#maribat adrienette | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mochinek0 · 10 months

Text

Reunion

No one from Françoise Dupont High School expected Marinette Dupain-Cheng to walk into the ten year reunion. As far as they knew, she hadn't been invited. Marinette strode in, with her head held high, and walked right up to Lila Rossi.

"I want to thank you for being such a bitch to me, Lila." Mari smiled, "You changed my life for the better."

"E-Excuse me?" Lila questioned.

'There' no way that forcing her out of school and isolating her gave her an amazing life!'

"That whole shit about telling people what they wanted to hear." Marinette began to explain, "I got really tired of defending myself and being told that I had to 'love you' to make you a better person by the staff. I got tired of being stacked with doing shit for free: all that babysitting I never said I would do, the banners, uniforms, clothes, fundraisers! It was exhausting for a fifteen year old."

Mari smiled, "Once you turned everyone against me, I realized how much free time I had! I signed up for homeschooling and worked extremely hard to graduate early. I even skipped a couple grades. It turned out that my husband's family were huge fans of my designs, so they offered to pay for my schooling if I moved."

"Husband?" Lila asked, concerned, "I didn't realize you had gotten married."

"Yeah." Marinette stated, "We met when I was seventeen and got married when I was nineteen; we have two kids."

Lila looked up and down at her arch-rival. Aside from a growth spurt and a larger chest, Marinette didn't look like she had changed at all. She looked like she was in her early twenties!

"So, thank you for bullying me." Marinette continued with a smile, "It was the best thing that could have happened to me."

Lila stayed silent. She didn't know what to say to that. None of her other victims had ever thanked her. She could feel eyes on them. She knew people were listneing in on their conversation. If she started to make a scene, it wouldn't end well.

"We'll, I'm married too!" Announced Lila.

"Oh, congrats." Marinette smiled, "Where is the lucky person?"

Lila spotted a tall, dark, and handsome man walk into the venue.

"There he is." Lila smiled.

Lila watched as her prey came towards them.

'Just a few more feet and I'll be able grab him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind playing along for a few minutes.'

Lila reached out a hand to grab him, when he put his arm around Marinette's waist and kissed her.

"Hello, Habibiti." he spoke.

"Everything okay without us at the company?" Mari asked.

He sighed, "Yes. It was just Grayson being himself."

Marinette giggled, "I'm sorry, Lila. This is my husband, Damian Wayne. Where were you saying your spouse is?"

Lila plastered a smile on her face, "They just stepped out. They had their cellphone out. It must be an important client. We're both models."

'There's no way she is married to this guy! The sooner she leaves, the sooner I can tell everyone I recognize him as an actor.'

Lila couldn't believe her luck. Adrien had just walked though the doors.

'Marinette was obsessed with him for years! Her fake marriage will be exposed and I can get the guy to stay with me. It doesn’t matter how much she paid him. I'm sure I could pay him more.'

"Marinette!" Adrien shouted.

He was quick to run over and hug her, pulling her away from her husband.

"Agreste, put my wife down." Damian growled.

Adrien turned his attention to Damian and froze.

"Hey, Wayne." He smiled, before looking around, "Where are the kids? Where's my neice and nephew?"

'Kids? They're really married and have kids?'

"They're with my parents, Adrien." Mari answered, "I'm sure they're being fed sugar and will pass out soon."

"So, is that an invite?" the model asked.

"To my parent's place for sweets?" Mrs. Wayne questioned, "You live here! They call me like once a week saying you were at the bakery!"

Adrien chuckled, "No. What about my time with the kids?"

Marinette looked to Damian, who shrugged. She turned to Adrien and shot him a look.

"Tell you what, you can see them in two days." she replied, "A whole day with Uncle Adrien."

'Uncle Adrien?'

"Really?" Adrien cried out, happily.

"But, you got to plan it." she answered.

"Disneyland Paris?" the Agreste heir suggested.

"Fine." Marinette growled, "But if you lose one of my kids, again, I will hurt you."

Adrien glanced towards Damian.

"Adrien, if you think my husband is scarier, just because you have seen his sword collection, you're wrong." Marinette Wayne declared, "You lose one of my children, I will hurt you worse than my husband could ever imagine."

"Got it." Adrien smiled, "Plan awesome VIP experience for the kids!"

"Great!" Mari smiled back.

"Man, you moving really toughened you up." the model winced.

"I punched my brother-in-law the first day there because I thought he grabbed my ass." Mrs. Wayne spoke.

"That is still one of my best days ever. No one has underestimated you since." Damian stated, before kissing her head.

"So, what are you doing here?" Adrien questioned, "Didn't you graduate like two years before us?"

"Oh, I just wanted to thank Lila for bullying me and getting me homeschooled." Marinette smiled, "It sucked that she bullied me, at the time, but if she hadn't done that, I wouldn't be with Damian and we wouldn't have our kids."

Adrien quickly turned to Lila, "Thank you for being a bitch to my best friend. I love my niece and nephew. Marinette, do you think we should get her like a fruit basket or something?"

Mari laughed, "We have dinner plans so we're gonna head out. Enjoy the reunion, Adrien."

Adrien took a step back and eyed Marinette's dress. It was a short black bodycon dress with puffy transparent sleeves. He eyed the black heels, warily.

"Dressed like that?" he questioned.

"Eyes on my wife's face, Agreste." Damian growled.

Adrien rolled his eyes, "She's all yours. I don't think I've ever seen you dressed like this, is all. You think you'll be able to take care of the kids dressed like that?"

Marinette answered, "They are staying with my parents tonight." before walking away.

Adrien watched as Damian placed his hand at Marinette's waist, likely making sure she didn't fall in those heels.

Adrien smiled, evilly, "Hey, Marinette!"

The designer turned to look back at her friend.

"I want another neice or nephew!" he shouted.

Marinette's face morphed from shock to embarassment, before she quickly glared at her best friend. She squeaked as she was quickly lifted into her husband's arms.

"Damian, you put me down!" she snapped at him.

"No." her husband responded.

"Why not?" she growled.

"Adrien won't get his wish if you're in jail for harming him." Damian smirked.

Marinette buried her face in her husband's chest and remained silent.

Adrien laughed as Marinette was carried out of the reunion. Nino walked up to him, confused.

"You….You kept in touch with Mari?" he questioned.

"Of course!" Adrien smiled, brightly, "I helped her with her math sometimes and she talks with Father about designing. She's my best friend."

"Designs?" Rose asked.

"Marinette is a fashion designer in the states." he answered, "Her husband's family runs an international company. She occasionally designs for their clothing line, but they do other stuff, too. Marinette has an office in their building, but she mostly does custom work. I think last year someone asked for a wedding dress. It was around $25,000."

"Seriously?" Alya asked, full of surprise.

"Oh yeah!" Adrien smiled, "She's an amazing deisgner. A lot of her dresses and suits have been coming out on runways and red carpet events."

"You're forgetting that she bullied Lila!" cried Sabrina, "She was mean to her! How can you be friends with her?"

"Actually, it was the other way around." Adrien stated, "Lila once claimed that Mari pushed her, after school, so hard that she injured her knee and was forced to walk home with a limp. I tried to tell you that Marinette couldn't have done it; Marinette had been with me the day before. You told me I was just confused. You never let me speak. You just decided Lila was right."

The class just stared at him.

'Had they really done that? Had they ignored Adrien when he tried to defend Marinette?'

"You never listened to me or Marinette when we told you about Lila being a lying bitch." he shrugged.

"But you're married!" Kim shouted, "How can you choose Marinette over a model?"

"I didn't. I'm bi and dating a male model from my father's company." Adrien announced, "Lila was fired when she was sixteen. Wasn't Lila held back a grade? Why is she even here? You didn't graduate with us or even from this school."

"It was a computer error!" Max spoke up, "Lila said that-

Adrien rolled his eyes, "Her mother called Natalie and declared she was owed a meeting with my father. She said we ruined Lila's future by forcing her to model. She threatened to sue the Gabriel brand until we showed her the 'signatures' on the forms. Turns out, Lila forged those so her mother's hands were tied. Her mother started shouting how she should send her to boot camp, back in Italy, as the left the house."

One by one they turned to look at Lila.

"i-I wanted to see everyone." she whispered, weakly, "I missed my friends."

"Thank for stopping by." Adrien stated, "You can leave now."

"Adrikins!" Chloe shouted.

"Chloe!" Adrien called back, "I missed you. We loved that spa treatment. You're the best!"

Chloe smiled and pulled Adrien away from the rest of the group to socialize with the other students.

"You still talk to that trash?" they heard Chloe ask.

"Rossi?" Adrien questioned, "Nah. You missed Marinette by a couple minutes. She came here and thanked Lila for being a raging bitch. The rest of them were still trying to kiss ass."

"The queen, herself, and I missed it." the Bourgeois heiress teased.

"Date night." Adrien quipped, "She brought Damian and the demon brigade."

"I missed the little ones?" she screeched.

Adrien laughed, "They're with her parents. Better book your time with them before they leave again. Oh, and Mari is already threatening bodily harm if anything happens to them."

"You lost one last time!" Chloe cried.

"I said I was sorry!" Adrien rebutted.

Chloe scoffed, "You're lucky you didn't die that day."

"I know." Adrien sighed, "Would it be weird if I put them on one of those kid leashes? I feel like they would fuck with me and purposely try to get lost to see me sweat, again. Honestly, I don't know if it's a mini Damian or mini Marinette. Don't get me wrong, Damian is frightening and he could probably work in the CIA torture room, but seeing Marinette pissed off, scares the living crap out of me. She's creative and could probably make something specifically to hurt me."

Chloe looked up from her phone, "I bought you the leashes. They'll be here tomorrow. You're welcome."

"Chloe." Adrien replied, "You didn't answer me."

"I was frenemies with her for years, Adrikins." Chloe answered, "Mari will find some way to hurt you and she wouldn't need her godly husband to do it. You have every right to fear for your life for pissing her off. Look at what happened to the idiot brigade: they believed a liar and bullied her. None of their dreams came true. The Waynes own half the companies those idiots wanted to work for. I wouldn't put it past Damian to rat those losers out to his family and have them blacklisted. You have seen how overprotective he is of their kids; he's the same way with her."

"True." Adrine sighed, "He still yells at me when I hug her."

"Idiot." Chloe declared, rolling her eyes.

The class looked at each other before pulling out their phones. They looked up Marinette and the Wayne family. The class shifted nervously as they realized what Chloe had said was true. The Waynes and Marinette owned their jobs. They were all comfortable with their jobs, but they weren't anything to brag about. They had all wanted bigger and better things at thirteen.

None of them were the doctors, rock stars, DJs, journalists, environmentalists, or the Olympians they thought they would be. They worked desk jobs or became something close to what they wanted. Lila knew she would never model again when Gabriel told her that he was going to blacklist her. The Waynes owned everything from food to biolabs to steel to shipbuilding and aerospace. Lila silently left the reunion as everyone came to terms that their dreams ended long ago.

TAG LIST: @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus @missmadwoman @meira-3919 @princessdaisysolosyourfaves @blep-23 @fangirlingfanatic @darkhinauniverse @ravenr22 @im-a-satanic-ritual @ravennm84 @bianca-hooks123 @a-slytherinish-gryffindor @starling218

909 notes · View notes

aliensunflower-fics · 4 months

Note

Man, Adrien's just wants everyone to be happy, and because he goes on the wrong way, he gets a raw deal.

Will he ever get a break in your fics?

... Okay I have gotten 1 to many asks like this even though if you check my pinned post you would see all my fics with tags a fair few of which include Adrienette or even just cool friends Adrien and Mari but to make your life even easier HERE I will link every single fic I have written (to this date) in which there is 0 Adrien salt ENJOY:

Alya Salt Prompt: Views (Alya Salt / Prompt / Mild Lila Salt )

Ladybug Is Addicted to Pastries ( Fluff / Comedy Short )

Corruption: A Prompt ( Light Adrinette / Lila Salt / Prompt)

Marinette Changes Schools: Funny Prompt ( Adrienette / Kagaminette / Felinette / Fluff / Comedy / Lila Salt)

A Sinister Sneaky Lila Prompt (Marinette Harem / Lila Salt / Prompt )

The Liar Trap: Lila Salt Prompt (Comedy / Lila Salt / Hints of Kagaminette )

Marinette The Perfect Daughter In-Law (Marinette Harem / Fluff / Comedy)

‘Akumatized’ Marinette: Funny Prompt (Marinette Harem / Fluff / Comedy / Lila Salt )

The Interview (Comedy /Gabriel Salt / Nathalie Salt / Lila Salt / BAMF Marinette)

The Interview Part 2: Live Broadcast ( Comedy / Gabriel Salt / Nathalie Salt / Lila Salt / BAMF Marinette / Hints of Daminette / Gay Adrien / AdriJon )

Jealousy & Honesty: Sugary Prompt (Innocent Lila AU / Marinette Is Insecure but Sweet / Marinette Talks to Her Mom / Prompt)

Who Framed Marinette Dupain Cheng (Comedy / Marinette Harem / Fluff / Class Sugar)

#its just me #miraculous ladybug #adrien sugar #my fic #adrienette #marichat #lila salt #kagaminette #felinette #mariharem #lukanette #gay adrien #jon x adrien #daminette #maribat #lila gets expose #lila lies #alya sugar

244 notes · View notes

wheredostarsgowhenyoudie · 2 years

Text

Once upon an afternoon stroll in Paris...

Alya: Hey girl, you alright?

Marinette (sighs): You know what? Fine. If the universe is so adamant to keep me busy that I am practically living on caffeine, fighting akumas while having no social life whatsoever because I have to juggle being Ladybug, graduating student, MDC and guardian of the miraculous all at once, then I'll just own it! Yes, you heard right. From now on, I'd be single. Yes, ma'am. No dating for Miss Marinette Dupein-Cheng starting today. I'm going to focus on myself and my designs and--

Meanwhile, all across the globe, several someones feel the chills at the disturbance in the force...

Adrien (freezes, stopping to feed Plagg cheese): Wtf universe-

***

Luka: I sense a disruption in the universe's music.

***

Damian (suddenly feeling thrice murderous): Beg your pardon. Jon, who do I need to kill?

Jon: Aww, come on!

Tim: Oh, no. Not this again.

***

Felix (hands an entire bag of cash to the saleslady): Get me your biggest, brightest and most beautiful diamond ring ASAP. I need to catch the soonest flight to Paris.

***

And then there are those in the J.L. Headquarters..

Alfred: No Master Bruce.

Bruce (doing paper works): Yes Master Bruce. Come on, Alfred! She doesn't want to get tied by marriage. That leaves adoption!

Dianna (on a phone call with Sabine): Bold of you to assume I didn't beat you to it.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #maribat #mlb #miraculous #adrienette #lukanette #daminette #damienette #adrinette #felinette

1K notes · View notes

lovysmtalks · 2 years

Text

He Only Has Himself To Blame

Summary: Felix joins the akuma class, he's seeking revenge and wants to demask the sunshine persona Adrien has put on

Marinette is lost after getting her heart broken, bullied and dehumanised by her old friends, so she finds comfort in a certain blonde boy who joins her class

This will be a short series that I decided to make after reading soap_lady's "he can only blame himself" fanfic on ao3

The characters are in 11th grade meaning most of them are 17-18

Marinette has been MDC ever since she was 14 and Gabriel's business is going down due to him getting too into the villain act, I'm trying really hard to not make Mari seem too ooc or a Mary Sue

Chapter One.

To say Felix hated school, it would be an understatement.

He DESPISED school. The place is full of gold diggers left and right, people who would throw you out in a split second

Felix transferred to Françoise DuPont during his third year of high school. His mother was having a business trip to Paris for some time and since Felix didn’t have friends in New York, she signed him up for this school until he finishes his lycée

Once he set foot on the school, people looked at him weirdly, well...maybe it was his questionable clothes, they clearly showed rich boy and that he wasn’t from this school.

He could hear the annoyingly loud “whispers” as he walked to the principal’s office

‘He looks like a model, do you think he is one?’

‘He looks like he has money, maybe we should try and befriend him!’

‘He looks like Adrien, oh my gosh I’m going to faint if we have two handsome models at our school, it’s like we hit jackpot!’

He sighed as he finally reached the school’s principal’s office.

Around 45 minutes of not important information later

Felix finally walked upstairs to his class, his head hurting from the goody-two-shoes principal, his way of lecturing teen-agers was in such a way it felt like he was in kindergarten again. To be fair it kinda was the same, he was in a strange place full of people he could sense had bad intentions, so he just rubbed his temples and opened the door to see a very loud class split in two parts.

The front side, he spotted the other blonde guy the whispers were about, Adrien Agreste, his cousin.

Oh boy, did that not just make this whole thing even more irritating.

The front side had much more people in comparison with the back side, the back side was formed of five people.

A girl with a strong pink hair in some loose pig tails who was making a hand gesture to what the front side was listening to

Felix wanted to laugh at that, as he caught a split second of what the girl with brown hair on the front side was rambling about, it was something about how she’s his uncle’s muse or some crap like that, nothing more than a fairy tale she could only dream of.

He remained silent and analysed the other people in the small group

There was a guy with bright red hair who looked like he was barely containing himself from bursting out laughing at what the pink haired girl was doing

The second guy in the group wore a red sweater and had a washed out kinda blonde hair that was spiked up, he was giggling at what the pink haired girl was doing, while having a hand on her shoulder.

The third guy, wore a cap with some black glasses, he looked kind of sad at the front group but his sad frown moved to a half smile as he sat down next to the second girl-

‘What the actual – NO WAY THAT’S HER’ Felix panicked as he remembered who the second girl was.

‘The “I-love-you” girl, what a coincidence to be in the same class as you’ he thought, not noticing the fact that he was staring

But someone did notice him stare, it was the actual girl herself.

She had the same shock on her face as Felix did, probably was not expecting to see him ever again after the stunt at his cousin’s house two years ago.

‘Great, this couldn’t be more awkward’ he sighed as he moved to step in the class, hearing someone was close to the door.

“Oh! You must be the transferred student, come on! My class is probably dying to meet you.” The ginger teacher said loud enough for Felix to shiver at how loud she was

Oh, he was sure the class of idiots was dying to meet him.

He could practically see the hearts sparkling in the sausage haired girl's eyes who moved to the second line of seats, behind his cousin.

The girl with two shades of colours in her hair was staring at him as she was whispering something to her seatmate’s ear.

Him and the teacher walked in the class as she was basically dragging him to the front desk.

"Good morning class! This is Felix, Felix uh…-" the teacher looked at him for an answer about his last name

He sighed and said "Graham de Vanily. Felix Graham de Vanily."

"Ah, yes! Class, he is a transferred student from New York, treat him kindly and make him feel at home. You can go sit uhm…in the back! With Marinette." She put a hand on his shoulder, making him shiver at the contact

'Oh great.' he caught a glimpse at his cousin's face, it was priceless

He looked angry then disappointed then it went back to normal.

'Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all' Felix thought trying to retain the smirk his face desperately wanted to make.

He reached Marrinete's and his seat.

He could see that she was avoiding his gaze, so he had the genius idea to put his hand on hers

She shot him a deadly glare, in which Felix responded by "smiling" warmingly at her

"What are you doing?" she whispered angrily

"I wanted to get your attention since you were clearly avoiding my gaze. I know you most definitely think of me as a son of a bitch, but i want to get revenge on my cousin, I know you won't help me since I saw your confession on his phone back to a year ago, but it was worth a shot for me to ask for your help." He whispered, it wasn't exactly a lie, it was mostly to make his cousin jealous. But what he didn't think of nor plan, was his heart skipping a beat once her gaze finally met his.

Marinette's face had a confused look on it, probably processing what he just said

What he did not expect, was for her to giggle.

"Let me get this straight, angel, you want to hang out with me to piss lil' ol' Agreste off, because you want revenge, you still want revenge after two years ago, you pretended to be him, try and kiss a superhero, then blame it on getting akumatized." She covered her giggles with her hand to hide the snorts begging to come out.

Felix thought she looked so pretty for whatever reason. He bit back a smile, then it clicked.

'Kiss a hero? How does she know about that?!' he thought. Felix was 100+% sure that no one saw when he tried to do that.

Oh.

OH.

'What a silly mistake you just did Mlle. Dupain-Cheng' he looked back at her to see she closed her eyes while trying not to laugh out loud.

He smiled. (Not gonna say someone's dying, but the world's at it's end if he smiles)

'You're such an idiot to not realize what you could have had, Agreste.' Assuming she was laughing was a sign her and Adrien weren't together, maybe if he was lucky, not on good terms either, seeing that she did call Adrien Agreste and not just Adrien

"Well yes. He's not the person who everyone sees him to be, that's the reason I did what I did last time. I tried to show everyone how he really was, he called it a prank, I call it wanting the truth to get out, I do however realize that there were other things I could have done to show that but can't change the past now, can't I?" He whispered

Marinette opened her eyes with a thoughtful look on her face

"I know Agreste isn't who he stands to be, I'm more than aware he isn't this sunshine price in shinning armour mostly everyone belives him to be." She said in a serious tone, with a blank expression on her face

Felix was in deep thought, millions of questions running through his mind.

He decided not to press forward and just nod at her statement.

After some minutes of pretty awkward silence for Felix at least, Marinette finally looked at their hands who were still connected, with her hand being underneath his

Her smile passed Felix's eyes as he was looking through some papers on his part of the table

Marinette put her other hand on his, getting closer to his ear then whispered

"I'm in, I'll help you get your revenge." She backed down from his personal space then dragged their hands Infront of her

Felix was processing what she just told him, he was about to say something but then noticed she was holding his hand tightly between hers as she had a petty smirk on her face

The boy's cheeks got warm, to a concerning state, he just took his hand and turned the other way, covering his mouth and cheeks with the other hand as he avoided Marinette's gaze

In response to the sudden outburst, Marinette just laughed and went back to paying attention to the class

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What neither of the teens knew, was that Marinette's out of character (for most people) affection was caught on by Lila, who looked like she was fuming as she looked back at the two.

"Girl, you ok? Your face looks red and swallowed, are you having an allergic reaction?" A concerned Alya asked looking as her bestie

Lila swallowed HARD as she realized she was staring at the pair behind them

"A-ah…y-yes I am alright, just, don't you think Marinette would bully Felix too right?... She's been invalidating his personal space ever since he got to the back…" Lila said in a shaky tone, trying to make it sound as real as possible

'No way I'm letting Mari-brat take my key to success, Gabriel's business has been going down in fame since people are boycotting the brand for whatever reason. The Graham de Vanily family has a better reputation than the Agrestes ever could even dream of!' she thought angrily

"Lila, girl, you don't think she would, would she? I told you what Felix did last time he was here. If something he would be the one making fun of her, he's a bigger jerk than Marinette!" Alya whispered

'Oh, now you're taking her side?' Lila thought unfazed at her "friend's" stupidity

"Felix looks like a sweetheart! (Yea right) time changes people Alya, Marinette is a perfect example of that!" Lila whispered, trying to get her friend to understand what she meant.

"Hmm… you're right, after class we're confronting Marinette on her bullying, the poor boy just got here! How could she be so cruel…" Alya said angrily

"Oh Alya, I don't know…" Lila said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder comfortingly

#marinette deserves better #marinette dupain cheng #mlb au #class salt #lila salt #adrien salt #past adrienette #maybe a mention of maribat if you squint #felinette #mlb felix #felix graham de vanily

643 notes · View notes

olivia-anderson-fanfic · 3 months

Text

OHSHCAU (Keysmash)

Part 3

You know how, when the school year starts up, a teacher might get everyone to go around the room and give a couple of vague facts about themselves? Or, even worse, they might split everyone up into teams based on some random, inconsequential factors and they would all be forced to work together on some dumb task? That way they can get to know new people better?

You know how everyone hates that?

Yeah. Marinette thought that, of all people, her fellow high schoolers would understand. But alas, here she was, glaring down Dick because he wanted to do a team-building exercise. Bastard. She was going to shoot him.

With a paintball gun! Because they were playing paintball!

Do not send cops her way! She will introduce neurotoxins to your system!

Anyways, she had no choice but to agree. Debt’s a bitch.

And, maybe, the idea of shooting the Waynes point blank in the face with paintballs would have swayed her regardless, but who knows. The option was never truly given to her, so who’s to say how she would have reacted?

Certainly, the Waynes would never know.

Which was probably for the best. They could end her life in a couple of phone calls.

She hummed as she absently messed with her paintball gun. They had been split off into pairs. Steph was still on the bench thanks to her copious amounts of injuries, unfortunately, so Marinette hadn’t particularly minded who she was going to end up with (she hated all of the Waynes equally, save fucking Tim, who would avoid her, anyway), and had allowed them to all pair off and leave her with the leftovers.

She was regretting that, now, of course.

Dick wrapped his arm around her shoulders and tugged her into his side. “Don’t get too competitive, please?” He said, and he sounded like he was one more ‘fuck you’ away from begging.

She glanced over his shoulder and found Tim making faces at her behind his back. He was supposed to be heading to one of the other nondescript, frankly unnerving steel tunnels that would lead them to a random place on the map. He should be spending this time with Damian so they could discuss their plans. He was not doing any of these things. He had followed Marinette and Dick to their room instead, and she would be concerned about him trying to figure out where they would end up for the sake of a tactical advantage… but, frankly, that was too smart for him.

He had no good reason to be here. How sweet of him to want to see her off.

She looked back at Dick, her eyes gleaming. “Of course I won’t. Only babies get competitive over stuff like this.”

Tim bristled. But his mic was on, so he was unable to say a word in protest. He could turn his face away from the people to mouth the curses he so clearly wanted to scream, but she could just look in another direction.

Her lips twitched into a kind of grin before she tamped it down.

Dick sighed. Deeply. “I’m guessing I can take that as a no.”

“Aw. You know me so well.”

He snickered. “Well, I’d hope so, since I hired you.”

“No one has ever lied to the people hiring them ever,” she said, nodding sagely.

He grinned. “Which is why we went with… atypical hiring practices.”

“You’ve basically kidnapped me and decided to hold my entire future ransom to make me work for you.”

“Shhhhhhhhh.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Oh, Marinette,” a voice called, and she was more than happy to let Steph drag her out from under Dick’s arm, even if this meant that a new arm was wrapped around her waist and a face came to rest close to her own.

Marinette raised an eyebrow, but wasn’t too surprised at the sudden closeness. They’d literally slept together, in the same bed, for days. She could handle a little bit of contact. And, besides, they’d both agreed that it fit their characters (a playful flirt would flirt with a girl next door, and a girl next door would blush and let it happen) and it would draw in more customers. Teenage boys and gay teenage girls would both rather enjoy watching ‘wlw content’ when given the option.

Besides, who doesn’t flirt with their friends a little? Now they got to monetize it. A win.

Marinette rested a lazy arm over Steph’s shoulder, careful not to jostle the microphone hovering by the girl’s chin. She gave it a pointed look, and Steph mouthed the word ‘off’. She untensed a little. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Your mic is off.”

“I didn’t get one,” she said, shrugging.

Steph blinked. “Oh. I can give you mine.”

“Well, if I accept that, how am I going to insult Tim without the audience knowing?”

Dick snickered. “You could try not insulting him.”

Marinette gave him a blank look.

He shrugged as if to say ‘well, I tried’. Which, did he really?

But her attention was quickly stolen away when Steph pulled something out from behind her ear and then presented it to Marinette, who looked at it how one might look at a dead rat their cat had just brought in.

“What the hell is that?”

“A mic,” Dick offered.

She glared at him out of the corner of her eyes, and then snapped her attention back to Steph when the girl leaned in to fit the device over her ear. “You’re not putting that on me.”

“What, is the scientist scared of technology?” teased Dick.

She gritted her teeth. “Chemicals are easy to understand. They’re predictable. This? Unreliable. Who knows who's listening in on those wavelengths.”

There was a beat of silence. The two Waynes looked at each other for a moment, something unreadable on their faces.

And then Dick sighed. “Listen, you know how our dad bankrolls the Batman?”

She nodded, still eyeing Steph as if the girl was going to jump her and attach the evil machine to her by force.

“Well, we get a couple of perks. Like this. If anyone tries to hack into these – which, really, why would they? – Batman will be alerted and I’m sure they will never be heard from again… or whatever it is he and his weirdo kids do.”

“Local Batman proves that all cops are corrupt,” she said, still eyeing it warily.

“Not a cop,” said Steph.

“Not corrupt,” said Dick.

She wasn’t sure who was being less realistic.

And it didn’t matter what they said, either way.

Batman was exactly the person she was trying to avoid, thank you very much. But it wasn’t like she could just say that, because being openly wary of the Batman in front of rich people was just begging for them to be suspicious of you. They were too used to their peers being affiliated with the Court of Owls. So, reluctantly, she let Steph place the mic.

The girl drew back slightly once she was sure everything was in place (and, more importantly, that it would stay in place even while they were all running around).

Steph grinned. “There. Done. All you’ve got to do now is press the button and you’ll be live. Anyways. Blush like I said something suuuuper hot, m’kay? They’re staring.”

“Maybe if you do something hot, I will.”

She hummed thoughtfully before she brought her free hand up to cradle Marinette’s face. She tilted her head up, her thumb caressing her cheek, their noses brushing. A quiet click sounded next to her ear as her headpiece was turned on.

“Fixed,” Steph said. Quiet, but close enough to the mic hovering by Marinette’s chin for their audience to hear.

“Thanks,” Marinette mumbled. Thank god she had melanin to hide the reddening of her face somewhat, but she was pretty sure it was obvious regardless.

“Anytime,” Steph teased, going so far as to press a kiss to Marinette’s nose before drawing back. She glanced at Dick. “Your mic is off, too.”

“What, not going to fix mine for me?” Dick joked, lifting a lazy hand to flick the knob by his ear.

Steph snorted. “I’d rather die.”

Dick grinned and immediately tugged Marinette closer to him again. Woe is her. If only she could retaliate by beating his ass like she so wants to do. She hates debt. Thankfully, he didn’t wrap an arm around her this time, instead he let her go in favor of crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re just jealous that you don’t get to teach this sweet little underclassman the ropes.”

Marinette was fighting a valiant battle with her face, trying to keep the unimpressed annoyance off of it. “You’re so kind.”

“Of course! It’s my job as the club leader to make sure that your introduction to the group goes smoothly!”

They wouldn’t be bothering with all of this otherwise.

For you see, a large part of being a Host was based around how physically attractive you were, and if they wanted her to be popular enough to pay off her debt, they would have to introduce her to the potential customers in a way that would draw their attention in that way. So, it had been decided that Marinette’s official introduction should be some kind of physical activity. Especially since their clients were all fellow teens, and likely would see a bunch of people fighting for their lives in slightly skimpy clothes and go ‘ooooooooooh’.

Steph rolled her eyes so hard she must have seen her brain back there. “It would have been easier if we’d just done a pool party.”

“My! A pool party?! Steph, have you no shame? What about her innocence?!”

“Dick. She’s wearing a crop top and yoga pants.”

“A crop top, yoga pants, and tasteful armor,” said Dick. His attempts at defending her honor were… definitely attempts. Marinette could give him that.

Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, grinning. “Would you prefer I work out in a hoodie and sweats?”

“Well,” said Steph. She brought her hands up to press against her own chest, winking. “I don’t want that.”

A glance up at the crowd showed that the people had caught the jist of what she’d said thanks to the overdramatic body language she had opted for. Thankfully. Marinette wasn’t sure how to naturally repeat that for the sake of the people watching.

Her eyes caught on one particular person in the crowd, though.

Fu, leaning against his cane heavily, watching her.

“Alright, Steph, stop flirting with the new recruit,” Dick said, slinging his arm over Marinette’s shoulders again, tugging her closer to his side. “Shoo. Scram. Other synonyms that start with ‘s’. I need to teach her how to shoot – shoot! No, wait, I’m thinking of ‘shoo’, and I’m pretty sure I already said that. Anyways. Leave so I can teach her.”

Marinette’s head jerked around to look at him, her eyebrows disappearing behind her hairline. “I know how to shoot. You just…”

She pointed her paintball gun at a nearby wall and pulled the trigger. A disappointed look crossed her face when, despite the gun clicking to tell her that the trigger was working, nothing came out.

“Hm,” she said, eloquently.

He snickered. “Well, I know why that happened, but before we fix that…” He reached a hand out to adjust her fingers. “Let’s not keep our fingers on the trigger. Unless you want to shoot at anything that dares to surprise you.”

Marinette absolutely wanted that. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say that while in character, so she was stuck smiling and saying, “Thanks, Richard.”

“Dick,” he corrected lightly, as usual.

“You don’t understand how much I can not call you that,” she said. Even if Dick was, often, a dick, and she didn’t usually mind going with whatever nickname or name someone called themself, it’s hard to say the word and still come across as demure.

“Well, then, you can call me something else. How does ‘my liege’ sound?”

Marinette snickered into her hand. “Terrible, King.”

“Oh. Hate that.”

“Got it, Queen.”

He sighed.

“Themporer?” she tried, batting her eyelashes.

“How many of those do you have?”

“So many, gender nonspecific monarch.”

“That one feels like a stretch.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, it is a bit of a mouthful.”

“You know, I’m starting to realize that you use humor to stall.”

Marinette’s face flushed at the direct callout. That had been unnecessary. And she couldn’t even curse him out for it. She hated life.

Whatever. She’d roll with it (not like she had any other choices). She gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. “What do you mean? I was trying to figure out your royal-title-specific pronoun preferences! I had only the best of intentions.”

“Of course, of course. Pretend to get ready to shoot your gun.”

Marinette huffed, mumbling that he was ‘no fun’ as she lifted her paintball gun.

He walked around her slowly, knocking his foot against the inside of her own until she moved them to be shoulder width apart, bending her arms so the recoil wouldn’t hurt as much, bending her knees slightly so she wouldn’t fall over at the lightest of hits…

“You sure know a lot about this,” Marinette said, eyeing him warily.

“Dad made me take some self-defense classes after I got held for ransom for the eight and a half-th time.”

“Eight times is a lot but I guess that’s still surprisingly competent for hi – wait, half-th?”

“Yeah!” he said, and then did not elaborate.

She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting.

He checked her form one last time before nodding to himself. He squinted at her gun for a moment, before cringing.

“I – uh – I’m not used to turning off the safety from an outsider’s point of view…”

“Then here,” she said, starting to stand up straighter and hand it over to him, only for him to rapidly shake his head.

“No, no, no, we need you in that position for as long as possible to get your body used to it.”

Marinette fought back a grimace, her eyes briefly flicking to the people still watching them intently. Dick, as the self-proclaimed ‘king’ of the Host Club, was easily the most popular among guests. She did not want to put a target on her back by looking like she was trying to come onto him. Or because it might look like he was coming onto her. She hated this fucking job. They were coworkers, damn it. She shouldn’t be stressing about getting, like, Court of Owls-style assassinated for being near him!

“Just – just… do it quick,” she said.

He nodded sharply.

Arms wrapped around her from behind, a chin coming to rest upon her shoulder. Warm breath just barely wafted over the side of her neck, earning a few goosebumps. His hands ghosted over the back of her own, briefly, fixing the positioning of her fingers once again (he really didn’t like her tendency to hang onto the trigger, apparently) before flicking the safety off.

He pulled back the second everything was in order, hands up like he was already actively surrendering. They sent the people watching them mildly embarrassed looks. It isn’t doing them much good, though.

Quick! Take legitimacy away from the intimacy!

“I need to stop bringing desserts from home, you’re getting heavy.”

Dick spluttered. “What?”

“I said what I said.”

She would apologize later.

… wait, would Babs count mental damage as adding to her debt?

She was going to apologize so profusely later.

Dick sighed, running a hand through his hair, briefly pushing his bangs out of his eyes. “Tell me why we made you the girl next door again?”

“Out of ideas,” Marinette said.

“Right, right. Any chance we can change it?”

“Well, you’re the king and all, you can choose,” she said, before winking and blowing a kiss to the people up on the viewing platform. “But, hey, everyone knows that most ‘harsh’ people are just hurt people trying to protect themselves from more harm. I’m sure that, with the right person, I could actually be the soft, kind person I portray. After all, every act needs at least a little bit of truth to work, right?”

She glanced at Dick out of the corner of her eyes. He gave the barest trace of a nod.

Good.

She had a bit of a reputation in the school. Not really because she was outright mean to people – she would never say half the shit she said around Adrien and the host club members to people she didn’t know, not without good reason – but because pretty much every student knew about her… antagonistic relationship with Tim. Because during the last finals season they had only been a step above fistfighting in the middle of the hallway. And not even because they had been scared of punishment or expulsion, but instead because Duke and Steph had physically dragged Tim away before he could jump at her.

Whatever. It was totally water under the bridge and she definitely didn’t want him dead anymore.

(Yes, Tim and Marinette could just put aside their differences, and show that they had changed… but Marinette would rather just kill him, to be honest.)

Regardless, it would be hard to convince the general population that the person that had almost fought another member was all that shy and kind. So, they needed to rework her image. Recontextualize her personality.

Whether or not Marinette or any of the other host club members really believed what she was saying didn’t matter, all that mattered was that their guests believed it. Thankfully, they had years worth of toxic media to back up their claims, and the rich kids who had never had real reason to distrust what they’d been told fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Great. The goal for today is done. Now, if only she could get out of this stupid paintball tournament. She has changed her mind. A chance of shooting Tim in the face is not worth having to simulate a battle.

Maybe if she annoys Dick enough he might just call it off?

She watched him out of the corner of her eyes as they continued down the hallway. He caught her stare and, instead of being confused or upset or uncomfortable, sent her a tiny smile.

Yeah, she didn’t think it would work. You can’t annoy someone with as many younger siblings as he has. They are immune to outside annoyances by this age, she is pretty sure.

There’s no getting out of this.

She almost laughed. Story of her fucking life.

Dick rested his hand on the doorknob, glancing back at her.

“Ready?”

She flashed a wink. “As I’ll ever be.”

Their door opened up into what seemed to be a trench, carved into the ground. Once they had clambered out of the trench, their clothes already stained with dirt (at least she didn’t have to pay for any of it), they found themselves in a heavily wooded area, with a couple of concrete structures dotted around.

She walked to a nearby tree. All of them looked long dead, blackened, as if they had been burned. As if this was a real battlefield.

She rapped her knuckles against it lightly, and wasn’t surprised to find that, whatever it was made of, it wasn’t organic material. Judging by the sound, she would guess styrofoam, paper mache, paint, and a dream.

A quick check of one of the structures revealed it to have no ceiling.

The entire world around them was fabricated to give the people so far above them, standing on the glass and peering down at them with excited grins she didn’t want to look at, a good view of what was going on. No leaves, no roofs, nothing was allowed to take away from their fun.

Oh shit, she thought. This is what it feels like to be in the Hunger Games.

Or to be in one of Riddler’s escape rooms, she supposed.

She watched Dick carefully toeing at the dirt, checking to see how far down it went. Whether it could actually be used as padding, or if the metal hidden beneath would give some nasty bruises if someone fell on it for any reason. Such as dramatically falling over when shot ‘dead’.

Her lips twitched into a wry kind of grin. And he’s supposed to be the ‘dumbest’ one. Who does he think that he’s fooling?

It wasn’t until long after he had confirmed that the ground was, in fact, soft enough for them all to drop dead on without issue, that an alarm alerted them to the fact that the grace period was over, and they were now supposed to be hunting each other to the death.

Marinette brushed her bangs away from her eyes, taking advantage of the opportunity to see how the audience had dispersed themselves. They were, largely, grouped into four spots. No guesses why. Sureeeeeely not because this was where the four pairs of competitors were…

Okay, that wasn’t fair to the customers. There was no way for them to know that the glass wasn’t a one way mirror like they’d been told. They shouldn’t be aware of the fact that this was all a play that had been planned out well in advance. The Waynes weren’t the types to let on that they weren’t quite as ‘airheaded’ as they often portrayed themselves to be, for whatever reason.

Still… Marinette stretched lazily, rocking back and forth on her feet, trying not to laugh aloud at just how obvious they were all being.

“So, are we heading to the center or skirting around the edges?” she asked.

“Center,” he said, because that was where most of the male clients were, and therefore where Babs and Cass were likely to be. “Let’s see whether there’s a Hunger Games-style cornucopia or something.”

Marinette clicked her tongue lightly. “You can’t tell people what we’re ripping off.”

“I think they already know.”

She huffed, but it’s not as if she genuinely cared.

Without further ado, they were off.

*****

They happened across Babs and Cass in the middle. They seemed to be doing the same thing that Marinette and Dick were, picking around for anything that might be useful. As if the people who had made this place would make an entrance in a spot where they had special items.

“Find anything?” Dick asked, pointing his gun at Babs.

Cass retaliated by pointing her gun at him. He did not seem particularly pleased about this development.

Marinette wasn’t pleased, either, because this meant she had to point her gun at Cass in retaliation. Fuck this script for making her defend Dick Grayson of all people.

Their guests looked to Babs, expecting her to point her gun at Marinette and complete the circle, leading to a dramatic standoff…

Only for Babs to hold up her hands in the universal sign of surrender. “We don’t have to fight,” she said. “It’s better if we don’t. We can’t have Jason or Tim’s teams winning.”

If nothing else, Marinette had to admit that this strategy would have probably worked on her and Dick even if it wasn’t scripted. Because fuck Tim Drake. And, in Dick’s case, Jason, in particular, cannot win, because he would be insufferable about it. They would both take shady deals in a heartbeat if it meant that the other two teams wouldn’t win.

“What do you get from this?” Marinette asked, because it was expected of her.

Cass shrugged. “Fun.”

Valid reason. Marinette (and Dick, too, though she loathed to admit it) could sometimes be fun.

As for Babs…

“If we’re the last two teams, I want to shoot Dick in the face.”

Dick gave a screech of offense, complaining about his ‘beautiful face’. But Marinette sees now downsides! They shook on it before he could get a word in edgewise.

“Alright, team, let’s roll out,” said Babs.

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Dick whined.

“No. We are misandry-ing,” Marinette informed him.

“Perfect. Us girlies have to stick together,” Babs joked lightly.

“True. Can’t wait to kill ‘my liege’ for the sake of women everywhere,” Marinette said, snickering to herself.

Dick snorted at the ‘my liege’ callback, and then seemed to process what she had said. He pressed a hand to his chest. “Excuse you, I’m a girlie, too.”

“Woo, slay queen,” Marinette deadpanned. And then she frowned to herself. “Is ‘my liege’ a gendered term?”

“I… think so?” said Babs. The grammar rules for royalty is not the kind of thing the average teenager is looking up, after all. And, if Babs doesn’t know, then Cass (ESL speaker) and Dick (a liar pretending to be the ‘dumb one’ in a group already known for being stupid) had no shot. Pain. She must live without knowing for the next few hours. Why does god hate her so? Truly, she has suffered more than Jesus.

… perhaps it is jokes like that that make god hate her.

Whatever. She did not believe in Him, therefore He could not hurt her.

Anyways.

“Let’s roll out, then, I guess,” she said.

“Only I’m allowed to make that joke,” said Babs.

Marinette blinked. And then her face reddened. “Oh — I—!”

Cass shook her head in mock disappointment.

Marinette huffed. “Is it too late to un-team?”

“Nah, we shook on it, it’s binding,” Babs said.

Well. If that’s the case. They rolled ou— started off in search of others.

It was, honestly, a lot of meandering around. If they managed to go in the right direction too many times, the illusion would break, after all.

But, if nothing ‘entertaining’ was happening, they needed to work extra hard to have interesting conversations to listen in on. Which was hard. Usually, they entertained their guests by flirting, which was easy and didn’t take that much mental energy, but that was no longer really an option. They weren’t going to flirt with each other, especially since Dick and Cass were siblings and Dick and Babs were exes (Dick once again ruining things for everyone, shame on him). So…

Marinette walked alongside Babs. “If you don’t mind me asking, how the heck are you able to use your wheelchair when the ground is like this?” she said. The wheels didn’t look all that special, after all – it was all clearly high-quality, don’t get her wrong, but it wasn’t like she was looking at the wheelchair version of four wheel drive. And the gun in her lap was barely even moving.

“That’s the most fucked up question anyone’s ever asked me,” deadpanned Babs.

Marinette huffed. “Now, I just don’t think that’s true.”

“When have I ever lied?”

“I’m still convinced that the debt was a scam,” she sniffed.

Babs rolled her eyes but distinctly didn’t deny it. Because she couldn’t, clearly, not because she just didn’t feel that this was worth her time or energy. “This isn’t any worse than going down sidewalks.”

Marinette envisioned the Average Gotham Sidewalk. Then looked at the ground. She supposed that the sticks kind of resembled used syringes, now that she thought about it, and the dirt was surprisingly much smoother than the pothole-riddled concrete.

“Oh,” she said. “Okay, makes sense, yeah.”

Well. She had done her job. Someone else needs to pick up the slack, now.

Babs sent her a flat look that said she needed to say something that would interest the audience, not just her. She fought the urge to grumble under her breath. The microphone would pick that up, too.

She turned to look at Dick.

“Okay, philosophical question: if you are aware that you are in denial, is it really denial, or is it a weird form of acceptance?”

It was silent for a moment.

“Er… I guess… acceptance?”

“But then it’s not denial. Different stage,” Cass said.

“But if you’re aware of it, it can’t be denial,” Dick argued.

Babs sighed. “How ‘aware’ is this ‘awareness’? Because, I’m pretty sure, even people in denial kind of know things are weird.”

“Nonono, you’re aware of the denial,” said Marinette. “Like, you know the thing you’re in denial about is bad and you go ‘nahhhhh’. But it’s a conscious decision.”

“Then… ugh. Denial, I guess.”

Babs and Cass started arguing. Marinette was pretty sure this was the most talkative and passionate she had ever seen Cass.

As for the guests… they were either arguing vehemently themselves or watching other people argue with amused grins.

Marinette, discreetly, gave a little bow in Dick’s direction. He gave a huff of laughter.

By the time they stumbled across another person, Cass seemed pissed off enough to go all out. This wasn’t intentional, but it was still funny to watch Duke go from relatively calm and in control to immediately ducking behind a tree for cover for fear of death.

Until he started firing at them all, too, and they were forced to book it to the nearest shelter.

You might argue that they were cowards, and should help out Cass, and you’d be right, but…

They wouldn’t be much help, to be honest.

The way Duke and Cass were fighting was insane. Like they already knew what each other’s movements were going to be ahead of time, and thus were more intent on waiting for the other to slip up than outright outsmarting each other.

Marinette whistled lowly. “How often do you guys come here?”

“Here? This is the first time, actually,” said Dick, brightly. “But we have something like this back at the Manor.”

She hated rich people.

(This fact has been made abundantly clear over the past few chapters, but she would like to say it again. And again. For as many times as it would take for them to stop pulling Rich People Shit.)

“Woooow,” she said, trying to infuse as much fake cheeriness into her tone as was physically possible when her main thought was about how, technically, friendly fire is possible here. “What a perfectly amazing use of your money.”

He nodded his agreement. Whether or not it was joking did not matter when her blood was boiling beneath her skin. She started to lift her gun, intent on either helping Cass or betraying both Cass and Duke at once, only for a stray bullet to nail the wall by her head the moment she started to poke her head out.

She stared at the purple paint for a moment, eyes wide, before slowly shrinking back into hiding.

She was still pissed off, though!

Before her eyes could drift to Babs and she could weigh the moral implications of sending her out first, a handful of skittles was shoved in front of her face.

“Want some?” said Jason.

She nodded, taking all of the red ones and popping them in her mouth. Dick did the same, but with the green pieces, like a weirdo (who the hell prefers green?). Babs wasn’t nearly as picky, just taking a handful of the rest and popping them like pills.

And then she started to lift her gun.

Marinette nearly choked on her sweet treat.

“JASON?!” Dick yelped.

They scrambled for their own guns.

Jason managed to get a shot off on Babs before he was covered in yellow. Maybe they shot him more times than was strictly necessary, but that was what he deserved for using Skittles against them. Honestly, the fact that Dick didn’t believe in the death penalty was the only thing saving him right now.

As for Marinette… well, she had been too intent on looting his ‘corpse’ for more candy to bother with murdering him via paintball gun. After all, what if the Skittles ended up getting blood or — god forbid — paint on them? She wouldn’t even be able to kill him in retaliation for messing up her snack.

She grumbled when she found paintballs, but pocketed them for extra ammo, in case Cass won and needed more.

Then, finally, she procured her prize: a sharing size bag of candy.

Life is good.

Unless you are Jason Todd.

“Maaaaan,” he groaned. “Those are mine, y’know.”

“Shhhhh, you’re a corpse, you can’t speak,” Dick said, holding his hand out for some.

She set the paintballs in his hand instead.

And then watched on in horror as he bit down on one without thinking.

Dick stared at her for a moment, purple dripping from his mouth.

Marinette swallowed down the temptation to joke about him looking like a vampire in favor of frantically looking up whether paintballs were nontoxic or if they were about to cut this paintball tournament short.

… which she wouldn’t mind, actually, now that she thought about it...

She considered the google page saying that they were nontoxic (for humans, at least, apparently they were not good for animals, which Damian was going to be distressed about when he learned), wondering whether an ambulance visit would be added to her debt. And then decided she didn’t want to risk it.

“You’re fine.”

Want to know who wasn’t fine? Cass and Duke. Apparently, in the time it took for everything to settle, Duke and Cass had killed each other off. Or, well, Duke had slipped up and Cass had ‘died’ in solidarity with him. Mildly concerning behavior, but it was a paintball game and therefore has no real indication of actual behaviors. Hopefully. Marinette genuinely liked Cass.

No time to linger on that particular line of thought.

“If Tim wins I’m pulling a Cass,” Marinette told Dick.

Dick raised an eyebrow. “You’d already be ‘dead’ if Tim wins.”

She thought this over. “Then I’ll come back as a zombie and be killed again. Perfect.”

Jason did not seem to find this funny, but maybe he was still bitter about having his Skittles stolen. Dick grinned and, really, that’s all that matters.

“What do you think real life zombies are like?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Nonexistent.”

“Don’t know what I was expecting from the scientist,” he huffed.

“Fiiiiiine,” she said. She thought, long and hard, about what a real life zombie would be like. Blüdhaven got nuked a while back (deserved, fuck Blüdhaven), and she hadn’t yet heard of zombies, so radiation poisoning wasn’t going to do it. So probably an intentional thing — Jurassic Park style experimentation, or something. Which means that the circumstances would be controlled… except zombies would probably escape the labs, if Marinette were to ever see them. The body would have to be very cold to slow down decomposition. It wouldn’t even halt it entirely.

“Gross,” she decided.

Dick stared at her. “All that thought and you come up with ‘gross’?!”

“I’m not wrong. They’d be gross.”

“That is not the point!” he groaned. “Talk about whether you think they’d be fast or slow, strong or weak, intelligent or not! Talk about whether their decomposition would affect them!”

She snickered. “Careful, Richard, or you’re going to make people think you have a brain in there.”

For a moment, he froze. And then he purposefully relaxed, each muscle individually untensing, one by one. He laughed lightly, but it was a tad bit forced (when wasn’t it, though?). “Yeah, the zombies will come after me if they know.”

“Being stupid has its benefits, yeah?”

He chuckled humorlessly.

Before he could come up with a proper response, though, Tim wandered into their area, drawn by the sound of gunfire from Duke and Cass’s fight. Marinette and Dick pointed their guns at him immediately.

Tim narrowed his eyes. He pointed his gun at Marinette, but seemed hesitant.

Marinette fought off a smirk. She loved having plot armor. At the sight of her face, he only seemed more irritated, which was even better.

But there was nothing he could do.

He set his gun down.

“We could take him as hostage,” Dick offered. “See if that lures Damian –.”

“Nah, too risky,” said Marinette. Without any further ado, she shot Tim.

Tim fell over, and not entirely because that was standard for ‘dead’ people. He hugged himself. His dignity, breaking. In a very literal sense.

It was very quiet. Marinette’s hand found its way to her mouth.

Dick looked at her, his eyes wide and horrified.

“I know I hate you, but… I didn’t mean… I forgot that men have… Tim, I’m so sorry.”

Tim made a pitiful sound.

Shakily, he lifted a hand in a thumbs up.

She made a heart with her own hands. This did not seem to help in the slightest but, frankly, there wasn’t much else she could do.

Luckily, she didn’t need to think about it for long before she was distracted — a voice called from behind them: “Found you.”

She whipped around and shot Damian in the chest.

There were a few moments where no one knew what to do. The boy stared at the paint staining his armor bright yellow. Marinette’s grip felt clammy on her gun.

Dick tipped his head to the side consideringly.

She met his eyes.

She was no longer amused by the intelligence lingering in his gaze as he scrutinized her. She narrowed her eyes at him, briefly, daring him to say something. She wasn’t the only one hiding things, after all.

Play along, she told him. Help me fix this ending.

He relaxed his expression carefully.

They had an understanding. Despite Marinette’s supposed incompetence with guns, when startled she was quick to shoot and accurate. Despite Dick constantly acting as if he was dumb, there was clearly a brain hidden somewhere there. They both knew more than they tried to let on. Maybe that was why they didn’t have much trouble identifying each other’s acts… but, so long as their own secrets remained intact, they could keep each others’.

It was a little nerve-wracking, and yet, strangely, nice, to have someone you don’t have to lie to. That can see past it even when you try.

She smirked and lifted her gun. “See? This is why you keep your finger on the trigger, Dick.”

He grinned and held up his hands in surrender.

*****

Marinette and Dick grimaced as a cooler full of paint was poured over their backs. They definitely felt victorious right about now. This was their prize for winning. Yay them.

Sure, they didn’t exactly, genuinely earn the win, but that’s besides the point.

He looked at her. “You’ve got red in your hair.”

She yelped and brought a hand up to try and get it out, only to remember just a second too late that her hands, too, were covered in paint. She stared at the glob of paint-covered hair hanging limp in front of her eyes for a moment, devastated, and then glared at him.

“You did that on purpose.”

“I was just pointing something out for you,” he said ‘innocently’, unable to quite keep himself from smiling.

She hummed, and then slapped her hand onto his hair. He hissed and reflexively his hands flew up to touch the sore spot, only for him to realize that now he had been the one baited into getting paint in his hair.

“Marinette,” he said, smiling sweetly.

For a moment, one could almost see the regret flickering across her features.

And then he rushed forward to try and trap her in a hug. She shrieked, managing to get only a few steps before she was snatched up, dragged into the evil monster. She barely even had time to fight back before she was thrown over his shoulder, only able to yell off-brand curse words and try to writhe around in hopes of freedom – or, at least, in hopes that she could smear her own paint over every part of him she could reach.

Within minutes, they were swirling messes of red, blue, purple, and the occasional scrap of visible skin.

There were people laughing at their antics.

Both of them froze.

They looked up, and found the other members of the Host Club were enjoying the show.

As well as a few guests, but they couldn’t really retaliate against them.

So, Dick set Marinette down and they met each other’s eyes and silently resolved to make up for that by attacking their fellow club members twice as much to compensate.

*****

Marinette heaved a sigh as she sat on a bench, scrubbing paint off her arm with her millionth wet wipe of the day. Where did the green even come from?

It was then that she realized someone was nearing her.

She looked over her shoulder and found…

Well, someone her age. She recognized her, vaguely, from her English class, but their name eluded her.

The girl smiled nervously at Marinette, wringing her hands and somewhat avoiding eye contact. “I – uh – was wondering if you could Host for me sometime?”

Marinette stared at her for a moment, processing.

And then she lit up, practically jumping from her seat in order to shake the girl’s hand.

“That sounds great! What day would you –?”

She drew her hand back, and cringed at the red strings of paint now connecting their hands.

“I… don’t know if I have more wet wipes,” she said, blushing.

The girl smiled, amused. “If you walk me home, I’ll consider it even.”

Marinette hesitantly took her hand again, intertwining their fingers. “Okay. Don’t know if that’s much of a punishment, but if that’s what it takes to repay you…”

~~~~~~~~~~

TBC

Taglist: @ev-cupcake @thatonecroc @toodaloo-kangaroo @fangirlingfanatic

#ohshc au #keysmash au #maribat #one day izzys birthday chapters are gonna be uploaded on like january 1st or something #dickinette #stephinette #cassinette #adrienette #timinette #jasonette #dukinette #daminette #babsinette

20 notes · View notes

jonmyblaze · 9 months

Text

MAMAN LE CHAT AU

Or how Adrien found out his bio!parents were American furries., And his mother was a famous cat girl.

MLB and DC Bat fam batcat, Adrienette and ladynoir,

" imagine as a subversion of the Marinette bio daughter of Bruce. We have Adrien being BATCATS biological child.

Born before Helena, and before Bruce and Selena were ready to tie the knot for realsies.

Selina was young, Bruce wasn't in the right mindset after Jason's death. Boundaries were drawn and lines were crossed.

She thought she was fine. Until she started puking in the morning during her Trip to France

It was positive

She was pregnant.

During her trip she stumbled across a loving family. At a swingers party (this was during the early stages before she decided)

At one point she wasn't going to keep the pregnancy but then while her trip around France found a lovely couple named Emile and Gabriel.

They were so loving and kind to her. Emilie even joked that they could be twins.

)she had decided to grow her hair out and stop dying her hair black. Nobody would recognize her and on the plus side Selina had absolutely ravishing blonde hair. )

She wasn't planning on keeping the pregnancy but then she heard the couples plight.

Emile was infertile. And Gabriel too. But they really wanted a child

they were so loving and kind and supportive that Selena felt it would be best she gave her child the life of a child that was wanted.

Both were deeplly loving. But they didn't want to be intrusive , They argued against the idea but Selina made up her mind.

she would keep the pregnancy, give the couple a chance to raise a bouncing baby child that they would love and adore.

Selina never felt like she was cut out to be a mother butShe still visits.

At least once a year for his birthday.

She even was Even labeled godmother of her son should both the parents be unfit for her sons. She was still a part of her child's life.

All was going well until the incident

------years later----

Now imagine, Selina Kyle finds out her son was in a worse position, his father is emotionally neglectful now and is in a downward spiral trying to find a way to save his wife at the cost of his own son's happiness.

and get the bat family to help , (save Adrien, fight Gabriel advocate for him to be taken to either home or emancipation. )

imagine him being the Only blonde in the family other then Steph and Bette. (Who I will keep in the family)And they all thinks he's the normal one."

Imagine what dick (who is fully grown and married to Starfire) would think about his mentor having a blonde bio child

And she only takes him away after he hires her to steal the miraculous.

Welcome to "MAMAN LE CHAT AU"

51 notes · View notes

peterxwade24 · 1 year

Text

Bugs and Katten

For Maribat March 2021 day 26 prompt Not Soulmates.

This is only over 21 months late, sorry? I dunno man. I just kinda fell out of love with writing. Anyways, I hope you like this 1196 word long fic featuring basically just Marinette and Adrien.

This is just a self-indulgent found family/chosen family fic about Marinette and Adrien being a chaotic sibling duo.

Kattendame is supposedly Dutch for Cat lady.

Okay, I've rambled enough. On with the story.

Marinette and Adrien had been superheroes — vigilantes Marinette’s brain would traitorously supply — for just a few months when a girl in their class, Alya Cesaire, came across them on patrol and her face lit up with glee.

“I didn’t know Paris had superheroes!” Her voice rose with every word, causing Marinette – Kattendame – to flinch away.

Adrien – Monsieur Punaise – clenched his teeth before clearing his throat. “Ma’am we are citizens, just like you. We may don masks and super suits, but that doesn’t make us not people.”

His whole speech seemed to go in one ear and out the other as Alya took a picture of the way they were standing, Monsieur Punaise in front of Kattendame. “Oh my gosh! Are you two together? Are you dating?”

“No.” Monsieur Punaise stared at Alya with disbelief. “Kattendame and I are simply colleagues, like the members of the Justice League” – Monsieur Punaise watched Kattendame flinch at the mention of the Justice League and filed that information away for later – “and nothing more.”

Kattendame nodded her agreement before her eyes flicked over Monsieur Punaise’s shoulder. “There’s an Akuma in the ninth arrondissement. We’ve gotta go.” Kattendame didn’t spare Alya a glance as she lept from rooftop to rooftop.

Monsieur Punaise offered Alya a soft smile and an uttered, “get home safe”, before he followed his partner over the rooftops.

Alya’s face grew into a sneaky grin, “they are so soulmates.”

---

It had been just under two weeks – twelve days, nineteen hours, forty-seven minutes, and a handful of seconds – since Alya had put a post on her blog about how Mr. Bug and Chatte Noir – where Alya had gotten those names Marinette (and Adrien) didn’t know – were soulmates and were secretly dating.The blog post had nearly two million hits, and climbing, and someone had started a comment thread about how obvious the supposed couple was.

Marinette couldn’t believe her eyes, she was sure she and Adrien had kept their relationship professional. She could have sworn that she had kept her distance from Adrien while they were in their suits, unless it was time to fist bump. She kept refreshing the page, hoping it was just a trick of the lighting, but no matter what she did she just kept seeing the same picture of her and Adrien in a compromising position.

Adrien sunk down in the seat next to Marinette, his eyes skimming the blog post before looking over the class. “So, who do you think trusts it explicitly?”

“We know Alya does, for sure, and maybe Rose. Because she loves romance. I’m not sure about anyone else, I haven’t heard anyone else talking about it.” Marinette frowned before switching tabs. The other tab she had pulled up was the live feed of a Wayne Enterprises press conference, Adrien settled against her side and kept a running commentary of wether or not everyone’s outfit was red carpet worthy.

Marinette still couldn’t believe that she and Adrien were going to attend the New York Fashion week with Nathalie and Gabriel. She was hoping that while they were there she’d be able to get in contact with a member of the Justice League, as much as she dislikes the organization she hoped one of them could help them take on Hawkmoth.

Adrien nudged Marinette and pointed to where the class was gathered around Alya. “Do you see how they’re gathered around her like some sort of queen bee?”

Marinette nodded against his arm. “Who do you think believes the rumor the most?”

“Mylène, Rose, Sabrina and Kim seem to be the most into the rumor. Nathaniel seems to be on the fence about it, almost as if he wishes it isn’t so.” Adrien brushed the hair off of Marinette’s forehead and let out a chuckle. “If only my father could see you now. He would disinvite you from our trip.”

“Gabriel loves me more than he loves you-”

“-ain’t that the truth-”

“-and he would never disinvite me.” Marinette laughed at the face Adrien made. “You know it’s the truth.”

“Just because he’s scared that your mom would break in and steal his precious design book.” Adrien nudged Marinette, “class is about to start back up.”

---

Kattendame and Monsieur Punaise stood side by side in front of Nadja Chamack, smiles across their faces.

“So, tell me, are the rumors about the two of you true? Is what the LadyBlog posting about the two of you being soulmates true?”

Kattendame looked at Monsieur Punaise, the Batman to her Catwoman, before frowning at Nadja. “Monsieur Punaise and I are just friends. He’s like my annoying twin brother, and I love him so much more than any of those rumors are saying.”

“Kattendame is definitely the younger twin of this duo.” Monsieur Punaise smirked before ruffling Kattendame’s hair.

Nadja smiled at the duo and how they acted with one another. “How did you go from your first suits to these?”

Kattendame’s hand went up in the air immediately. “It was my idea! I took the idea from, well, Batman-” here she gestured to Monsieur Punaise’s suit “- and Catwoman.” The ears atop her head seemed to twitch. “However, unlike the inspiration for our suits, we’re strictly friends.”

---

Marinette scrolled through the article Nadja wrote about the heroes of Paris. She smiled at the screen before she nudged Adrien’s leg with her foot. “Hey, hey, listen to this.” She cleared her throat and straightened up. “‘Monsieur Punaise and Kattendame, not Mr. Bug and Chatte Noir like some sources would have you believe, are not soulmates, at least not romantic soulmates. This reporter was given an exclusive interview with the hero duo and can confirm that the duo is the most sibling duo this reporter has ever seen. Their suits are inspired by Gotham city’s masked duo of Batman and Catwoman, however unlike Gotham’s masked duo Paris’ masked duo interacts like most sibling duos we all know in person. While Kattendame is more soft spoken and Monsieur Punaise is definitely the figure head, they both fill every possible role on their team and could use our help. I implor you, my fellow Parisians, to do the best you can to help our heroes take down Hawkmoth.’”

“Wow. She’s on our side. Most adults aren’t on our side.” Adrien hummed before changing the topic. “Are you excited for our trip?”

“Yeah. It’ll be fun.” Marinette smiled at her friend – brother in all but blood – before looking around his room, where they were hanging out that day because they usually tried to avoid her house – and as much as they joke about it Gabriel actually seems to like Marinette – and her father and step-mother. “Hey, we should hang at mine before patrol tomorrow.”

Plagg and Tikki, who were playing foosball, looked up at the suggestion.

“Why?” Adrien asked before looking at the kwamii who had fallen over. “How does the ball always get you? You can fly.”

“I want to make us some new clothes to wear, Papa G and Nathalie too.”

“Please don’t call him Papa G.” Adrien groaned.

“Anyways, you and I are the only ones with changing measurements. I’ll get Papa G and Nathalie’s measurements from Nathalie.”

@maribatmarch-2k21

#maribat march 2021 #maribat march 2k21 #maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #mlb crossover #ml crossover #adrienette siblings #marinette and adrien acting as siblings #gabriel likes marinette #gabriel actually lets marinette visit the agreste home even when he's not home

23 notes · View notes

ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole · 1 year

Text

Taco walk on the wild side

Meet Cute Monday 50

Masterlist

MCM Masterlist

…………………………………

It was an ingenious idea. Jason was surprised he hadn't thought of it before to be honest. How to get an ear in the neighbourhood as people let their lips loosen as they ordered their delicious tacos. Admittedly having a taco van more akin to 'ice cream' van that travelled around Gotham's neighborhoods for locals to just pop outside their homes instead of having to order a delivery or heaven forbid leave their homes completely was genius.

Ok, he didn't actually think up the idea at all. Just witnessed it. Sampled the goods. Did a thorough investigation to check out the guys were ligit and decided he wanted to copy.

The two guys in question were from France. An ex model (who Jason was convinced that Tim would fall for with his blonde hair, tanned looks and appalling pun humour) and his friend from school (who seemed to be the talent as his taco cooking skills were top notch). Their van 'Taco walk on the wild side: Taco Ta Go' was driven by blondie who seemed to have an inconsistent route which he drove around Gotham stopping every few streets for the locals to order the taco goods. Never the same (almost but not quite) route giving the impression that he often lost focus as he and the chef chatted and semi danced along to the pretty awesome sound track and got lost/forgot where he was going.

That all was months ago. Jason, after badgering and hounding, and in the end with a mix of blackmail and bribery roped Roy into his business venture to help patrol the streets occasionally (ok twice a week) as a competing travelling taco van owner with the aim of getting info from the streets. He'd entered a friendly(ish) rivalry with Adrien and Nino who didn't seem deterred or insulted that he'd stolen and hijacked their idea. Adrien, the business mastermind, kitchen disaster, seemed pleased and honoured that he had been copied and claimed that Gotham was plenty big enough.

Adrien proved him right as they very rarely bumped into each other. If they did it tended to be when the club's and bar's started to close and they'd grab the opportunity of loose lipped party goers hungry for something to eat on the way home. The travelling taco sellers often bantered together when they bumped into each other. Trying to vie and convince customers that their tacos were the best, all done in good humour and faith given that there were plenty of drunks after post drinking food.

The French often had a head start considering that Jason foolishly let Roy name the 'company'. Red Arse Taco's was something to work against them in Jason's humble opinion, Roy on the other hand considered that with the name it implied they had Red Hood and Arsenal's endorsement. Which technically was true, but the alternate implications seemed to either be amiss with Roy or deliberate.

Despite the fun and different pace of life, Jason hadn't expected that his second ending of life would be due to a) owning a mobile Taco van and b) being friends with Roy. Not that it should really shock him about Roy, he was his friend, and Dicks which should explain it all really.

The evening had started out like normal as Roy and Jason joked about as they travelled Gotham. They'd found out a few tips which were worth investigating so far which was always a bonus. The taco's were selling and they'd finally settled in place for the club's to close and bumped into their normal competitors.

Everything was going well. Roy flirted with anyone and everyone in his 'salesperson' way, slightly more heavily on the ones he was 'slightly' more interested in. Jason basked in the positive comments about his tacos shouting out jokes at Nino who fired back at him.

It was fun.

It was a nice change from fighting crime.

But Roy had to go ruin it.

As the final stragglers were served, a pair of gorgeous girls seemed to appear from nowhere, giggling into each other as they stumbled towards the taco vans. Roy knocked Jason's elbow as he spotted them drawing Jason's attention away from putting away his taco supplies and equipment.

"Damn! They're hot. Almost like a female duo of us."

Jason raised his eyebrow at Roy's assessment as he observed the pair. The red head was wearing a burnt orange crop top, with tight jeans and an arsenal red leather jacket. The noirette on the other hand was charcoal grey/black playsuit with red accessories, a dark brown cropped coat and sunglasses perched upon her head. With the colours, Jason could see what Roy meant and with the curves and hints of muscle. Deadly hidden under a 'soft' appearance.

A wolf whistle escaped Roy's mouth to draw the pair's focus as he flexed his muscles from the van hoping to attract their attention further. Jason sighed and slowed down on his cleaning as he watched his friend make a fool of himself and prepared to enter the taco sales battle if required.

"Hello there, beautiful ladies. Arsenal must be out shooting Cupid arrows because I've been hit. Can I interest you in some tacos and we can get to know each other better."

"Red Arse Taco's? Do I really want to know why?"

"Endorsed and protected by Red Hood and Arsenal. The best tacos in Gotham. Far better than our competitors here."

"So nothing about the outputs of the taco's?"

"Or anything bedroom related then."

"Alya!!"

"What girl? I'm just reading the sign and all."

Snorting at the girls chatting with Roy, Jason focused on finishing packing the taco van as much as he could while Roy flirted more heavily with Alya. The two redheads seemed to be getting on like a house on fire while the noirette moaned at some of the heated exchange as she draped herself against Alya. Jason wasn't completely sure when Roy had left the truck to come out and physically show off in front of them.

"Is he always like this?"

Startled by the silky voice, Jason rolled his eyes before he nodded as the noirette leant against the van watching the red heads flirt with barely concealed amusement.

"Yup. Especially with those who join in… he's harmless, for the most part."

"I'm sure he is, but I'm more worried for him."

Confused by her response, Jason looked up. To his horror he could see time slowing down and briefly wondered if this was what it was like for the Flashes.

The mild mannered relaxed Nino was storming across toward them.

His hat turned backwards. Fire reflected in his eyes, dancing across his lenses. In his hands was a wooden spoon and the shaker of his 'secret recipe spice mix'.

Though looking slightly ridiculous with his custom taco shaped qapron and MDC designer jeans, the man portrayed an aura of hero heading for war.

And all this was happening unbeknownst to the unfortunate Roy who now was leaning in closer to the fellow redhead, Alya. He stood no chance as the wooden spoon whacked into his arm, causing the man to turn round to be punched in the face with a spice mix held fist sending Roy tumbling to the floor.

Nino loomed over Roy with an unexpected menacing give as he gritted out, "Stay away from my woman you… you… crushed ginger nut!!!"

"My hero!" Alya swooned dramatically, "I love it when a man in uniform saves me."

"I'm going to rip out each of your bones, put them back in the wrong places and… and… force you to do the macarena!"

Nino glared at the fallen red head then pulled his red headed woman into an embrace before dipping her into a sultry kiss whilst Adrien hurried over.

"Guys!! Sorry Roy. Alya has an interesting approach to keeping romance alive and kicking… particularly the kicking part."

Adrien scrambled off to offer his hand out to the man on the floor while addressing the woman not locked in a tongue battle. "Wasn't expecting to see you guys out tonight in *Gotham* Bugaboo. Thought you were meant to be having a girls book, cheese and wine night?"

"It was only me who'd read the book. We discovered the Harry Potter film missed a chunk out so Alya's cheat method came to light, so ended up more a wine and wine night as 'someone' ate all the cheese before we could."

"That doesn't really explain why you're here though?"

Jason emerged from his taco van to check Roy over who was rubbing his cheek, pushing spices off his face and onto his shoulders. He couldn't say he wasn't intrigued as to what the woman's answer was, especially as she and her friend seemed to have far more fiery personalities than their softer looks implied. Plus a book club night with drinks and food was amazing. Ok, book choice wasn't an Austen but it was still a classic to debate about.

"Als wanted to see a man in uniform. In particular a Nino in uniform."

"Well we did have the best uniform designer on our side. Though I'd have thought that, like emergency services or hero's would be more her thing."

"Ewww don't go there. Al's kinks are her kinks, we don't kink shame but that is like waaaaay to much info Kitty. And heroes don't wear uniforms, they wear costumes apparently."

Jason could see fondness and familiarity between the pair as they teased each other, inside jokes and layered conversations occurring. Adrien, content that his visitor was ok, turned back to Jason and Roy. The drunken friendly touches Adrien was receiving was hard to work out their relationship, too similar to Babs and Dick to be able to tell whether they were dating, had dated, or were siblings.

"Sorry, this is Marinette, my sister and partner in chaos. The one glued to Nino is Alya, Nino's girlfriend, Mars' best girl friend and all round mischief maker."

"A heads up would have been nice. Nino packs a punch!"

"I did warn your friend."

Roy shot Jason a dirty look and mouth 'traitor' at him. Jason blinked in surprise but twisted his mouth in semi agreement. The warning was a little last minute but did, in principle, occur. A warm body grasped his arm as Marinette slide out of Adriens hold to lean into him. A hum of contentment escaped Marinette's mouth like she was a cat who'd found a warm patch of sun.

"These are the guys I was telling you about Buginette. This is Jason and the wounded is Roy. I have to say, you're such a Slytherin Mars."

"Ahh, Oooh! I get that now. Yeah, probably. But a nice one. I now agree with your quiz results. You're such a Hufflepuff."

"*Gasp* My lady!! You wound me. I'm definitely a Gryffindor."

"Pfft! You wish. Soz, Kitty. Definitely a Hufflepuff. I've read the book now so can't hide it from me."

Jason scowled at the defamation of Hufflepuffs as the heat seeking woman curled in on him. He was one, loud and proud and took offence to what Adrien was implying. Hufflepuffs were amazing! Screw what Adrien was thought and denied. Actually he could see what Marinette was saying about his fellow house partner (even if he was in denial). This was serious, and required an intervention.

"We need to talk."

The Parisians locked in tongue battle seemed to be stumbling back towards the abandoned the Taco walk on the wild side van as the Harry Potter duo winced at both Jason's unexpected growl and what could only be assumed what was going to happen in Adrien's van.

Marinette blinked beguilingly up at Jason, the smirk and mischief dissolving off her face as a picture of innocent peered up at him. Jason blinked back in surprise at the sweetness vibes the woman excluded off her.

"What about?"

Surprised at the speed that the innocent expression appeared, Jason frowned as Roy laughed at the situation Jason was digging himself. His so-called friend enjoying his turn at the French brand of chaos caused by the two women.

"Harry Potter, obviously. You missed your book night right?"

With a nod, 'innocent' eyes sparkled up at him in the dim lights while Adrien eeped in what he probably predicted would occur.

"So, as your friend failed to have read the books, I can guess Adrien has given his unethical slating of houses. Roy and I have also read the books, I propose we go find a place to have a proper book club night and discuss it properly as well as correct Adrien on his gross misunderstanding and highly rude slandering of Hufflepuffs."

"Hmmm, will food be involved? Wine can only take you so far without cheese."

"Tacos are on the menu."

"Deal!!"

A devilish smile curled onto Marinette's face as she turned, letting of Jason, towards Adrien who was palling at the sight of the grin. Marinette pounced on Adrien to impede his escape and locked elbows with him. Adrien sighed in reluctant acceptance as Jason smirked a mirror image of Marinette. Roy cackled as Adrien sent him pleading kitten eyes.

"I've got my glasses, Nino has spare keys to the van. So, Mr Hufflepuff, where to next?"

#maribat #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #maribat au #ml x dc #dc x ml #meet cute #meet cute monday #roy x alya (briefly)#jasonette #jason x Marinette #marinette x jason #platonic adrienette

48 notes · View notes

sparkle9510 · 2 years

Text

Baby Robins and Tiny Ladybugs Ch. 4

I live! It's been over 2 years since I last updated, and I am so sorry for that! It's been a rollercoaster ^^; Writers block, college, internships, graduation, you name it. I hope you guys enjoy this! -------------------------------------- First Prev Next “If she causes you problems, let me know,” Marinette warned him. “She doesn’t hurt my friends and gets away with it.”

“Thanks Marinette! From now on, we’ll have each other’s backs,” Adrien smiled. “I guess that makes us partners huh?”

“I guess that does,” she agreed, smirking and holding her fist up. “Partners?”

“Partners.”

“Pound it!”

—

A pause settled into the air for a minute or two as both of their brains short circuited. It had made the connection of the all too familiar gesture.

“...Mon chaton?” Marinette hesitantly asked.

She studied Adrien’s face, which had an unreadable gaze. Was this a mistake? Was she going to out herself to a civilian, one she has a crush on? How was this going to affect their relationship? She’s going to have to go on the run. Make herself a new identity. That wasn’t going to be hard right? Maybe-

“...Our everyday Ladybug inside and out of the mask,” Adrien finally settled on, “and I would not have it any other way. My lady, I am glad we got to reunite outside the mask. Like in Cinderella, I’ve found my purrincess.”

Marinette felt heat flow up to her cheeks. Imagine that. Her prince in shining leather, next to her, all this time. Then the last thing he said registered.

“... Chaton, out of all the times to pun, it had to be now?”

“My lady, if not now then when ever? Get used to it cause this cat is armed and loaded. If you don’t like it, I guess you’d better put me under Agreste.”

*groan* “Adrien, that was the lamest thing I’ve heard yet.”

—

“Hey Mari!” Alya called out to her once Marinette stepped into the classroom. “Where were you Sunday? We were waiting for you girl!”

“Sunday?” Marinette tilted her head to the side slightly. “Was there a hangout or something?”

“We had a class picnic, remember?,” Mylene informed her, “you promised to bring some pastries from the bakery, but you never showed.”

“Wait, what?” Marinette was stunned, “what-”

“Marinette,” Lila cooed, “if you weren’t going to be able to make it, you should’ve at least given us a head’s up. We would’ve been able to find an alternative. In fact, I know a patissiere that would’ve been able to help if we gave them an early notice.”

Marinette was stunned and a bit hurt. What ploy was this? Looks like everyone knew about it but her. Well, almost everyone. Adrien would’ve told her.

After the reveal, she felt that their bond was closer than ever. Now, she had someone to talk to, to relate to, about having two lives. He wasn’t just her best friend in the mask, but outside too. They chatted a lot more, especially through text and video calls. She no longer stuttered around him, and he opened himself more to her as she did to him. So, it goes without saying that whatever happens, they would let each other know.

“Marinette,” Lila pouted, “I know we haven’t gotten along well, but I didn’t think you would flake out on us. I- I’m sorry if I caused you some ill will…”

Tears began pooling under her eye and she started to sniffle. Marinette’s anger began to grow. It was the same thing over and over again. When will she quit?

“Lila-” Marinette began before stopping herself.”Funny, I wouldn't do that. I didn’t even know about it in the first place. So, how was I supposed to make baked goods if I wasn’t even aware?”

“But Lila said she texted you,” Nino chirped in.

“Yeah, Lila volunteered to let you know and was the one who told us you agreed,” Kim continued, both him and Nino looked at Marinette with a skeptical look on their faces.

Marinette bit her lips. The room felt big yet suffocating at the same time. How could she prove herself to people that didn’t give her the light of day?

“Where was my invitation?”

Everyone turned over to look at Adrien who stood at the doorway. He walked over to Marinette, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Unlike his usual smile, he was giving the class a stern look.

“Why wasn’t I told of the picnic too?” Adrien pressed on.

“Adrien,” Lila plastered on a sympathetic smile, “you were busy with a photoshoot yesterday, so we didn’t want to bother you. Your dad told me how important it was. That’s why I didn’t message you, but I did message Marinette about it. I don’t know why she’s lying and trying to make me look like the bad guy.”

Tears began welling up again.

“And I’m telling you,” Marinette butted in, “I never received any text.” “But you did,” Lila insisted, “see?”

Lila pulls out her phone and unlocked it, sharing her screen with the class. There, shown, are the messages “Marinette” had sent, agreeing to it.

“Girl,” Alya peered onto it, “the pics don’t lie. If you were too busy or got held up, you should’ve said something, not pretend not to receive anything. We would’ve totally understood.”

“I-” Marinette began once again, trying to defend herself, but the bell rang, signaling the start of class.

Sighing, she walked to her seat and got her tablet out, ready for class. Alya gave her a pat on the shoulders, but Marinette didn’t feel any better. Looking around, she saw a few disappointed looks pointed her way along with Lila’s smug one. She couldn’t help but bite her bottom lip as she forced herself to focus in class, forgetting everything else around her.

—

Unfortunately it got worse from there. More forgotten invites, some accusations which included her allegedly saying things here and there whether it be insults or creating rumors, and even “evidence” of her bullying Lila. Between those lies, Lila made sure to point out the moments where Marinette really did have to flake out or was being impulsive. Her little comments festered until those around her began to harbor resenting feelings.

It frustrated Marinette that Lila’s promise seemed to be working and her friends were distancing themselves more by the day. While they were still friends, she noticed them having less patience with her, making more snide remarks, and gave her less invites to hangouts. Though that wasn’t the only thing that was happening…

*splash*

Bringing her hands up, Marinette wiped away the paint that dropped on her. Her classmates began to prank her with the encouragement of Lila. She spewed how it would help them all bond closer, especially mend their friendship (as if there was one in the first place). It started small that she paid no mind, but it became more daring recently.

Marinette grimaces as she surveyed the damages. Luckily the paint wasn’t going to permanently stain her outfit, but it was definitely going to be a pain in the ass to get rid of.

“Oh dear,” Lila cooed apologetically, “it seems there was a mishap. I thought I was carrying a bucket of water I got from the art room, but it was paint by mistake. My bad.”

“Mari!” Adrien quickly walked up to help Marinette, frowning at Lila. “Lila, this is going too far. This ends now.”

He placed the bucket upright before surveying the extent of the mess. Marinette watched a few emotions go through his face before he looked resigned but resolute. He placed an arm around her and turned her towards the door, gently pushing her towards it.

“Now Adrien, don’t be silly,” Lila chuckled. “We meant no harm! It was just a joke! We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Yeah, take it easy sunshine,” Alya went up to pat Adrien’s shoulder. “You know tensions have been rising between the two. Maybe a good laugh will help the two get along.”

But I’m not laughing…

Marinette sighed, giving up. It’s been months at this point of her trying to clear things up with Alya, but she’s stubborn. In other cases, Marinette could give her some respect for it cause she’s not as easily swayed. However, it was also a con cause once her mind’s made up, it’s hard to deter her from her conclusions.

“Babe, my bro’s right. Even with the water, it would’ve been harsh.”

Everyone turned towards Nino who had voiced this. Kim stood next to him nodding as well. They moved through the crowd until they stood besides Adrien and Marinette.

“Nino?” Alya called, confused.

“Alya,” Nino looked disappointed. “This is getting closer to bullying. I’m not gonna stand there and watch my friend get hurt.”

“Come on guys,” Kim continued. “Think about this. Whether paint or water, it’ll ruin Mari’s clothes. We all know she makes her own outfits and it can get ruined with this. Think of all the effort she puts into making them.”

“Nino, Kim,” Lila feigned hurt. “Do you guys really think I’m a bully? When it was Marinette that was mean to me from the very start?”

She started sniffling, placing one hand over her nose and mouth.

Here comes the waterworks. Marinette gave Adrien her biggest done face. He seemed to share it too, albeit more subtle.

“Maybe I do,” Nino stated.

“Nino!” Alya was growing more visibly upset.

“I’ve known Mari since école,” Nino argued. “No matter how she felt, she has always helped others. She would never do the things Lila claims. Lila, on the other hand, only got to know and from the actions I’ve seen? Hasn’t earned my complete trust. So, yeah I’ll believe Marinette and side with her over Lila any time.”

“What Nino said,” Kim smiled, turning towards Marinette. “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”

Ignoring the class who began comforting Lila once she began full on “crying”, the quartet left. They came across Mrs. Bustier, informing her that they were going to Marinette’s to get a change of clothes before coming back. However, there were no guarantees as to when.

“Thanks guys,” Marinette smiled, “I appreciate the support.”

“Of course!” Nino replied, rubbing his neck sheepishly. “We’ve been through thick and thin. We know you’re not what Lila paints you to be. Which is why…uh… Sorry for not believing you before, when you tried warning me and Alya.”

“Yeah,” Kim laughed nervously, “we started noticing some of the things she said were too good to be true. Not only that, but her trying to expel you and framing you for thief wasn’t cool. We should’ve noticed it way earlier though, sorry Mari.”

“It did hurt at first that my friends believed that I was such a bad person,” Marinette admitted, earning a wince from the two, “but I accept your apologies. Thanks for realizing the truth and standing up for me.”

“I’m glad Princess,” Adrien chimed in from the side. “Now you have more people in your corner. I guess this kitty will have to learn how to share.”

“Yeah, but don’t worry, you’ll always be my favorite.” She quipped.

“Of course, this stray cat isn't going anywhere. Now let’s go, you’ve been drenched in paint long enough!”

“You just want to take some of the pastries.”

Adrien and Marinette teased each other relentlessly much to the bewildered Nino and Kim. This was the first time seeing Marinette interacting with Adrien without stuttering or being more clumsy than usual.

“How long has this been going on??” Kim exclaimed, much to their amusement. ------------------------------- Anddddd I'll end it here! Trying to get my mindset back into what I have planned for this as well as trying not to rush the plot xd. Sorry no batfam appearances. I made a general plot to help guide me but it ended up having it so that they may show up next chapter >.< Wanted to highlight more of what Lila's been doing and show that she's been cultivating the class and molding them to what she wants. If you're still here from when I first started, thank you guys for the support! I really appreciate it! Let me know what you guys enjoyed, what you miss, things to improve, anything! If you just want to rant about Season 5, lmk and I'll send message! I'm cool with talking about it anywhere ^-^. Taglist (I know it’s been a while, so if you want to be taken off, lmk please!): @mooshoon @bluerosette23 @zestyzealot @luciferge @gingerdaile @crazylittlemunchkin @queenmj10 @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @razzledazzle247 @dorkus-minimus @this-is-vander @abrx2002 @maribat-is-lifeblood @sturchling @witchsblackfox @noirdots @zalladane @jessigurl-design @myazael @velvetterabby @dawnwave16 @novicevoice @weird-pale-blonde-person @theyellowfeverexperience @lla-en-rouge @silverwhiteraven @corabeth11 @chocolatecatstheron @tired-butterfly @sassakitty @mon-berry @echpr @loysydark @miraculous-simmer7 @jardimazul @risingmoonyue @theatreandcomicfreak @dast218 @gracerosana @redscarlet95 @fusser90 @sam-spectra @elmokingkong @pirats-pizzacanninibles @shamefullove @xahriia @buticaaba @erick-rose99-stuff @emjrabbitwolf

105 notes · View notes

its-maemain · 1 year

Text

And if I started posting another Maribat fic

#i don't know why I do this to myself #i have two full chapters written even #chapter three being written when I'm procrating my writing for procasting my work #it's gonna be a found family like dynamic #i made up an entire cheng family tree for it too and for future projects #I can't stand myself sometimes #I know all those writing fics posts say it's okay but I can't #would anyone be interested?#it would be adrienette for sure #I don't know if I want older or younger sister marinette for damian #we’ll figure that out when we cross that road #yknow?#maribat #maribat ramblings

7 notes · View notes

mae-dwrites · 1 year

Text

Taking Flight - Chapter 10 - Ikari Gozen

| Masterlist | Previous | Next |

| Ao3 | Wattpad |

Kagami Tsurgi for the majority of her life was alone. Her mother for some reason insisted that she does not need anyone, and that friends would be who would hold her down the most. Kagami wasn’t fully isolated of course, her mother would bring her to important events and meetings, she would spend her time with tutors or at tournaments.

Much like at the beginning of the week, her mother had her date with Adrien canceled so Kagami could join her in a sudden meeting. Unlike Adrien, Kagami was more emersed in her mother’s company and the workings of it. She had been raised in her mother’s technology industry, across the Americas and Japan. At the beginning of the year, her mother had decided they would head to Europe as they weren’t as expanded in that area of the world.

For some reason her mother had decided that they would start in Paris, France of all places. She had said it was to ensure her connection in the country, to remind her business partners she was not someone to underestimate. At least that’s what her mother relaid to her.

Kagami knew she couldn’t underestimate her mother either. Underestimating is far worse than overestimating, you mustn’t think lower of yourself but you also mustn’t treat any obstacle any less than yourself. Fighting head-on, being tactical, without anyone to hold you down. At least that’s what she had been taught, that no matter what others would hold her down. She held that teaching close, she hadn’t been trained and taught for no reason.

But she couldn’t help but disagree with her mother and her tutor's teachings.

She had seen people work together and make it work, and she had seen some shows and movies. While they may be fictional they must hold some truth, some truth of their world, of how humans work. Which is why it’s 100% okay that she just recorded her mother’s voice, because she is young. Young people make mistakes all the time, her mother had said so herself!

With her two-hour timer set, she murmured to herself, “Let’s play.”

With one turn of a handle, I can raise the level. Read the message, Kagami scoffed as the riddle wasn’t even hard, “Child’s play. Tatsu, take me to Canal Saint-Martin.”

“Voice recognition failed,” Tatsu recited. Kagami frowned, it was worth a shot, good thing she is smarter than Mother thinks.

“Tatsu-”

“Take me to Canal Saint-Martin,” Kagami finished the command.

“Hai, Tsurugisan,” Tatsu said before changing course.

-•-

“Oh no,” Marinette’s voice on the verge of a whimper as she looked up at the bridge.

"What is it Marinette?" Tikki's voice squeaked. "An Akuma?"

"No," Marinette swallows. "Worse, so much worse." Marinette's voice became strangled, she sits down on the bench behind her for a moment. Taking deep breaths.

"Well, what is it then Marinette?" Tikki asks fighting the urge to fly out of Marinette's bag.

"It's Kagami, she can't be my new friend. Nope," Marinette suddenly gets up, pacing in front of the bench. "Just no. There's no way she can be my new friend. She's brilliant, strong, cute! Oh my gosh, this can't be happening."

"And what does that have to do with the game?"

"She's Adrien's girlfriend! They know each other very well from what Adrien has said, he talks about all of us to her! I'll embarrass myself in front of her and then she'll tell Adrien how weird I am and their parents how unsuitable I am as a friend for Adrien. Then M. Agreste will ban me from being his friend and blacklist me so I never work in fashion ever," Marinette was left breathless and she dropped down to the ground and held her head in her hands.

"This can't happen. We can't be partners!" Marinette whined.

•

Kagami stood on the bridge, watching from afar. She recognized the girl, from fencing practice and pictures Adrien had shown her of the panicky girl and talked about her. She was quite...strange in person. She paced back and forth in front of a bench she had previously sat on.

"She's so weird," Kagami spoke out with a confused frown. The girl squat down and put her head in her hands, "Well fate has put her in my path. I wanted to make friends, she just so happened to be Adrien's most cherished friend."

Kagami took a deep breath before her lips formed a thin line, "If I don't succeed with Adrien's quirky friend our relationship with become strained or worse end." Kagami looked at the girl again before performing a sure nod, "He did say she becomes very nervous around people. So I shall wait here until she is ready for interaction."

•

Tikki frowned at her bug, she carefully floated out of Marinette's bag. She put herself above her legs but right under her face.

"Marinette that isn't fair to Kagami. You barely know her, you should give her a chance. Not to mention she can't complete the game without you!"

"She could probably complete it on her own somehow. She's so smart, I'd just slow her down I bet," Marinette mopped with her hands on her forehead. Then her eyes widened at an idea before she cringed, "Oh Kwami no. That's terrible, we know better than that Marinette."

Tikki frowned in confusion as the girl spoke to herself, "What is Marinette?"

"I just," Marinette worried on her lip. "I had a thought, that if I went with her I could slow her down, and then Adrien wouldn't fall more in love with her than he probably already is. But it's terrible, I'm dating Luka!"

Marinette groaned with tightly shut eyes and faced the sky, "I'm a terrible friend and girlfriend."

"You know it's wrong, right?" Tikki asked.

Marinette looked back down at Tikki, "Well of course I do."

"Are you planning on acting on it?" Tikki pressed.

"No-no! It's a terrible idea, especially to do. Even if I wanted to," Marinette looked down at her Kwami in horror.

"Then you're not a bad person Marinette. You recognize it's a bad idea, and you don't plan on acting on it. Also, it's just that, an idea, a thought. It doesn't necessarily mean you're terrible," Tikki explained. Marinette looked away before a smile came on her face and she nodded.

"You're right, it's just a thought, not a plan. It doesn't mean I have to do it," Marinette stood up with determination and Tikki zipped into her purse again. She nodded to Tikki before running up the bridge to finally see Kagami.

“Hey um, hi uh, sorry for making you wait!” Marinette smiled at Kagami. “Sorry for keeping you waiting. This is amazing that we were paired for this, has to be fate.” Marinette let out a nervous laugh at the end.

“You didn’t look very pleased to see me, but I’m assuming it was your anxieties. Adrien has mentioned that you’re usually nervous a majority of the time and that you have anxiety.” Kagami stated as she looked Marinette over with an analytical eye.

Marinette shifted under the Japanese girl’s gaze, “I, um…uh, sorry, I mean I-” Kagami’s eyes widened panic coming upon her, she must be making the girl uncomfortable. Their phones dinged but that wasn’t important right now. She must secure their further mutualness, otherwise, this would have all been for nothing.

“Do not worry I forgive you. I know that not all feelings or actions can be completely controlled, so I do not hold it against you. I do not wish to make you uncomfortable, if I do please tell me.” Kagami expressed with a bow.

Marinette blinked before her face became warm, “Oh. Oh-oh, thank you. I will let you know if you make me uncomfortable. I really appreciate that.” Marinette gave a small smile, it made Kagami hold herself taller. Wasn’t a perfect start, but a success nonetheless. “And! And I mean, uh, the same goes for you.” Marinette’s smile never faltered, Kagami nodded to her in affirmation.

“Now onto the game,” Kagami redirected them. “To get closer to your goal-”

“You must explore further and deeper,” Marinette finished out loud. Marinette gasped and at the same time they spoke, “The banks of the Seine.” Marinette more with excitement and Kagami softly as if speaking to herself. They made eye contact, Marinette giggled while Kagami gave a small smile.

“That must be where our next clue is,” Marinette said.

“We'll probably have to fish for our new clue. Let’s hurry if we want to win.” Kagami nodded at Marinette.

•

Marinette didn’t want to be rude and just message her best friend in front of Kagami. This was supposed to be about the two of them becoming friends, that was one of the whole points of this activity.

Marinette opened the video message Alya had sent to her.

“Hey girl! I sure hope your partner's as cool as mine; meet Wayhem! You'd better hurry up if you wanna get to Adrien before we do, 'cause we've already solved our first riddle!” Alya bragged white showing Wayhem in the frame the entire time. He grinned behind Alya with a peace sign.

Marinette sighed before pressing record, “Hey Alya! My partner is Kagami, I can’t believe it. I’m super nervous about this, because you know, she’s Adrien’s girlfriend. I’m scared I’ll do something wrong and she’ll tell Adrien and I won’t be his friend anymore. Anyway, go for it! From what I can tell Kagami wouldn’t like it if she was just handed the win, also I really don’t want to third wheel them if we win, so give it your all.”

Marinette replayed it, she frowned. Maybe I should send something else.

“That seems fine Marinette,” Tikki said from her bag. Marinette looked down at her little friend, Tikki gave a comforting squeeze. Marinette smiled and pressed send, she didn’t like lairs or lying. She tried to avoid it so why lie about how she felt? Well she did it a lot but this was different, this was Alya.

“Marinette?” Kagami called for her from Pont des Arts.

“I’m here! Sorry, just needed a moment.” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous laugh.

Kagami studied her for a moment, she frowned as she watched her rub her neck. Perhaps she was too intimidating to Marinette, how can she make this better? She wants her to be comfortable, relaxed with her. Maybe there was nothing she could do, but she could try. No, there was no try, only dos. She will do everything she can to get Marinette to be comfortable with her. A Tsurugi is always sure, and always does perfect.

“Well I am glad you’re better now,” Kagami internally winced at the structure of her sentence. That sounds insensitive. “We were right, there is a fishing rod with a magnet attached to it. Do you know how to fish effectively?”

Marinette seemed to perk up, “Yes! I’ve gone fishing with extended family before. Might not be perfect, I certainly wasn’t the best but I should be good enough!”

“Okay then you fish,” Kagami put the fishing rod in Marinette’s face. Marinette blinked before taking the rod from her. Too close, Kagami scolded herself.

Some seconds went by as Marinette reeled in items and Kagami inspected them. This won’t do, she wants to make friends so she needs to practice. According to Adrien, Marinette was great at becoming friends with people. She’s the perfect person to practice on even if she would already become her friend despite her errors.

Kagami opened her phone discreetly and opened her extra app. Kagami tensed as it made an opening the app sound. Marinette glanced at her as she reeled in another item, a whistle.

“Probably not the clue,” Kagami took it in her free hand and tossed it in the cardboard box. Marinette returned to fishing, if they weren’t right next to each other Kagami would have sighed in relief. She tapped the “Interesting Get To Know Questions” folder.

Question 1: Do you prefer to be called by your whole name, or a nickname?

Simple enough, she thought to herself.

“Do you prefer to be called by your whole name, or a nickname?” Kagami asked Marinette. When Marinette gave her a weird look she showed her a quick and, if Kagami was honest, an uncomfortable smile.

“Uh– by… my… whole name…?” Marinette didn’t look or sound sure whatsoever, she pulled in a rusty pan. Kagami tried not to frown at Marinette, but she did frown at the pan. She took it and tossed it in the box.

“Thank you, Marinette.” Kagami almost bows but stops herself, she doesn’t need to do this continuously. It’s for gratitude, but outside of Japan, it might be weird to the Parisian native. But she could compliment her! Compliments are great for “breaking the ice” as they refer to awkward tension. “Uh– Your hair is… very shiny.”

“Ehm… thank you…? Your hair is not… too bad, either…” They both smile awkwardly at each other. Kagami holds in a sigh, this isn’t going as smoothly as she wanted it to. She looks down at her phone and goes to the “Topic Suggestion” folder. She skims through them as fast as she can and spots two.

Topic 23: Something culturally or modernly significant to your homes.

Topic 28: What are your blood types?

“What is your blood type?” Kagami tries to smile again. It still feels weird, perhaps she needs to widen her smile? Like when she’s going against a lightweight opponent. Of which Marinette could be categorized as if she were in fencing.

“My blood type? I don't… know… Are you messing with me?” Marinette’s voice sounded so anxious and confused. No, this is not good. We need calm, we need smooth conversing with each other.

“No, not at all. Everyone in Japan knows their blood type. It tells you who you are. Mine is O, which means I'm independent, optimistic, strong-willed, and intuitive.” Kagami didn’t feel like all of that was actually true, she didn’t feel like an optimistic person. She truly was more of a realist. Kagami looked at her phone again, this wasn’t going well.

Topic 32: Seasons

Of course!

“What’s your favorite season?” Kagami smiled at Marinette. This smile still felt off. Was she doing it right?

“Summer, 'cause it's nice and hot. Or spring,” Marinette gasped, “'cause that's when nature awakens. Or maybe the fall; the colors are so gorgeous that time of the year. But then again; winter inspires me so much.” Marinette smiled with pure joy.

Kagami frowned, “You're indecisive, scatterbrained, irresponsible. You have a split personality: typical AB.” Her eyes widened, that must have been rude. Kagami quickly smiled before looking at her phone again, she switched to “Their Character” folder.

“Let's say you found out about some special chocolate ice cream; you really want to try it, but someone else gets there first. Do you, A, steal it from them? B, get another type of chocolate ice cream, even if it's not as good? Or, C, never eat chocolate ice cream ever again?” Kagami gave a strained smile after she finished stating the question. This didn’t feel like a good conversation if she was being honest.

“Uh– I guess I'd try another flavor?” Marinette said. That was actually a great answer, not any she had listed though, not really at least. Kagami hummed as she thought about the answer, it certainly solved the problem without any lasting negative impacts. Kagami looked down at her phone- No. She doesn’t need to rely on this app she can do this herself, and she’s read enough and knows enough of these questions to continue on.

Kagami faced Marinette as she reeled in something else, “Would you like to get some orange juice with me?”

Marinette’s eyes widened in excitement, “Yeah! Sure, it'd be a lot more fun than this boring treasure hunt.” Marinette admitted with her face becoming a little red with embarrassment. She brought the item over the railing to Kagami.

“It’s the clue! You’ve done a great job Marinette,” Kagami said with a light smile and gave Marinette an (awkward) pat on the back. “Congratulations. First, we win, then we get orange juice to celebrate.”

Marinette's smile widened with excitement as they got to figuring out their clue.

-•-

Marinette was exhausted from running with Kagami, despite being Ladybug. Speaking of which she was surprised no one had been Akumatized today, someone might after they don’t win, there was no doubt about it. But they were so close to finishing, Marinette just knew it. Alya hadn’t messaged her since she sent her video. She could have been preparing what to say, but Alya was just as impulsive as Marinette. And if she wasn’t writing it down, Alya’s filter went out the window.

Kagami pulled up her phone and read aloud their next instructions, “Trust challenge: Exchange unlocked phones. Separate and take a selfie in front of different monuments using each other's phones. Then regroup and take a selfie together like the true friends you've become. Once we've received the selfies, we'll send you a final text revealing where Adrien Agreste is hiding.”

Kagami extended her phone out to Marinette in full confidence her other hand laid outstretched for Marinette’s, but Alya hadn’t responded to her yet. To her message or updated her on her progress. Marinette looked between her phone and Kagami’s hand.

Oh what the heck, it’ll only take a few minutes.

Marinette finally hands over her open phone to Kagami.

“You really are an indecisive girl,” Kagami states. “We'll meet back here; we're going to win!” Kagami declared before running off.

Marinette honestly didn’t care about winning or losing now, she really did enjoy hanging out with the girl even with their weird and awkward moments. They made it work even with the struggles.

Marinette sighed and looked down at Kagami’s phone. That was strange, her home screen didn’t have any app and she had a plain background. Marinette swiped down, her lock screen was also blank and she had a timer going. 45:38. Marinette swiped side to side, finding a folder of utilities, default apps. The bottom had the calling and messaging app. Marinette swiped to the right again to find one app, MakeFriendzEazy.

“Huh,” Marinette looked at it and bit her lip. This was not helping her phone holding track record. She felt Tikki push against her leg but ignored her. She opened the app, and it had folders, icebreakers, topics, advice, and much more.

“Oh,” the word came out of her mouth quietly. Marinette exited the app and tapped the messages app to find only messages from the contest. She left that one as Tikki flew out and glared at her.

“Marinette she put her trust in you giving you her phone. And you’re snooping,” the Kwami scolded her.

“She kept looking at her phone while we were playing, and her phone is so empty. Tikki look, she has a tip app for making friends,” Marinette said showing her. Marinette looked at the phone again, she frowned at it and tapped the calling app. She gasped, “She only has her mom. Not even Adrien, and that’s her boyfriend.”

Tikki looked at the screen with a matching frown, “She just wants friends. She was trying to be your friend Marinette.”

“And I snuck through her phone,” Marinette whined. “I’m a terrible friend, we’re probably not even going to be friends after this. Oh no,” Marinette straightened up.

“What?”

“Alya could reply at any moment! And if she does while Kagami has my phone then she might see her reply or my message. I need to hurry.” Marinette takes off running.

•

Kagami frowns at the photo she took, she doesn’t like her smile. It looks too forced, her last smiles at Marinette didn’t hurt her face like this one or her ones from earlier. Maybe she should just pretend Marinette is with her, yeah that might work.

As Kagami tries to retake the photo but a message pops up, and for some reason takes up a lot of the screen. She tries to swipe it away but it won’t go, she huffs in frustration. She tries to swipe it away again only for her to accidentally press it, and the message starts to play. A deeply tanned-skinned girl with auburn hair takes up the screen.

"Hey girl! Sorry, I've been running around with Wayhem. Also, I'm sorry you're stuck with Kagami, we're almost done so you might not have the third wheel her and Adrien. Just hang in there and I'll catch you later!"

Kagami’s heart drops to her stomach. She clenches her fist before taking a deep breath, she wouldn’t be the Akuma of the day. She was better than this, and maybe her mother was right. She didn’t need friends, she blinks back tears. Instead of trying to perfect her smile, she took a selfie with a blank expression, it’s no use if she was only seen as a nuisance.

•

Marinette sprints to where they had last been together at and waves at Kagami. Marinette opens her mouth to speak but Kagami speaks first.

“ I guess I'm not worthy of our friendship; our blood types must be too incompatible,” Kagami avoids looking Marinette in the eyes.

Marinette opened her mouth again but Kagami’s phone started to ring, Kagami reached out for it but Marinette answered it instead of handing it over to her.

“Hello?”

“Kagami, where are you? You were supposed to wait for me at home,” Tomoe Tsurgi’s commanding voice came through. Kagami could even hear her mother, she was very upset. Kagami shook her head at Marinette but Marinette wasn’t looking at her but more over her as she decided to respond, “Hello ma'am, I'm not Kagami, actually.”

“Who are you?! Where's my daughter?!” Kagami’s eyes widened at her mother's voice, she tried to gestured for Marinette to hand her phone but Marinette put a hand up to Kagami and straightened her back.

“Kagami? I'm a friend of Kagami's, I'm right here with her. I'll put her on the phone if you would like,” though Marinette didn’t have any intent to. As she was more curious as about this woman, Kagami was obviously restricted, just on different levels than Adrien.

“Kagami doesn't have any friends. Why do you have her phone?” Marinette frowned at this, is this really how she treats her daughter? Just like Gabriel, how many other kids were stuck like this? This wasn’t fair to isolate your child in any form, all it does is leave them stunted in so many areas. Why hasn’t someone done anything about this!

“Oh, I can assure you, I am Kagami's friend. I am also Adrien's friend, and we are all participating in a game about friendship. Where making new friends is the main goal but I digress.” Marinette stated with a scowl on her face.

Kagami stopped trying to get her phone and looked at Marinette. Maybe she had misunderstood, it was only one half of the conversation, simply Marinette’s friend responding to her. Marinette’s friend in the video may have different views of Kagami than Marinette does.

“A game?! But I forbade her to!” Tomoe shouted.

Marinette’s eyes widened, she didn’t want Kagami to be in so much trouble. But… lies. Marinette internally sighed, lies, lies, and more lies. When does she get to stop lying?

“Did I say game? Oh no, I meant a grab… to grab– to grab some orange juice. I invited Kagami over to grab some orange juice with me. She'll be back home soon, I promise,” Marinette stated covering over her mistake. Kagami smiled at Marinette. Marinette smiled back at Kagami as she continued, “I'll even walk her home myself, as I am her friend.”

“Stop fooling around, young lady, and put my daughter through. As I stated before she does not have friends and I can assure you she will not be enjoying any glasses of–”

Marinette frowned, what kind of mother was she? She was just as bad as Gabriel had to be.

“Ma'am, please don't punish your daughter. Ma'am? Hello?” Marinette’s frows came down.

“With pleasure, Hawk Moth.”

Marinette felt a chill go through her, No. She looked at Kagami as the call ended and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“I’m so sorry Kagami, I shouldn’t have done that! I tried to smooth things over with her but now she’s Akumatized! You need to go hide!” Marinette said in a rush. Behind them a thud went off and the ground shook, they lost their footing. Each shake worse than the last, Marinette fell down. Kagami tried to help her up but the source of the earthquakes came next to them.

“Kagami! You disobeyed me! You will never go out again!” The Akumatized Tomoe Tsurgi grabbed Kagami and dropped her down her mouth. Kagami’s screams could be heard until she closed her giant mouth.

Marinette’s eyes welled with tears, “This is all my fault. Oh no, Kagami, Kagami is stuck in her mom. I caused this.”

Tikki cut her off, “It's never too late to make things right, Marinette.”

“Yea-yeah,” Marinette’s voice cracked, she sniffed. Now wasn’t the time to cry, she couldn’t be Marinette. Kagami needed Ladybug, the city needs its’ hero, “Spots on.”

Soon Chat Noir showed up when Tomoe makes her big declaration, “You'll never catch me! I'm lkari Gozen. As elusive as the wind, as powerful as the flood, as swift as lightning! Try as you might, but your jewels will be mine!”

Ladybug got thrown into a tree before falling out of it. She put her hand on her back and she stretched, because surely that wasn't gonna be a pain later. She groaned as Chat made his way to her.

“I see you've already made a new buddy for friendship day, m'lady.” Chat Noir teased leaning against his staff.

“Yeah, no, I don't think she likes me all that much.” the red and black heroine frowned at her partner. She straightened up and faced Ikari Gozen, “We're coming, Kagami.”

Chat’s blood ran cold, he looked over at the Akuma, “Kagami?”

“Our new friend here has imprisoned her own daughter as a punishment,” bitterness dripped from her voice. She clenched her yo-yo, she was really getting sick of all these rich parents and locking their kids away. “Lucky Charm.”

Came down was a plastic-looking sword, but the cross guard looked of that as a dragon head breathing fire molded into a blade. It reminded Ladybug of that one show Chris loved to watch when she babysat him. The pommel had symbols, that of a lightning bolt, water, and what she could assume was air. Ladybug’s eyes widened, Of course, thank you Tikki!

“I don't think that thing will do us any good, she doesn't seem the type to play,” Chat said with a perplexed look at the item.

“Oh trust me Chaton this toy isn't for anyone, but I do have an idea for a new playmate,” Ladybug smirked at him. Chat looked at her, her eyes didn't hold the same confidence as her stance. She was unsure, she wanted him to tell her it was okay, they had a mission and they do need help.

Chat Noir nodded, “I’ve always wanted someone to properly spar my staff with.”

Oh the way her whole being seemed to light up made Chat Noir feel warm before she swung off to get help. Chat shook his head before looking at Ikari Gozen, “Time to keep you in one place.”

Chat extended himself onto a rooftop yelling at Ikari Gozen, while a few buildings off from where they had been together Ladybug hid in an alleyway and destransformed. The Lucky Charm disappeared along with her transformation, it was so weird that the hinting for help Lucky Charms went away, well they usually did.

Marinette gave Tikki a cookie, “I guess it’s time for a new trick.” Marinette gave Tikki a nervous smile.

“I’m sure it’ll work just fine, like when you were giving the papers out. Except focus on which specific thing you want to come through.” Tikki said finishing her cookie. Marinette nodded, “Focus.”

She called the transformation back on and grabbed her yo-yo and opened it. “Focus,” she murmured to herself before reaching in. She pulled out a choker necklace, and she gasped before letting out a squeal and dancing in a circle. “I did it, I did it, I did it!”

Ladybug stopped dancing and took a deep breath, now time to get themselves a dragon. She swung herself back over to the scene, Chat fighting Ikari Gozen.

“I know what’s like to be put in a cat kennel, it’s not pleasant!” Chat Noir yelled just before Ikari Gozen flung him down the street.

Ladybug winced as Chat landed in the street, his suit making it so there was a sizable and fairly noticeable strip of blacktop missing. That was gonna hurt later, Ladybug vaguely thought as she ran across rooftops before swinging down to Chat.

“I guess cats really don’t land on their feet,” Ladybug raised an eyebrow at her partner. Chat Noir rolled his eyes before noticing Ladybug’s neck.

“Where’s our friend?”

“Oh she’s here, we just need to get her present. After all, friends give each other presents. So, Luck Charm!”

Came down was a box of bath bombs, both the heroes gave it a look of confusion.

“A box of bath bombs,” it was Chat’s turn to raise an eyebrow at his partner. Ladybug ignored him and looked around, Ikari Gozen was headed for them, taking her time it seemed as if neither hero was moving. Ladybug caught saught of a scooter's storage compartment, Chat Noir, and the bath bombs.

“Oh you’ve got a plan don’t you?” Chat Noir asked looking at her, “You’ve got that glint in your eye.”

“Yes I do,” Ladybug grabbed the scooter storage compartment. “Longg come out.”

Longg floated from hiding behind Ladybug. “Yes Guardian,” the dragon Kwami bowed.

Ladybug explained the plan quickly, before taking off the choker and handing the compartment to Chat Noir. They nodded to each other. Chat successfully got the thing down Ikari Gozen’s mouth.

“Great job chaton, now we wait for Longg to explain the plan to her and we defeat the Akuma. I hope it works.”

“I’m sure it will, you’ve never failed Buggaboo,” Chat Noir winked at her. But right after he said that Ikari Gozen took steps back almost falling, and went into a coughing fit, what looked to be steam coming out. A dragon-themed hero, who of which could be Kagami, materialized in front of them.

“See, Mother? I can be as elusive as the wind!” Kagami held herself high, she glared at Ikari Gozen. Kagami turned to face the duo behind her, “Thank you for the Miraculous, Ladybug. Nice to meet you, Cat Noir. I am Ryuko.”

Both heroes eyes widened at Kag- Ryuko.

“What are you doing? This wasn't the plan!” Ladybug cried. She only had four minutes left now, Kagami had used Wind. Kagami is very independent, her mother had raised her as such, and that was very clear. Ladybug swallowed and took control of her breathing, she needs to remain calm they can still do this.

“What plan?” Was all Ryuko said.

This can’t be happening. It just can’t be.

“Kagami! You've disobeyed me yet again! First for that stupid game for friends, and then this time with the complicity of these so-called heroes.” Ikari Gozen growled, “You will learn your lesson!”

She brought her bokken up and brought it down on the heroes. All of the heroes jumped out of the way, the bokken crushed through the concrete. Ikari Gozen cried out in frustration.

“Ryuko, the plan! Surely Longg must have told you about the plan?!” Ladybug yelled from across the street.

Ryuko ignored Ladybug instead taking to confronting her mother, “What’s so wrong with having friends!”

“They ask but don’t return,” Ikari Gozen swiped her bokken at Chat Noir clasping the top of a building. “The moment you don’t benefit them they leave!” She yelled as she brought her weapon down the building Ryuko stood on. Chat Noir jumped on top of her as she yelled, “Friends abandon you! They all leave, they will leave you, just like they left me after the crash.”

She reached back and grabbed Chat Noir and held him up, “They left me when I needed them, left me to raise an infant blind!”

“What,” Ryuko’s stance faltered, her voice barely audible.

Ikari Gozen shoved Chat Noir down her throat, both of the heroines cried, “No!”

Chat fell into a seat, and a seat belt clicked in place, “No siree, Cataclysm!” He eroded the seat belt only for many more seat belts to grab and hold him down, “No, no, no. Not again.”

Outside Ryuko and Ladybug hid from Ikari Gozen.

Ryuko bowed her head in shame, “My apologies Ladybug, I acted hastily and failed you. I am not worthy to fight beside you.”

Ladybug lifted Ryuko’s face so she was looking at her, “You made a mistake, or act before we think. I do that every day in and out of the mask, it has cost me a lot on both sides, but that isn’t a reason to stop fighting.” Ryuko stared at Ladybug in awe, she was far more astonishing in person.

“You’re the only one who can help me right now, you have the skill. It’s the reason I choose you, and why I have given you the tools to help me. But we need to work together, as a team and we don’t have much time so here's the plan.”

•

Chat Noir fought against his restraints but it was no use, his chest went in and out heavily. He looked up, “Hurry up before I transform back.”

The Universe must have taken pity on him because no sooner than a second later did Ryuko dropdown.

“Thank Kwami!”

“Hold your breath, and aim for bokken,” Ryuko reached down for the box of bath bombs.

“You're a fast learner,” Chat Noir grinned, trying his best to hide his nervousness.

“I’ve had many great teachers,” she admitted with a small smile before calling for water. Chat did as he was told, holding his breath and when they made it out, reached for the bokken. Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around it and yanked, breaking the item, an Akuma floating out.

“No more evil-doing for you!” Ladybug captured it before turning to Ryuko who handed her what was left of her Lucky Charm, the box. She tossed it up, calling for her cure.

“What's happened to me? Where is Kagami?” Tomoe asked moving her bokken around in front of her.

“Your daughter is nearby, ma'am. She'll be here soon.” Ryuko said after she put a hand on the woman's shoulder, “Your car is to your right.”

“Thank you,” Tomoe said stiffly before turning to her car and stepping in.

Ryuko turned to see Chat Noir and Ladybug with their fists facing each other but also her way, leaving a space for her. Her stomach welled and twirled with warmth, Ryuko smiled and added her fist and in unison, “Pound it!”

•

“Thank you for waiting a moment Kagami,” Ladybug started upon landing, “I hope you understand I can not give you this Miraculous again.”

“I understand, I was an inadequate team member.” Kagami hung her head.

“Actually you were quite the opposite,” Ladybug said, Kagami looked at her with confusion. “You fought well and hard, but the reason I can't give you this Miraculous again is because Hawkmoth knows your identity. He can see and hear through the person he has Akumatized, and with that it means not only are you but your friends and family are put in danger.”

Kagami thought about that, it makes sense, complete sense, no wonder Ladybug was in so much distress. Kagami frowned, “I don't have many friends.”

“Well it's not important to have lots of friends, what matters are the ones you do have are true friends. Thank you for your help, bug out,” and with that Ladybug left Kagami.

Kagami finally left the alley and made her way to her mother’s car, oh was she gonna get an earful. The right back passenger door was open, with her mother waiting. Kagami took a deep breath.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I'm sorry I wasn't truthful with you, Mother. But, I really wanted to try and make a friend.” Kagami admitted truthfully.

“You already have Adrien,” Tomoe said after a pause.

“It's not the same,” Kagami looked away, disputing her mother being blind, not even having her. But those words held true, Adrien had been her friend and now they were dating.

“I understand that you want to make friends, but friendships can prove disappointing sometimes. If not, a distraction can be a reliability, and you may be stretched by them.” Tomoe at the beginning sounding firm but slowly trailed to a person mourning. Tomoe sighed after a moment, “Be home in time for dinner. Tatsu, take me home.”

“Hai, Tsurugisan,” Tatsu said closing the door and rolling off.

•

Kagami walked up the bridge, her stomach tight.

“The game is over. We lost.'' She couldn't look Marinette in the eyes as she showed her a photo of Alya and Wayhem with the weather girls, Adrien, and Adrien’s bodyguard.

“No,” Marinette started firmly. “We won the right to get orange juice together,” she said with confidence before closing in on herself again. “If you still want to, that is. Nothing can stop us now.” Marinette gave Kagami a timid smile. Kagami looked at the girl in awe, her lips slightly parted.

“I'm correct, I misjudged you Marinette. I'm glad we somehow got paired, I see now why Adrien regards you as one of his dearest friends,” Kagami gave a light smile at Marinette. “And yes, I would still like to join you for orange juice. I just have to be home in time for dinner.”

Marinette lit up, her already big eyes widening with a dazzling smile to go with. Marinette hooked her arm around Kagami’s and started talking with an animated face.

Yes, Kagami had made the right choice, even if she didn't win. She got herself her first real friend.

September 28, 2019

#maribat #maribat fic #maribat fanfic #maribat marinette dupain cheng #taking flight #maribat adrien agreste #adrienette #maribat adrienette #maribat kagami #maribat chat noir #maribat ladybug #ikari gozen #maribat ikari gozen

2 notes · View notes