Alley, it was safer to either stay inside or stay outside through the night, not both. Also, no house to sneak out of at one point.”

“Oof.”

“Never have I ever died,” Tim shot with a pointed look at his brother and his best friends. Yeah, he was still a little bitter even if it technically wasn’t their fault, so sue him.

“Low blow, dude,” Adrien said as he downed the glass. Marinette shuffled next to him and the next thing he saw was her stealing Adrien’s newly filled shot glass.

He was, least to say, shocked when he saw everyone take a shot, his fiancée included.

“Akumas. To be exact, Desperada and Time Breaker, at the very least. Probably some others too. He’s never been that good at not dying, and there was one time when he had to witness me die like, 25 thousand times.”

“25,913 times, Buginette.”

“Sorry, 25,913 times. He saw me die that many times, and I remember exactly none of them. He probably remembers most.”

“Holy shit.”

After everyone had had time to think over it and let the realisation that two out of their three sunshines had died god knows how many times and had had to witness one another die as many times sink in, Jason simply grabbed the chipotle vodka and took a few gulps. “I need more alcohol to deal with this” had been his explanation, and when he’d been told he’d die if he drank too much, no one realised the mistake until it was too late, because…

“Been there, done that.”

Cue them groaning and hiding their faces in their pillows all the while Jason just laughed.

“Okay, back to the game. Never have I ever been related to a supervillain.”

“Fuck you too Jason.”

Both Conner and Adrien took a shot as they glared at Jason, and Kon gave him the finger.

The rest of the game went in the same style. Everyone was flabbergasted at how many times both Adrien and Marinette had to drink. Those happened with, for example, Bart’s question of drinking before the age of 21 (“We grew up in France, he was a rich ass bitch, what else did you expect? Besides, legal drinking age is 18 there.”), Jay’s of whether someone had peeked at another person in the shower (“Well, I suppose it could be called that. Chaton pretended to be in the shower every time I came over during an Akuma that came for his or Gabritch’s head, nevermind the fact he always had clothes on. It’s not like I knew.”), Cassie’s “never have I ever fantasized about a real person” (“I mean, I was a teenager with a huge crush on Ladybug…” “Gross, Chaton, gross.” “Don’t try and deny having a crush on me as well.” “Well, fuck you too.” “I think I’ll leave that for your fiancé.” “Oh my god, Adrien.”) It just went on and on.

After a few hours of different things, such as hide and seek in the dark (it went as expected — Adrien won. Damn that night vision of his even in civilian form), truth and dare (they were all superheroes or vigilantes, there was hardly anything they wouldn’t say or do in relatively safe company, especially when they were at least tipsy), strip poker (this one Adrien lost because he couldn’t stop making puns, Bart came second last because he couldn’t keep a straight face (“Well, it’s not like anything else about me is straight either.”), which, to everyone’s surprise, Marinette won (“Whaatt? I had to get really creative and good at bluffing during school and Papillon, why is this so shocking to you all?”). They stopped when the next thing to go would’ve been someone’s underwear), and they were definitely glad to finally just lie down and rest.

Then Adrien’s phone went off. He surged out from under the covers and unlocked his phone. In the darkness of the room, the phone lit up his face rather well. He was smiling. Bart pushed the covers aside and sat up next to Adrien.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Texting to a friend.”

“Oh, is that your new friend? The one you met while scavenging?” Bart sounded excited and got closer to be able to see the messages. Adrien just placed his phone so that Bart could see them more easily.

“Yeah, it is.”

Marinette sat up as well. Smiling, she asked, “Oh, you made a friend while scavenging? That’s so wonderful, though only you, Kitty. Only you could manage to do that.”

“Kon said the same thing right after it.”

“Of course he did. What’s her name?”

“Zoanne.”

Beside Marinette, Tim went still and paled. He swallowed audibly and forced himself to look at Adrien. “Do you know her surname?”

“Yeah, it’s Wilkins. Why?”

Tim buried his face in Marinette’s knees and thighs, whining. “Oh god. Kill me now, please. Maybe borrow the Cat Miraculous to do it. Or Jason’s guns.”

“Why? What happened?”

“She’s my ex and I might’ve left her in rather an unfortunate situation.”

Adrien stared at him. Then frowned. Then honest to god scowled. “Are you fucking kidding me.”

“Oh my god, Adrien swore.”

“She’s dating again, by the way. Some girl named Ariana.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding me.”

“Nope.”

“Fuck.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. “Let me guess. You also dated Ariana.”

“Yeah.”

An amused sigh fell of Marinette’s lips as she stroked Tim’s hair. “You’re hopeless.”

Tim scrunched up his nose. “No, I’m not.”

Marinette gave him a look.  

“Okay, yeah, I am. Please kill me now. I can’t have you two be friends with nearly all my exes.”

“What do you mean nearly all your exes?”

“Cassie and Steph, and considering Adrien is friends with Zoanne, you’ll probably be soon too, and I’m sure you’re going to call Ariana your friend soon enough as well.”

“You’re forgetting I’m also friends with Tam.”

“Fuck.”

Jason just snorted. “Fuck, Babybird, you’ve got a ton of exes, and your fiancée and her best friend are friends with like, all of them. Damn.”

“Shut up, Jay.”

The next morning, both Tim and Jason were hungover, and Adrien and Marinette could definitely feel themselves having drunk the night before.

They thanked the kwamii they didn’t need to suffer as many or horrible consequences for the drinking and bought and or baked a ton of food for Plagg and Tikki.

___________

@the-navistar-carol @caffeinetheory @jardimazul @captainartsypants @marinettepotterandplagg @kris-pines04 @thethirdwheelfriend @daminett4life @abrx2002 @persephonebutkore @rebecarojas07 @corabeth11 @freshbark @maribat-march2020 @catsandfanfic @fertileleaf @eat0crow @cutechip

[kelelamentia]

Plant Charming

Plant Charming

 Because I want to add to Marinette’s growing list of admirers.

@ozmav

 On a street in Paris:

 A male figure stood.

“She’s here, I hope I don’t scare her.” He walked toward a very specific bakery.

  On Marinette’s balcony:

 Marinette was tending to her garden; watering and weeding, and just enjoying here flowers.  This was something Lila and her class couldn’t take from her; just like designing, it gave her some peace of mind.  Tikki was flying around the flowers like she was dancing, when she stopped.

“Marinette I’m going inside to eat some cookies, would you to come?” Tikki asked.

“No thanks Tikki, I want to stay out here a bit longer.”

“Okay Marinette have fun.” With that Tikki disappeared down the hatch.

Marinette was left alone with her garden.  As she went about her business Marinette was singing a soft tune, never noticing a large vine growing until a voice came.

“My, what a lovely voice.” Marinette turned around, almost throwing her watering can, and saw a boy about her age standing on a large vine. “Hello, are you Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

He had long red hair that just reached past his shoulders in a pony tail, green eyes and pale skin. He wore a white buttoned-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms, a pair of nice light blue jeans, and some brown loafers.

“Y-Yes, I am, who are you?” Was he an Akuma, Marinette wondered?

“I am Emmanuel ‘Mandrake’ Isley; but you can call me Manny, I am the son of Gotham’s Poison Ivy and I’m here to thank you.” Manny greeted giving a slight bow to Marinette.

Marinette was put high alert as soon as he said ‘Poison Ivy’; he was much more dangerous than an Akuma, but him wanting to say ‘thank you’ through her off.

“Thank me?” she asked.

“Yes, you remember your trip to Gotham?”

Marinette nodded yes.

“So, you remember how you organized the mass clean up of Gotham’s parks; when no one else would, after my Mother and a few others went on a rampage?”

“I didn’t plan it alone, I had friends helping me.” Marinette informed.

Manny just nodded his head.

“True, the Wayne family helped, but you were that driving force weren’t you; you even managed to set up a better recycling system for Gotham’s park’s, and that’s more than my Mother has ever done and for that I says thank you.”

“You don’t sound like you’re happy with your mother…” Marinette commented.

“She is my Mother and to some degree I do love her,” Manny sighed, “And I share her love of plants and her idea of eco friendly things, but with the way she handles her reaction to pollution and litter; it is a miracle that the people of Gotham aren’t terrified of going green.”

Manny stood up straight and Marinette in the eye; still standing on the vine and said.

“So please, Marinette don’t be afraid of me.  I am not my Mother; I plan to help the green movement the right way.”

He sounded so pure in his intentions, so Marinette was willing to give him a benefit of a doubt.

“It’s nice to meet you Manny.” Marinette smiled “I’m Marinette, but I guess you already knew that…”

“You just a lovely bloom, aren’t you?” Manny laughed softly. “I wish I could say my intentions here were completely unselfish, but I was hoping I could have your help as well Marinette.”

“With what?” Marinette asked, tilting her head to the side.

“May come on to your balcony first?  This might be a long talk and my vine will likely attract some attention.” Manny made a gesture with his hand, indicating to her balcony and his vine.

“Oh! Sure!” Marinette was so used to Chat just coming on to balcony; into her space, that she never thought about anyone asking for her permission.

Manny thanked her as he hopped down; the vine receding from once it came.

“Thank you, lovely Marigold.”

Marinette blushed at the nick-name but did her best to focus.

“What would you like me to help with Manny?”

“Many things really, but todays goal would be to create a logo.” Manny admitted.

“You want to start your own awareness group?” Marinette asked.

“Yes, I want to do this the right way and I’ll start from the bottom up.”

They sat down on a bench Marinette had set up there to discuss what Manny wanted his logo to look like.  It was not a quick talk as Marinette keep giving new ideas and a outside perspective for Manny.  Eventually they came up with a logo for Manny to use and he had to leave.

“Please forgive me my lovely Marigold, but I must leave.”

“It’s fine Manny.”

“At least let me pay you.”

“No Manny, you’re starting from the ground up; with who you’re related to acting as an obstacle. Let this be my good luck gift to you.”

Manny gave Marinette a charming smile.

“You really a bloom amongst the weeds Marinette, at least let me give you this.” Manny reached out his hand over her flowers, after a moment a vine curled up and around his hand; creating a circlet.  After the circlet was complete flowers began to bloom; marigolds more accurately.

Once the flower crown was finished Manny placed gently it on Marinette’s head.

“For the lovely queen Marigold, to repay her kind heart.”

Marinette was blushing hard at Manny’s words.

Manny smiled once more at Marinette before walking to the edge of her roof, he got up on the railing and turned to face her.  With her attention on him he gave Marinette a wink and salute just before flipping off the roof saying.

“Adieu”

Then he was gone.

Marinette just stood there, she couldn’t believe what had just happened to her.

“Marinette?” A small voice sounded from the roof hatch.

Turned and went to her room.

“I’m sorry Tikki, I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Tikki flew up and cuddled Marinette’s cheek.

“Its fine Marinette but that was a risk.”

“I know,” Marinette sighed, “But he didn’t feel dangerous.”

“He’s from Gotham, right? Maybe call Damian and ask about him.”

“That’s a good idea Tikki, I’ll do that.”

"Granted, you were going to call him no matter what, you miss him."

"That's true." Marinette nodded her head.

"Now if only you could ask him out."

"TIKKI!"

  Later with Damian when Marinette called:

 Marinette was on speaker phone with Damian and his family.

“Emmanuel ‘Mandrake’ Isley?  Yeah that’s Poison Ivy’s kid, but he doesn’t seem to want to follow in her foot steps; he even left Gotham, no one knew where he went until you called Marinette.” Tim explained, looking at a computer, not giving out any more information than what a normal civilian would know.

*Is he going to hurt anyone? *

“No, you’re in the clear on that one Mari.  He really doesn’t want to be like his Mother, he’s even been cleared by Batman…mostly.” Tim confirmed.

*That’s good; I’d hate to think that his kindness was all an act. *

“Kindness?” Damian asked.

*He asked for permission to jump onto my balcony and he wants to start his own ‘Go green’ campaign from the ground up. He came to me to get help with a logo, he was very much a gentleman the entire time. *

“That’s good to hear he didn’t try anything Marinette, promise to let us know if that changes; okay?” Dick said, watch Damian’s eye twitch in irritation.

*I promise, you guys will be the first to know. *

“Good.” Damian stated bluntly.

“Hey Short-Stack?” Jason asked. “How did he pay you for the logo?”

*I didn’t accept payment from him; even though he said he wanted to. He’s starting from the ground up with nothing to really back him besides his mother’s reputation, which isn’t a good thing. *

“That’s very kind of you Mari.”

*Thank you, Dick, but since he could pay me; he gave me a flower crown he grew right in front of me, it was very sweet. *

Dick, Jason and Tim were watching Damian start to seethe.

*And he seems to like calling me Marigold; that is what the flower crown was made of, actually. *

“How the h*ll did I miss the obvious nick-name!” Jason groaned, “It literally has the word ‘Mari’ in it.”

*Sorry Jason, but you won’t be able to use it now. *

Damian was starting to look apocalyptic and Dick and Tim were trying to keep him from exploding which Marinette was on the phone.

*I should go now; I have some homework to do before bed. *

“That’s I good idea Mari, it was great talking with you!” Dick chirped, while having his hands firmly on Damian’s shoulders.

*Night guys! Night Damian! *

“Night Marinette!” Was the group farewell.

Once the phone call was disconnected Jason decided it would be fun to take a few shots at Damian.

“Looks like Demon Spawn had some competition for Pixie-dusts attention.”

“Jason!” Dick scolded.

“He’s right you know, and Mandrake is apparently better at talking to people as well, the Brat is at a disadvantage.”

“Die Drake!” Damian launched himself at his brother.

“I’ll go ask Bruce to book a trip to Paris.” Dick sighed, walking out of the room, leave Tim and Damian brawling and Jason laughing.

  Next Day in Paris with Manny:

 Manny was in the park exercising another one his powers; talking to plants, he asked them about the lovely Marigold.

‘She’s sweet.’ They said.

‘She’s kind.’ They praised.

‘She’s hurting.’ They grieved.

“Hurting?” Manny asked.

They spoke of a liar; one of stories that were far too good to be true, of classmates with no common sense, and of a boy with false promises.

“This cannot be allowed to continue.” Manny murmured.

The plants told Manny of the liar’s favorite lie, one he would very good at exploiting.

“Thank you, my friends; this gives me chance to help Marigold remove the weeds in her life.” Manny looked towards the sky, “I should also make my intentions towards her clear, I would hate for her to misunderstand me.”

  After school with Marinette:

 Marinette was happy to rush out of school, but unfortunately Lila and her herd of sheep were right behind her.

“Prince Ali said we should get together soon again; apparently he misses me.” Lila was boasting about her green program with Prince Ali again, and the class was eating it up.

“You’re so lucky Lila.” Rose sighed.

“Girl you are something else.” Alya cheered.

Marinette rolled her eyes, a quick web search would be all it would take to debunk that lie, but if she were the one doing it, they would never even listen.  Since Marinette wasn’t watching where she was going, she bumped into someone at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m so sorry!” Marinette apologized, not looking at the persons face.

“Its fine Marigold, my plan was to ‘Bump’ into you anyway.”

Marinette shot up at the voice.

“Manny!” Marinette blinked in surprise, “What brings you here?”

“Why? Can’t I visit you Marigold?” Manny questioned, delivering a kiss to the back of Marinette’s hand making her blush.

As Marinette tried to stammer a reply, the class; Lila mostly, saw the scene.  They were surprised to see a handsome young man giving a kiss to Marinettte’s hand.  Lila was not about to allow Marinette to have any happiness.

“Hello there, are you new?” Lila asked, in a very fake sweet voice.

Manny only gave her a passing glance.

“Don’t mind me; I’m just here to talk Marigold about a ‘Go Green’ program.”

Lila thought this was perfect.

“I could help you; you know. I helped Prince Ali with a GLOBAL green program a couple years ago.”

Lila was wrong.

“Really?  What the name of the program?” Manny asked, now looking directly at Lila.

“N-Name?” Lila stuttered; she never came up with one.

“Yeah, the name; how else am I to look up and join your ‘Global’ program if I don’t know its name?” Manny inquired.

“Umm…I don’t remember it?” Lila tried.

“What? You don’t remember the name of your OWN program?”

Marinette was staring in awe at Manny; did he some how plan this?

“Well, I can get very busy…” Lila began, Manny never her finish.

“I suppose that is understandable, but a quick web search should clear everything up.  I mean there can only be only so many green programs Prince Ali is a part of.” Manny offered.

“To bad my phone died earlier, so I can’t do that right now.”

Lila was getting nervous, this conversation with this guy was drawing a crowd; normally something she would like, but he is poking holes in her story she wasn’t prepared for.  No one had thought about ‘joining’ her ‘green program’.

Alya ended up being Manny’s ally and Lila’s enemy.

“Don’t worry girl! I got your back!” Alya yelled, whipping out her phone.

After a couple a minutes Alya started frowning.

“What’s wrong Alya?” Rose asked.

“I went to Prince Ali’s website,” Alya started “But, there’s nothing about a green program there; any green program…”

The class looked over at Lila.

“H-He hasn’t had anyone update the site in a while.” Lila excused.

“In years?” Manny’s question came out more as a statement.

Marinette was quiet, watching as one of Lila’s biggest lies crumbled; other members of the class were now pulling out their phones to double check.  Why didn’t they do that when Marinette said she was lying?

“Why would you lie about that Lila?” Rose was near tears.

“I-I’m sorry,” Lila faked sniffed. “But I promise; I did meet Jagged Stone and traveled the world. I’ve even met the Wayne family, the youngest; Damian, just loves me!”

The class; ever the sheep, began to close in on Lila in admiration when a hard voice growled.

“I’ve never met you before in my life, you lying harpy!”

Everyone to see a very angry Damian Wayne; dressed in a polo shirt and some slacks.

“Damian!” Marinette cheered. “I didn’t know you were coming to Paris!”

“I wanted to surprise you Angel.” Damian faced Marinette with a smile, the complete opposite of what he was giving Lila, before turning back to the class. “Don’t EVER use my name; or that of my families, for your gain.  If I find out that you have continued along ridiculous tales, you will be hearing from the Wayne family lawyers.”

Lila was turning white in the face, well as white as her tan would allow her to be.

“Two very massive tales you’ve told have turned out to be lies; one of them being a few years old apparently.” Manny tutted.

“She probably has more lies she’s told; anyone who’s willing to tell such big lies always have multiple stories, I know the type.” Damian sneered.

“When you first started talking, I thought you were just a weed growing in the garden, but it is clear to me now that you are nothing but a slug; gnawing at the roots of plants, destroying them for your own nourishment.” Manny stated, shaking his head.

Damian turned to face the class.

“Did ANY of you check anything?”

The class looks sheepish.

“Disgusting; next she’ll be saying she knows Jagged Stone.” Damian turned his nose up at the class.

"Ah, it seems you missed that part.  She said that just before you got here." Manny informed.

"Really?" Damian said sarcastically. "How did she meet him?"

"She rescued his kitten from an airport runway, he even wrote a song about her!" Alya argued, deep down praying this was true.

Damian and Manny looked at Alya in disbelief.

"Oh God," Damian choked out. "Aren't you the supposed 'journalist'?  The creator of the 'Ladyblog’?  A quick search would have told you Jagged Stone never had a cat, he doesn't like them."

"Not to mention that civilians aren't allowed on runways." Manny chipped in.

"And did you really not ask Marinette?" Damian continued. "Someone who knows him PERSONALLY; as in HAS HIS NUMBER!"

"W-We forgot?" Alya tried, though it came out as more of a question.

"Forgot or chose to ignore?" Manny asked.

The class couldn’t give an answer that didn't sound bad.

"Okay, maybe Lila lied about meeting people, but she saved Max from losing an eye!" Alya insisted.

Damian was intrigued.

"How did she 'save' him?"

Lila winced, know what was about to be said sounded out right dumb.

"She kept a napkin from hitting his eye and cutting it out."

Alya looked very proud when she said that, but the looks she got from Damian and Manny, Marinette was just shaking her head, dimmed the pride she felt.

"A napkin?  She 'saved' him from a napkin?" Manny heard about this from the plants, but to hear it out loud was a different thing.

Damian had a look of horror on his face and turned to Marinette.

"Angel, I can't in good conscience let you continue going to this school, it lowers your IQ and removes common sense.  You are brilliant and I would never be able to live with myself if you lost that because of something that I could have helped you avoid."

"HEY!" the class out raged.

"He's right, you know." Manny defended. "Which one of you is Max?"

"I am." Max stepped forward and Manny took a good look at him.

"How is it possible to lose an eye to a NAPKIN?! And even if it were possible; you're wearing glasses, so you would have had protection from it in the first place!"

Max could only squirm in place at Manny’s statement.

“Right then,” Damian nodded his head. “Marinette will ask Father to transfer you to Gotham Academy. You will have nothing but the best for you there.”

“Damian, that’s very sweet of you to offer, but I couldn’t leave Paris and my parents just yet.” Marinette gently objected.

“She also wouldn’t be safe in Gotham Wayne,” Manny cut in. “Not to mention that Gotham Academy would do nothing to help her with her dream of being a designer.”

“Then I would be happy to help her to get into an art school in Paris Isley” Damian said, looking up schools on his phone. “Here is an excellent one Angel and it’s not too far from your home.”

“Guys please!  It is very sweet of you to offer, but I want to get in on my own merit; not because of who I know.”

Damian and Manny gave a soft look to Marinette.

“Of course Angel, it was rude of us to assume what you want.” Damian apologized.

“Forgive us Marigold?” Manny asked.

“I forgive you, but please try not to do it again; okay?” Marinette asked at the end.

“Promise.” They said in synchronise.

“Thank you.”

With the promise made Damian and Manny looked back at the class; who were on their phones trying, and failing, to find SOMETHING to support Lila.

They found nothing.

Marinette’s classmate’s felt horrible, what have they done...

“Marinette...” Alya started, but was cut off by the girl herself.

“No Alya, you could have done all this when I first said she was a liar 2 years ago; all of you could have, but you CHOSE not to because you liked her words better than the truth. So the way you’re feeling now is not my fault, it’s yours.”

Alya and a few others started to tear up.  Adrien tried to come to their rescue.

“Come on Marinette they feel bad enough as it is.”

“Again, that is their fault, not mine. Marinette stood strong, having long gotten over Adrien.

“But...”

“No, no ‘buts’’.  This has been a long time coming and now they’re facing the results of their actions. Part of the reason it’s this bad is because of you Adrien.”

Adrien jerked back like he was slapped, the class gasped.

“You were the one to say we shouldn’t expose her lies remember; because ‘They’re not hurting anyone’. It hurt me when I was sent the back without being allowed to give any input, it hurt me when my ‘friends’ just dismissed me as jealous until they needed something from me, it hurt me when you promised to have my back only to go back on it not a moment later.”

Adrien gulped, he didn’t want to believe what Marinette was saying.

“Lila could have been Akumatized...”

“I WAS NEARLY AKUMATIZED 6 TIMES YOU JERK!!!!!” Marinette finally yelled “Do really not care about my safety?!”

The entire class recoiled, 6 near misses, they could have encountered an Akumatized Marinette. Someone who’s smart and creative, someone who could give Ladybug a run for her money; and they almost had to face her.

“I...” Adrien started.

“NO!  No more fake apologies, no more false promises.  I’m no longer going to be this class’ doormat and scape goat, if you want something from now on; you have to earn it like a normal person!” Marinette finalized.

Marinette was panting after her rant; Damian wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“We should get you away from these people Angel; they are clearly bad for your health.”

Manny gently grabbed one of the fists she made during her rant and began trying to rub the tension out of it.

“Wayne is right Marigold, this much stress will cause you to wilt.”

They began leading Marinette away; back to her family’s bakery, not before throwing a hard glare back at the class.

The class watch the trio walk away, some with tears running down their faces, knowing they blown it with their Everyday Ladybug; all for some girl with pretty words and no proof.

  At Marinette’s Famliy Bakery:

All three people were sitting on Marinette’s balcony; the girl tired from her emotional outburst, was leaning on Damian’s should to her left and to her right Manny was playing with her fingers.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Marinette finally breathed.

“Don’t be Angel, you needed to let that out.” Damian comforted.

“There is no shame in expressing yourself Marigold.” Manny assured.

“Thank you Damian, Manny.”

They sat quietly for awhile before Damian asked a question.

“Were you truly nearly turned into that monster’s minion 6 times Angel?”

“...Yes” Came the hesitant answer.

“Why didn’t tell me Angel? My family and I would have done something!”

“I didn’t want to worry you or your family Damian.  Besides what could you have done?”

“A transfer of schools would have happened.” Damian admitted.

“Yes, because Gotham is a safe place.” Manny said sarcastically.

Damian shot him a look.

“Guys please don’t fight; I really don’t have the energy to keep up with you right now.” Marinette interrupted.

“Fine.” The boys agreed.

“Thank you.” Marinette sighed.

They stayed like until Marinette fell asleep.  That’s when a discussion started between the two young men.

“It seems we both like this lovely bloom.”

“I suppose it is to be expected, Marinette is an Angel.”

There was a brief pause.

“You shouldn’t be near her; your life is dangerous.” Damian started.

“And you should?  Your family is one of the biggest targets in Gotham.” Manny quipped back.

They were at a stalemate.

“You know,” Manny began. “Neither one of us is really gets to decide this.”

Damian reluctantly nodded his head.

“True and in the end, it is her happiness that matters, but it doesn’t mean I won’t try for her affections.”

“Then we understand each other Wayne.”

  The next day:

Marinette was walking into her classroom, on time for once, greeted by stares and silence.  She expected that, but what she didn’t expect was the large bouquet of flowers sitting on her desk.  It was beautiful, roses, lilies, snap dragons, marigolds all combined together.

Marinette walked up the stairs, becoming more aware of the looks she was getting with each step. Once she reached her desk Marinette saw a note, opening it; it read:

To the lovely Marigold,

May these flowers brighten your day, like your smile brightens mine.

Sincerely,

Manny.

Marinette couldn’t help but turn slightly pink, why did Manny have to do this?

“Hey girl, who’s it from?” Alya asked.

“That’s none of your concern Alya.” Marinette huffed, she couldn’t believe she was going to try and act like nothing had ever happen between them.

Alya flinched, but backed down, the teacher came in and the lesson began.

Time flew by rather quickly and soon it was after lunch and everyone was returning to their classrooms, only when Marinette walked in there was a second surprise waiting for her.

There sitting on her desk, beside the flowers, were three bags.  Upon opening them Marinette learned the bags contained various pieces of high-quality fabric; again, there was a note.

To my beloved Angel,

I hope this helps bring your dreams into creation.

Yours truly,

Damian.

Marinette turned a bright red; she knew Damian was a sweet heart.

“Marinette, who is it from?” Adrien asked this time.

“Again, its not any of your concern.” Marinette stated.

Adrien didn’t seem ready to back down, but the teacher came and started class again.

 After class:

Marinette was making her way down the front steps, gifts in hand, with Adrien close behind her.

“Marinette, those things…”

She stopped him before he got any farther.

“These are gifts Adrien; you have no say in them, and I didn’t ask the people gifting them to do so during school.  That was their own decision.  And if you try to make it seem like this my plan to make the others feel bad you will be leaving with a limp.”

Adrien took a couple steps away from Marinette hearing that.

“None of this is my fault Adrien, it’s Lila’s.  All she had to do was not lie and be a decent person and none of this would have happened, but I suppose it’s a good thing she did lie.  She just proved to me how little I meant to you or the class outside what I can do for you and guess what?  I decided I deserve better friends and partners.”

Marinette’s rant was firm, not loud, but Adrien felt like it was shouted next to his ear.

A slow clap from behind Marinette reached them, they turned and saw Damian.

“Well put Angel, but I feel it was a little understated; you deserve the world in my opinion.”

“Damian!” Marinette greeted. “I wasn’t expecting you here!”

“I came to help get you home, I didn’t want my gift and you school items to drag you down.” Damian said, walking over to her, he glanced at the flowers she was holding as well. “Though it seems I’m not the only one who thought you deserved a gift.”

“Apparently…” Marinette trailed off, unsure how to answer Damian.

“They are lovely though,” Damian admitted, grabbing a lily and placing it in Marinette’s hair; causing her to blush. “and I adore seeing you happy above all.”

“Damian.” Marinette sighed.

“I best be getting you home now Angel, unless there was something else you wanted to do before that?” Damian asked.

“No Damian, home sounds wonderful.” Marinette smiled.

Damian nodded his head and started leading Marinette to a car nearby.  He helped her place her gifts in the back and held open the passenger door for her to get in.  But, before the door closed Adrien heard Marinette ask.

“Damian, I have a great idea for a suit I would like to make you, would you like to see it?”

“I would love to Angel.”

Damian then closed the car door, got in on the other side and drove away; leaving Adrien standing at the school alone, with the understanding that he was not going to get his way.

The next several days were very similar, Marinette would find flowers on her desk from Manny in the morning and a range of gifts from Damian, from sewing supplies to some small pieces of jewelry.  Marinette was flattered, but she didn’t want material objects.

One day she finally got to meet with them in the park.

“Guys, this very sweet of you, but I don’t need all this.”

“We know that Marigold,” Manny said. “We want to do all of that though.”

“Indeed Angel,” Damian agreed. “like I said before, you deserve the world.”

“What am I going to do with you guys?” Marinette moaned, turning a bright red.

“Well…” Manny started. “There is something.”

“What?” Marinette asked.

“You can answer a question Marigold?” The red-haired boy asked.

“Sure.”

“Are you attracted to either one of us?  And if so, would you like to go on a date with that person?”

Marinette was stunned at Manny’s question, Damian saw this and explained.

“Angel, we both have feels for you and we both want you to be happy.  If you say ‘No’ to one or both of us we will back off.”

Marinette closed her eyes and took a deep breath, held it, and then released it.

“First of all, both of you are wonderful people, you respected me and stood up for me when I needed it, any person would be lucky to have a relationship with you.”

She turned to Manny.

“Manny you are charming and sweet, you have a wonderful dream and are well under way to achieving it, but I’m sorry; I’m not attracted to you.”

Manny gave a sad smile.

“I understand Marigold, may I still call you that?”

“You can Manny.” Marinette confirmed, nodding her head.

Marinette then turned to Damian.

“Damian you are a strong, kind (in your own way) and a driven individual.  Since I’ve met you, you’ve listened to my ideas, you’ve mdke me smile and you’ve challenged me to do my best.  I am attracted to Damian and I very like you as well, I have for a while, but I never worked up the nerve to ask you out.”

Marinette was blushing as she finished.

Damian was wide eyed in awe, Marinette; his Angel, liked him.  He could have asked her out sooner and she would have said yes!  He wasted so much time!

“You honor me Angel.” Damian said, placing a kiss on the back of her hand. “I promise to be the partner you deserve.”

Manny was still smiling sadly, but, like Damian said earlier, Marinette’s happiness and consent was the important part in all of this.

“Just be aware Wayne, you break her heart; I’ll break you.”

Damian looked Manny in the eye.

“If I break her heart, I’ll come find you so you can.”

“I’m glad we understand each other Wayne.” Manny turned to Marinette. “I think its time I move on from Paris Marigold, I have many ventures to take and more people to talk to.”

“Good luck Manny.” Marinette smiled.

Manny gave one last salute to Marinette before leaving.

Once he was out of sighted Marinette sighed.

“Why do I feel like I just chased him out of Paris.”

“You didn’t do that Angel,” Damian assured, wrapping his arms around her. “His plans for a good ‘Go green’ program involved him traveling around and talking to all that he could.”

“True,” Marinette agreed. “I hope he finds happiness though.”

“I’m sure he will Angel.” Damian nodded his head. “Now, would the lovely Angel Marinette accompany me on a date?”

Marinette giggled.

“I’d like that Damian.”

Marinette began guiding Damian to her favorite café for their first, and proper, date.

 End.

That was Pant Charming.

 Also

 Extra 1:

 Why there was no Akumas:

Hawkmoth – Go my Akuma darken their heart.

Butterfly - *Gets eaten by a strange Venus fly trap*

Hawkmoth – Right…Let’s try this again, go my Akuma darken…

Butterfly #2 - *Gets eaten by a strange Venus fly trap*

Hawkmoth - *Eye twitching* R-Right, third times the charm, go my…

Butterfly #3 - *Gets eaten by a strange Venus fly trap*

Hawkmoth – You know what? I think I’ll just stop for today.

  Extra 2:

 Mari - *Looking up new schools*

Tikki - *Looking over her shoulder* This is a nice Marinette.

Mari - *Nodding her head* Yeah it is, this is the one Damian was talking about.

Tikki – A new school will be good for you and it’s an art school, so you’ll have more subjects focusing on fashion.

Mari – Yeah and it will be nice to get away from that toxic class.  Just because they know Lila’s lying now, it doesn’t change what they did to me.

Tikki - *Angry* - They got away with a slap on the wrist if ask me.

Mari – Maybe, but I don’t think they would survive anything designed by you…or Damian…or Manny…or Damian’s family…

[iggy-of-fans]

Daminette AU idea

#daminetteisthebestship, #ozmav, #miraculousfangirl,

If I missed any of the others let me know!

Trigger warning for torture and sexual harassment and possible rape. 

 Marinette received her Miraculous when she was 12, met Adrien and Alya in grade 8 (French Equivalent). 

It was Marinette's 13th birthday where Befana gets Akumatized and Marinette has since been much more careful about how she reacts to situations. So there's no Riposte or Reverser and Dark Owl is completely Alya and Chat, Frightingale is because of Chloe and so on. 

Paris is getting really bad. People are becoming completely indifferent to consequences because The Cure always fixes everything. People are becoming worse to each other, are allowing themselves to become Akumatized for pretty much everything, because they're never held accountable. To the teens in Marinette's school it's even become a badge of honour. They use their akumatizations for pet names and couple names and bragging about how close they got to their end goal. 

When Lila does come back, and she turns the class, she fuels the akuma craze, encouraging others to bully Marinette because she never got Akumatized and whispering that she obviously works with Hawkmoth. She turns around and praises Adrien, feeding his ego into thinking he's right in everything because he also never got Akumatized. 

Marinette stops ever pulling Hero's from her class, and Chat then starts to refuse to show up for fights because she still won't date him and Marinette can only rely on Vipereon and Ryouko (who both show up way earlier because she can't rely on Alya and Nino, and because she never made a bad impression on Kagami), and so she fights alone for the most part.

So for a full year she's alone both as a hero and at home. She's been training hard with Master Fu, because even the Miraculous magic won't keep him alive much longer, and so Marinette has more stress on her shoulders. On top of that her commissions are taking off with Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone but she's starting to resent fashion. 

Things come to a head the week before her 14th birthday. She's been tracking how fast the magic butterflies can fly, taking note of time the victim became Akumatized and then triangulating the base for Hawkmoth. She's talking to Fu about what to do, since her first guess was right, and the butterflies come from Agreste. Fu is about to tell her that Adrien is Chat when she gets a surprise call from Alya. She takes it and finds out her 'friends' all want to throw her a party. She's excited and takes off immediately to where they are. Meanwhile, Lila made a big lie about Marinette hurting her and told the class the only way to cheer her up is to hurt Marinette and make it stick. 

So When Marinette gets close to where they said they would meet her, the whole class ambushed her. They hurt her really bad, maybe carving the word b**** into her arm or burning her or branding her or something. Max films the whole thing to show Lila and make her happy and maybe get a date. Marinette is left in the dirt, hurt and alone and broken. 

Meanwhile also, Lila has been telling Adrien thay Marinette is in love with him, and that she would be in that area, and that she's waiting for him to make a move and that even if she says no, she loves him and will want him. So he goes there, unaware she's just been tortured and when he finds her he just goes for the deep end (no idea how far it gets) 

He does take her back to the bakery as Chat when he's done at least. The next day Marinette drags herself to Master Fu's place and he does his best to administer first aid and get the bleeding to stop. She stays there until late into the night, when she uses Klakki to break into the Agreste mansion and take back Plagg and the Miraculous book. But when she finds the book she also finds Nooroo and Dusuu in the safe. So she takes them and calls the police, making sure that Officer Raincomprix gets arrested to for obstruction of justice. Lila and the Mayor quickly get arrested too. She also has the tape from Max and they all get looked into. Marinette goes to Fu and he reveals he's dying, and gives her the box and what money he has at that moment and tells her to get far away and hide and check back with him in three days. 

So Marinette goes to Gotham, because no one will look twice at an Orphan in Gotham, and she has the Kwamis help her with her paperwork, and she moves into a tiny bachelor suite in the "bad" part of Gotham, gets a couple of jobs at a Café (where she sells her family's macaroons) and at a grocery store. She goes to Gotham Academy, but is homeschooling and only goes in for labs and exams. 

Three days later she goes back as Ladybug to check on Master Fu and her family. She finds out Lila has been deported and Adrien has been calling for Marinette to "prove his innocence" because he had no idea his father was Hawkmoth. But Gabriel named Lila as his helper and she named Adrien as helping her. The class is all facing juvy and in Alya's case, she's facing adult prison time. Bustier and Domoclese are both arrested for taking bribes, allowing bullying to get so out of hand, for allowing a student to carry the weight of everyone's sins when she herself did nothing. Her parents are also facing prison for willful negligence, they never even called her in missing, they just moved into her room and ignored the fact she was missing. 

She goes to Master Fu, and he's dying and he tells her to use Noroo or Trixx to make his body look like Marinette's and bring it to the cops as the final nail. She stays by his side until he passes and she does as he asks and uses Trixx to make sure all the injuries are there that she has and finally takes the body to the police. They rule it as a first degree murder by her classmates. When Adrien finds out that Marinette is dead he snaps and blames Ladybug for not healing her, and he starts seeing Marinette's "ghost" and it tells her that she wants to be with him and that she wishes he hadn't lost his Miraculous and all he has to do is track down Ladybug and wish her back. He realizes then that he's always loved Marinette, not Ladybug, and this is all Ladybug's fault because Ladybug is jealous Adrien moved on. 

Marinette leaves Paris, never wanting to go back. She starts going to school and working and then her home gets broken into. The Miraculous are all okay, because Trixx hid them under an illusion, but Marinette decides she needs a guard dog. The dog she gets is retired police dog Captain. Things proceed with her working and going home and studying. She no longer wants to work in fashion because the Agreste family ruined it for her. She's healing slowly and she can afford health care so she has a lot of scars from what they did to her. Then one day she's walking home late from the grocery store, she's wearing a slash resistant leather jacket, one of her last designs. She gets seen by Robin, who decides there's something special about her and walks her back to her home, only finding out her name is Marinette Fu and she's an orphan. 

The next day she has an exam at Gotham Academy, and of course, it's the same Day the Joker decides that he'd like to use the rich children to cause some chaos. So when the alarms start blaring, Damien tries to escape to change but gets caught by some back up goons. He's right in the way of Marinette's escape route and he gets injured for his cheek. She also immediately recognizes him as being Robin (the height, the build, the voice, the eyes). So she steps in, quickly takes out the two goons and gives Damien first aid. And when the Joker comes to I vestigate why no one is answering him she leads Joker away from Damien and right into Nightwing. She grabs the first paramedic she sees and takes her to Damien, and then quickly leaves the school. 

Damien, who is recovering for a week at home, digs more into Marinette but can't find anything past two weeks ago. So when he's fit enough to go out as Robin he goes to her place because she might be an assassin or something. But when he gets there he hears her singing a sad song and he doesn't notice she turns and sees him until she opens the window and asks him why he's there. He admits he looked her up and wanted to know who she really was. She admits her parents are alive in Paris but not able to take care of her, and the man she named herself after died recently and he was her only friend. She says she's just here to start over because she hates Paris and France and Gotham is as far removed from anything Paris stood for that she feels safe here despite the danger. He accepts that for now but asks for a list of songs she likes, since he's never listened to or like music until that night. 

And so a weird friendship is born. Marinette sticks papers on the outside of her window with song lists and he leaves a reply of which songs he liked from the last list. This goes on for a while when Marinette has a science lab she needs to go to school for and she runs into Damien, who says thank you for saving him and she asks him why he didn't just add it into the notes on her window. And he realizes "she knows" and is internally freaking out but she just walks around him to the science classrooms. He catches her after (he may have skipped class) and asks her to lunch. She's really jaded at this point but she agrees as long as she picks and she takes him to the café she works at, where Captain is that day. He asks her how she knew and seriously,she could not tell anyone and who she is. She gives him her old name before she starts her shift for the afternoon and sends him off with her batfam macaroons. 

And their friendship continues like that. He starts asking questions on his notes to her and she asks him some in return. He realizes while this is going on that she has no idea he's Damian Wayne and he falls in love, slowly but surely. He never does look up Dupain-Cheng because it puts them on even footing and he likes it like that. He also starts changing at home, calling his brothers Richard, Jason and Timothy, and he's less violent in fights or when sparring. He plans better and becomes more creative in his fights, injuring less and focuses more on civilians (because dammit, Marinette could be among them and how dare anyone hurt Marinette more, because he's not an idiot, he knows she's been hurt, even though they've never talked about it). 

Finally Tim can't take it anymore and asks Damien a month after he became friends with Marinette why he's so different. And Damien knows Marinette hates liars and he's trying to be the best version of himself so tells them he met a girl and that he's been listening to music (and secretly writing a song) and he wants to be better because he's realizing they're not just gonna kick him out and back to his mother and he's not the only one with a sh** childhood and there are ways he can be himself without being violent. And he wants to prove he'll be a good hero. The men are so awed. And then he tells them she figured out he's Robin in like two seconds but has no idea he's a Wayne and they ask for her background info. He gives them her old name, but is reluctant to see but they want to meet her and need make sure she's not bad news. So they find the video of her torture and Ladybug carrying her dead body and they find out about Hawkmoth and everything. The next night Damien knocks on her window and invites her for dinner. 

To be Continued...

[artzychic27]

François-Dupont Performs Carrie- Rehearsal

In

Luka could not keep a straight face during the interrogation scene

The actors actually related a lot to this song

Marinette and Adrien blushed when they saw Kagami in the red gym outfit

Most of the female actors weren’t so great in the volleyball scene, so the director is gonna have the girls volleyball team fill in for them

The girl’s immediately apologized after they had to insult Nathaniel

Carrie

For the iconic shower scene, Marinette added velcro and straps to the towels so they wouldn’t fall off

To make it look like blood was running down Nathaniel’s leg, they just used some food coloring

The male actors blushed and looked away when they saw the girls throwing tampons and pads

Alix: They’re just period stuff! Grow up!

Nathaniel kept tripping over his skirt, so Marinette hemmed it. (Cuz he short)

Open Your Heart

For the scene where the boys are walking home from school, Alix gave Kim skateboarding lessons

Kim was a little hesitant to lift up Nathaniel’s skirt

For the part where Billy falls off his skateboard, a thin, hardly noticeable rope was tied to it, and one of the stagehands would pull on it

The school choir sang behind the curtain to mimic the radio

Eve Was Weak

Nathaniel couldn’t help but laugh at Alya’s dramatics

She accidentally hit Nathaniel with the Bible

Alya: Oh my God! I am so sorry!

Nathaniel: Now I really am bleeding!

The World According to Chris

Marinette, as Sue, learns that Corey is a trans male

The liquor was just cranberry juice

Aurore got really into this song

Evening Prayers

The make to Biblical figurines float, Max added small, barely noticeable propellers

Dreamer in Disguise

Marc and Nathaniel may or may not have been exchanging glances with each other the whole time

Adrien threw a paper ball at Nino while he was acting as Mr. Stephens, leading to a paper ball fight

Marc was looking at Nathaniel the whole time while singing

Once You See

Having slight anger issues, yelling comes natural to Nathaniel

Unsuspecting Hearts

Aurore immediatly apologized to Nathaniel after she yelled at him during the apology scene

Aurore unleashed her inner Chloe when she threatened Kagami

This is Corey’s coming out scene

Instead of the girl’s room, Kagami took Nathaniel into the boy’s room

Do Me A Favor

Nathaniel immediately said yes after Marc asked him to prom

Nino: Not in the script dude-

Alix: SHUT IT!

I Remember How Those Boys Could Dance

Max used a remote control to make the windows shut

The students began to feel bad for Margaret after realizing she was assaulted

Two or three of the students had panic attacks. Margaret’s part was very descriptive

A Night We’ll Never Forget

Kim doesn’t like being called stupid, so Aurore just said “damn shit”

Mylène nearly fainted at the sight of the “blood”

The blood is just some water mixed with red food dye, curtesy of Marinette’s parents

For the scene where Corey makes his outfit, Marinette offered one of her old sewing machines

You Shine

Since Tommy is gay in this rendition, he and Sue were supposed to go to Prom as friends

Why Not Me?

Some of the lyrics were changed to fit a male character

‘I’m gonna walk in three-inch heels’ to ‘I’ll walk with my head up high’

Stay Here Instead

This song somehow reminded Adrien of his dad

Adrien: Man, I gotta sit down.

When There’s No One

Nino: She sounds so pretty when she’s planning to kill someone…

Adrien: … Dude.

Prom Arrival

Juleka also played the photographer

The Prom Committee helped decorate the set. They mean business

The prom outfits were either bought, brought from home, or made by Marinette

Unsuspecting Hearts (Reprise)

Kagami’s character is a lesbian (Cuz I said so)

Everyone’s in agreement- Kagami’s and Nathaniel’s voices sounded amazing together

Alix: This contest insults women and excludes enbies!

Marc: Preach!

Dreamer in Disguise (Reprise)

Marc has no idea how to slow dance, so Nathaniel took the lead and made it look like Marc was guiding him

Nathaniel and Marc immediatly kissed after finishing the song

Kim: There’s not kissing in this scene-

Alix: It’s call “improv”!

Kim: But they-

Alix: SILENCE, HETERO!

Prom Climax

Aurore accidentally spilled the “blood” a few times, so they had to put a lid on the bucket until the big scene

Alma Mater

Alix: This contest insults women!

Nino/Kagami: Ally Vale and Corey White!

Alix: YEAH BITCHES! I WON!

Marinette and Marc were both kicked out of prom after Marinette as Sue went to get help

It took a few tries to get the “blood” to splatter right on Nathaniel

And in case the “blood” didn’t splatter right, the lights are gonna turn off for a few seconds, then come back on but this time Nathaniel has on a red tuxedo jacket

The Destruction

Chloé taught Nathaniel how to do dramatic hand movements for the “Psycho telekinesis scene”

Max rigged the doors to close using a remote control

So simulate a fire, the tech crew used red stage lights and had crackling fire play in the background

Aurore and Kim had barely noticeable harnesses strapped to them to make it look like telekinesis was being used on them

Carrie (Reprise)

It took Alya a while to memorize the prayer Margaret recited

When they hugged, some of Nathaniel’s hair got in Alya’s mouth

Alya: Ugh! He does not taste like a tomato! You were wrong, Alix!

Alya sings lullabies to Ella and Etta when they’re sad, so this just came natural to her

She accidentally dropped the knife on the floor

Alya: Aw, shit.

Nathaniel: *Scandal gasp* Murderer!

Epilogue

It took all of Marc’s willpower not to kiss Nathaniel during the death scene

Nathaniel: *Whispers* Do it.

[miraculous-ladybug-bitches]

Summer Days

12 years old

Marinette sat at a table with 4 others.

The female blonde grins at her and says, “Hi. My name is Chloe!”

Marinette smiles back just as brightly. “I’m Marinette!”

“Nino!”

“Alya!”

“Adrien.”

Alya looks around. “Guess we’re stuck together.”

Chloe looks around and wrinkles her nose when she sees a kid shove mud down another’s shirt. “Definitely could be worse is all I’m saying.”

Alya snorts. “You're telling me.”

Nino looks around. “Our table is pretty nice.”

Mariette looks around the large camp. “It’s kind of a big camp. Pretty sure I’ll end up in the archery range instead of the bathroom at least once.”

Adrien suddenly lights up. “Why don’t we share numbers in case we get lost?”

They all quickly type in their numbers into one another’s phones.

“So what are you guys like?” Nino asks.

“My parents run a prestigious bakery. But I’m a fashion designer,” Marinette says.

“My mom works as the head chef at a very important resteraunt. I’m an up and coming reporter,”  Alya proudly declares.

“My dad’s a fashion designer and I’m a model,” Adrien says.

Marinette gasps. “I knew you looked familiar! You’re related to Gabriel Agreste. And you!” Marinette says, pouting at Chloe. “You’re the mayor’s daughter, aren’t you?”

Chloe chuckles awkwardly. “Yeah. But I want to become a lawyer.”

“That’s pretty cool!” Nino exclaims. “My dad’s a DJ and I’m taking after him.”

Everyone chatters for a bit till their table gets their cabin number.

“This seems like it’ll be a fun year.” Alya chirps.

Everyone nods in agreement.

13 years old

“Look who it is, the great Chloe Bourgeois,” Alya said dramatically, bowing down.

Chloe turns and squeals in delight, running to tackle Alya in a hug.

Alya laughs and hugs her back. “We’ve been texting all year, dude.”

“That’s not the same as being in person,” A voice says from their left.

The two girls turn and see Marinette grinning with Nino and Adrien by her side.

“Guess who all are still in the same cabin?” Nino sing songs.

Chloe’s jaw drops “Really?”

Adrien smiles. “Oh, yeah.”

Marinette seems to rembarrer something, her mood dampening.

Alya notices right away. “Marinette? What happened?”

Marinette sighs. “I forgot to tell you but….my PARENTS GOT A JOB WORKING AT THE MAYOR’S OFFICIAL PARTY BAKERS!” Marinette screams.

Chloe screams with her the two girls hugging.

Alya smirks, pushing up her glasses. “Well,my mother got a job at his restaurant.”

Nino looks a bit lost but says,”My fam got a house near the mayors.”

Adrien snaps his fingers and points at Nino’s. “3 Florence street.”

Nino gaped at him. “How did you-”

Adrien grins. “That’s my neighbors house that just got sold!”

“Wait, so we’ll all be close to each other?” Chloe asks.

“Yup!” Marinette says, popping the p.

“You know it, girl!” Alya says, making everybody laugh.

They make their way to the cabin they recognized from last year.

14 years old

Nino opens the cabin door and laughs.

“Really guys? Again?” Nino says, flopping on his bed from the past two years after he sees the rest of the group.

“That best not be disappointment or we’re gonna have words,” Alya teases.

Adrien laughs at him from the bunk above him.

“Where’s Mari?” Nino asks.

Chloe waves off the question. “She went to go to the bathroom.”

Adrien snickers at a memory. “Remember when she got stuck in the archery range instead of the restroom?”

“She called it, man. She called it,” Nino affirms.

Alya nods thoughtfully. “She did, didn’t she?”

That exact moment, Marinette threw open the door but immediately hurried to shut it.

“We. Have a problem,” Marinette hisses.

Everyone stares at her.

“The fact that you may have broken the door?” Chloe says, pointing out the rattling hinge.

Marinette rapidly shakes her head. “No! They started the paintball tournament without us!”

Alya gasps in outrage as Adrien falls off top bunk. Nino tries to stand but hits his head on the top bunk and Chloe throws her magazine to the floor with an outraged, “What!”

“What are you waiting for, people, let's go!” Marinette yells, ushering everyone out.

They forgot to wear the gear and were covered in bruises for the rest of camp.

15 years old

“Spill,” Alya demands.

Marinette flushes. “I think I might have a tiny, itty, bitty crush on Adrien.”

Chloe immediately opens her hand and looks expectantly at Alya. “You owe me twenty bucks, Nancy Drew.”

Alya scowls and mutters a ‘bitch’ but gives her the money.

Marinette looks appalled between the two. “You bet on me liking Adrien!”

Chloe rolls her eyes. “Of course not. We bet on when you would fess up. Now Alya has to, too”

Alya folds her arms over her chest. “Fess up what?”

“Please, darling, you may have got everyone else fooled, but I’m not a dumbass. You like Nino, plain as day,” Chloe scoffed.

“Well you like Nathaniel!” Alya says indignantly.

Chloe gives her a flat look. “Yes, that’s why we’re dating.”

Marinette tried not to gape at the two. “How the heck are you figuring this out so quick?”

The two other girls give her a flat look. “We aren’t oblivious idiots.”

Marinette huffs. “Go suck a dictionary.”

Alya sighs. “We need to teach you how to swear.”

Marinette glares at her. “No. I will swear in ice cream.”

Chloe scoffs. “How the fuck do you swear in ice cream?”

Marinette clears her throat. “What the Mint Chocolate Chip did you say to me, punk? I’ll kick your Rocky Road and then beat the ever loving Strawberry Cheesecake out of you!”

There was a beat of silence.

And then the three girls burst out laughing.

“Marinette not swearing,” Alya wheezed.

“Fucking imagine,” Marinette said, howling with laughter.

“The ice creams though,” Chloe choked, unable to breathe.

They girls spend the rest of the night under covers, laughing.

16 years old

“We’re counselors, guys!” Marinette cheers.

Adrien and Nino high five while Chloe and Alya smile at each other.

“Actually, I have more good news,” Alya says, excitement growing on her face.

“Me and Ayla are dating,” Nino blurts out.

Alya slaps his chest. “Nino! That was my line!”

Chloe sighs dramatically. “Finally. Took you long enough.”

Adrien grins. “Nino finally worked up the courage to ask her out.”

“Cough, bullshit, cough,” Marinette says, fake coughing.

Alya chuckled. “I asked out Nino and he was speechless.”

Adrien groans. “Come on, dude.”

Alya shook her head laughter in her eyes. “No, no, that’s not even the best part.”

Nino buries his head in his arms out of mortification.

Alya shook with laughter. “He asked the guy behind us, ‘Line?’ And the guy said, ‘I like you too and I’d love to go out with you.’ AND NINO SAID THE SAME DAMN THING AND AFTER HE TOLD THE GUY, ‘Thanks, bro.’”

Marinette couldn’t breath and Adrien’s stomach was hurting.

Chloe was full on cackling as Nino sighs.

This is what he gets for being friends with people like this.

17 years old

Adrien walks into the cabin, arm slung around Marinette’s shoulder.

The second they walk in, the other three start clapping.

“Finally, Mari!” Alya exclaimed.”

“Adrien, my man. Finally getting some!” Nino said, grinning.

Chloe looked between them. “Nope, they’re still virgins.”

Marinette squawks in outrage as Adrien flushes.

“How do you know?” Alya asks, looking over the edge of the top bunk to look down at Chloe.

Regardless of changing relationship statuses, no one would move from their spot. It was just the way it was.

“His hands are on her shoulder, not waist. And neither have that ‘sex glow’ on them,” Chloe points out.

“Sex glow?” Marinette sputters.

“Yeah, now I see it,” Alya said, squinting at the two.

“Adrien. Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. Come on dude. I thought you had better game then that,” Nino chides.

Adrien sighs. “I also thought I had better game than that.”

Marinette snorts. “I can assure you that you don’t.”

“Damn. Shots fired,” Chloe says.

“Roasted, toasted, and burnt, Adrien,” Alya says from the top bunk.

“Gotta get used to it, man. The whole sweatshirt giving. It doesn’t matter if you’re uncomfortable or freezing, just give it to her,” Nino says solemnly.

Adrien frowns. “Why can’t I be comfortable?”

Nino deadpan looks at him. “Adrien, you can either be in a relationship or be comfortable. You can’t have both.”

The cabin erupts with laughter from that one, simple line.

18 years old

“Off to college, huh?” Alya says as the group of 5 stars off into the lake on their last day of camp.

“Yeah. Me and Chloe’s universities are actually pretty close,” Nino says.

Chloe smiles. “I don’t mind having a coffee together every now and again.”

“Me and Alya are going to the same uni,” Adrien says.

“Hell yeah, up top!” Alya said while grinning, high giving the blonde.

Marinette was silent.

“Mari?” Chloe asks.

Marinette sighs. “I’m going to America. New York City, to be precise.”

Silence engulfs the group.

Nino breaks the silence. “Congrats. You deserve it. You worked really hard to get where you are now.”

Marinette smiles gratefully.

“We should meet up on vacations.” Alya suggests.

The rest agree.

“So I guess this is goodbye.” Adrien whispers.

Chloe lets out a bittersweet smile.

“Not goodbye. Just, see you in a bit.”