#needed to rework marinettes new design...

[foursidecity]

Bugs n beasts

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

How would you write Lila?

Really depends on things like how many seasons I had to fill, when I had to introduce her, if I had to give her the butterfly, and what I was doing with Chloe since Chloe and Lila are functionally the same character for most of the show. You do not need two petty mean girls to cause interpersonal drama. Either redeem one or don't let them overlap!

If we have to keep the butterfly as the villain to maintain the formula, then I'd make Lila a sentimonster created by Nathalie and introduce Lila at the start of season four. The linked post goes over my pitch for that rework, but while I like the concept, I don't like the butterfly being the designated evil miraculous. It just feels so bleh. Fives seasons of fighting and we're still right where we started: the butterfly in the hands of a villain that the heroes have no clear plan to defeat. You could start the story at season six and miss almost nothing (thus my constant theorizing that season six is a soft reboot.)

So let's take this post in a wildly different direction and talk in depth about evil spy Lila!

Almost any idea I have for Lila is going to involve some bigger plot to explain her lies and manipulation because they're just so over the top! Plus she's 14! How did she become this good at lying? Canon needs to give us some logic to explain all of this. Magic is a good excuse. So is training or even training and magic!

In this AU, Lila is from some sort of evil organization that uses their power for evil purposes (there are lots of routes you can got with this from evil magic to evil company, so let's stay high level and not commit to a path). The organization sees the miraculous being used in Paris and sends Lila to Paris to try to get her hands on the miraculous. Lila is specifically sent because of the Ladyblog. The organization views Alya as an easy in and so they send a teenage member or someone's kid who desperately wants to be part of the group.

This new Lila shows up claiming to be a Ladybug superfan, which instantly bonds her to Alya. Marinette's dislike of Lila now stems from Lila wanting to know all of Ladybug's secrets, which obviously raises red flags for Marinette, but not for Alya because Alya wants the same thing. In fact, Alya is really baffled why Lila's obsession rubs Marinette the wrong way because Marinette has always been fine with Alya having the same obsession. We know that the answer is that Marinette trusts Alya, but Lila is a wild card, but of course Alya doesn't know any of that. This makes the Marinette and Alya clash over Lila a lot more complex because it's no longer about lies. It's about trust and Marinette has no way to explain why trust is a factor without outing herself as Ladybug.

Lila can still tell lies and manipulate, but it's now all around getting close to Ladybug and learning everything she can. You can even have the Adrien conflict maintained with it now being Chat Noir wanting to be nice to fans while Ladybug is hard on the bad vibes train since Lila is so uncomfortably obsessed with her, another conflict that makes way more sense than what canon gave us. Adrien is just immune to weird fans and doesn't know that Ladybug is being bombarded with Lila's obsession every day at school.

This means that Marinette's Lila aversion is less her knowing something and more her being understandably uncomfortable because identity shenanigans, which is another nice complexity as it lets Marinette struggle with not knowing how to approach the situation because she knows she has no hard logical reason for her feelings, but she just can't get passed them. This could lead to some good lessons for kids on healthy relationships with celebrities/internet personalities and how you don't really know that person or have a right to their private life. It is, in fact, totally normal for your favorite celebrity to find your obsession a little creepy and block you when you cross lines. (This could even be a growing moment for Marinette re her crush on Adrien since it's written like a celebrity crush, though my personal preference is to just fix the writing around that to a more normal teenage crush. Even there it could be a growing moment, just a more nuanced one.)

There are a lot of ways to resolve this plot. Whatever you pick should see Lila outed and, in the process, we learn about the evil organization, giving us a new big bad for the heroes to deal with. Something that isn't tied to the miraculous and that is so big that it might justify having a big team of heroes to fight the new evil? Just a thought.

[sincerelymarinette]

A Recorded Life Sequel (7/10) - Miraculous Ladybug

Words: 1533 Summary: Finally, a day off for Marinette and Adrien. To celebrate, they decide to capture it on video for their fans. Author's Note: domestic adrienette domestic adrienette domestic adrienette!!! my fave. Sorry for missing two weeks, been busy! Only 3 more chapters of the sequel (also there's a hint to the next chapter at the end of this one wink)

Prev / Next / Masterlist

Our Day Off

---

Nowadays, Marinette and Adrien rarely slept in. They were constantly going with work and life, but they decided to treat themselves today by getting extra sleep. The rebrand is almost complete, meaning both Adrien and Marinette will get to breathe for a few days. The main stuff was done, like the website, displays, tags, and business cards, among other smaller things.

He was getting a little nervous, but excited, as the final day got closer. They planned a fashion show to truly ring in the new era of Agreste Fashion, now called Emilie's, with Marinette and her team's line as the first official Emilie's line. They also reworked some fan-favorite clothing to make them fit the brand better while getting rid of Gabriel's name. It was going to be an exciting day, seeing the old and the new mix together. But there were still a few weeks until that day; there was still work to be done.

However, it was Saturday, and both Marinette and Adrien decided they could have a few extra hours of sleep. Adrien rolled out of bed earlier than Marinette and went to the kitchen to start breakfast. It was nothing crazy, just some eggs, because they agreed to stop by their favorite bakery to see her parents and enjoy a well-deserved macaron. Or two.

Marinette followed him into the kitchen when she smelled the eggs, her hair still unbrushed and in her pajamas. "Smells good, Adrien," She yawned.

"I'm glad. Time for a quick breakfast so we can go see your parents," He said as he slid the plate over to her seat.

Marinette nodded and took a bite. "You know, I was thinking," She said, carefully. "I wanted to put up a video like we used to do. Maybe we could vlog our day, or at least some of it? One of our first days in a long time that we haven't been so busy with work. Heck, I don't think either of us has had a day out of the office in at least two weeks."

A big smile formed on Adrien's face. "I think that's a great idea, Mari!" He hopped up and walked to the corner of the living room that had Marinette's desk. He grabbed her camera battery off the charger, then her camera bag, and brought it back over. Marinette would have gotten it herself, but sometimes, Adrien beats her to it.

She thanked him for the camera as she got her settings flipped to the right ones, then held it up. "Hi! I'm Marinette!" She waved at the camera, with Adrien waving behind her. "I know I look like a mess right now, but on our day off, we wanted to vlog! It's been so long since I've done a video like this, so I'm excited to give you guys some insight on how we've been recently."

"I made eggs," Adrien held his place up with a big grin when Marinette paused.

"And they're lovely, thank you, Adrien," Marinette admired. He set his plate back down, clearly proud of himself.

"Well, we're going to finish breakfast, then head over to our favorite bakery in the world! I'm sure we'll check back in then," Adrien said, Marinette nodding with him, and she shut the camera off.

Marinette and Adrien finished their eggs quickly and got their morning routines done. They were out the door by eleven o'clock, which to most people meant they barely slept in, but sleeping past eight was glorious for them.

Marinette got the camera back out when they were in the car. It wasn't too far of a drive to get to her parent's, but it was just long enough that the car was needed, and she had some time to talk to her camera. "We're in the car now, and let me just say, my stomach has been aching for some sweets recently. We've been so busy we haven't had time to go get anything other than what's in our fridge or the late-night store around the corner from Emilie's," Marinette rambled.

"Well, when we get to work at six or seven in the morning, and we stay past dinner time, we don't have the time to go there, and most other places are closed when we head out," Adrien said. "Don't get me wrong, I love what we're doing, but it sure is tiring."

"Once the rebrand is done, hopefully we'll have a more normal schedule," Marinette said. "Long days, but it'll be worth it."

Adrien agreed. They continued rambling about work all the way until they parked near the bakery. It had only been a few weeks since she last saw her parents, but it was always nice to see them and talk about life, no matter how long it had been. Her parents tried to stuff them full of all kinds of sweets while listening to Marinette talk about how excited and exhausted she was about her team's line, and Adrien talked about how pleased he is with changing the brand to remember his mom. They had front row seats to the fashion show, and couldn't wait to see it all come alive.

Marinette did record some of her parents and the bakery, but they just talked most of the time. They closed for lunch, so there was all the time they needed before Marinette and Adrien had to leave; well, they didn't want the bakery to be closed for the whole day.

They ran a few errands, like grabbing a few groceries, and Marinette can never resist picking up some swatches when they pass her favorite store. They checked out a few shops that should have received the new displays and were able to see them getting set up.

What was truly special, though, was their evening. They ordered a pizza for a movie night so they could fully relax. Plagg snacked on his cheese while Tikki sat in her little bed on the table so Marinette and Adrien could finish setting up. Marinette walked over to the hidden safe in the closet and opened it, pulling out the special box. She set it on the coffee table and opened it, letting all the Kwamis out to play.

Usually, she tries to let them out at least once a week. But with them being so busy lately, it has been a lot less. The Kwamis love her and Adrien and understand; they're just excited to come out to see them and Plagg and Tikki, and they were even more excited to hear about movie night. A strange idea to their magical creatures, but they all seemed to love it all the same. Though they did miss Trixx, Pollen, and Wayzz, the rest of them knew they were having a good time with their masters, and they were able to enjoy themselves.

Marinette scrolled through the streaming services to find the perfect movie while all the Kwamis got comfortable around the couch and little pet beds. As she waited for Adrien to come back from the kitchen with pizza boxes and their drinks, she pulled out her camera for one last update to their vlog.

"Well, here we are to end the night! Adrien and I are relaxing with a movie and pizza, and it's a great way to end our first full day off. It's a nice break, but I'm excited to get back to work. Can't wait for all of you to see what we've been working on!" She said. Marinette was extra thankful that Kwamis are not visible on camera, because it would have looked crazy with all the little animals sat around her.

"I can't either!" Adrien popped in, setting the food on the table, then kissing Marinette's cheek. "This was fun; we should make more videos when we have time."

"I would love it, and I'm sure they would, too," Marinette gestured to the camera. "But that's it for today. Make sure to follow us in the description and be ready for some more videos, hopefully soon!" Marinette said, and both of them waved as she ended the recording. She would have to find time to edit it, maybe tomorrow before work.

Marinette and Adrien began digging into the pizza as she pressed play on the movie; both she and Adrien cuddled up to one another, all the Kwamis filled in around them.

As always, she was ecstatic to see some of the replies on the video. It was one of the things she missed most about not uploading as often.

I've missed these type of videos so much! I would LOVE more when you guys aren't busy!!

Seeing them happy makes me so happy. I'm so glad their lives are turning out great after everything they dealt with as teenagers

did you guys see that those guys who forced them into lb and cn got charged? DESERVED! But I'm so glad you guys are alright after that, it looks like you had a fun day

PLEASE TELL ME YOURE GOING TO RECORD ALYA AND NINOS WEDDING I CANT WAIT FOR THEM TO GET MARRIED ITS GOING TO BE BEAUTIFUL

I can't wait to say I have clothes from Emilie's! Such a beautiful meaning behind the name change and I can't wait to own a Marinette design from Emilie's instead of Agreste Fashion. We knew this day would come! (I know she's been designing for them for a while, but this is different guys)

---

@lady-of-the-roses-and-lilies @bookishserendipity03 @avatheexceed @gkz10 @coccinellegirl @kat-thatoneweirdo @strawberryblondish @snow-swordswoman @lilgaga98 @evufries  @toodaloo-kangaroo 

[currentfandomkick]

Marinette did not sign up for this part 4

hey, so OG chapter 4 will now be chapter 5 as the gremlins hijacked this chapter.

part one here   previous part here   ao3 here

--

            Damian stared in quiet horror as he looked over Ladybug’s exploits after hacking into Paris’ servers. His sister—the one he took down with little effort—had been defending the city for a month before he appeared. From the video of “Stoneheart” he could tell she was given no training. And her partner was flirting with her! When he should be focusing on the mission!

             What gathered from further research was the following: his sister and her ‘partner’ were untrained. Their teammates were also untrained. A team of ten untrained teenagers—perhaps younger—were tasked with keeping a villainous coward from stealing their magic artifacts, and with stealing his in turn. A team lead by his sister. A very alone, scared girl from his one interaction with her. Smart (he saw now she knew how to save her own skin. Redirecting his attention was a good move at the time). She is smart and creative because if she isn’t, then her city and her will lose. Be under the control of some madman.

             He had to get there, and he doubted he could convince Jon to help him at the moment—why are kyptonians always fighting one another when you need the assistance of one?

             Father would stop him.

             The League was keeping Father in Gotham and he didn’t have individual access yet…

             He was stuck for the moment, and did not like it. Perhaps Grayson could prove useful? He’d ask once the man was done resting from patrol.

---------

             Cass was enjoying Paris. She spotted the possible sister at the bakery with her adoptive mother. They were happy. Cass likes that.

             Cass moved quickly through the crowd, managing to make it to the bakery.

             Marinette ran into her.

             “Ah! Sorry!” the girl managed to catch her things before they hit the ground.

             Cass waved her hands, indicating there was no harm or foul. The girl was no clumsy—Shifu Cheng was ill-informed. Those reflexes and her expression before indicated nothing but an intense focus on something else. On what, Cass wasn’t sure.

             Yet.

             For now, Cass took a seat in the bakery, smiling at the kind woman working the front. Sabine Cheng, the woman who raised the maybe-Bat.

             Cass began doing her own research, messaging Babs that she saw Soup Girl for a moment, and would be assessing her parents. She knew of cases in Gotham where things weren’t always right, and she wanted to be certain that this girl was safe, regardless of if she’s a Bat or not.

--------

             Tim decided to ignore Babs offer in the end. The possibility of owing Jason was low given both him and Cass are on the Case. Jason is good, don’t get him wrong, but the chances of Jason actually talking to the girl in a real conversation before the rest of them? As Red Hood?

             This is a calculated risk and the odd are in Tim’s favor. (Well, not in Jason's.)

--------

             Steph hummed as she went over the designer pool she was looking over. Shockingly low given its Paris—granted 200 girls is a lot to investigate… she didn’t give the others all the information she had though.

             According to Damian, she “posts a disgusting amount” which means she’s posting or tagged often. When she used some of Babs old filtering program with social media involved, it brought the candidates down to 30. She could go through thirty teenage designers social media and comb over who at least has some genes that are dominant from the Wayne side. Her natural hair had to be medium brunette at the lightest, so the natural blondes took out seven candidates right off the bat. While blue or green eyes would give them more priority on the list, eye color genes are weird. Weirdly, five of her candidates had attached earlobes, so she only had 18 left after that filter was put on… Bruce’s hair isn’t curly, so two girls with intensely curly natural hair were taken off the list. Bruce’s thin lips only knocked out two more candidates.

             That left Stephanie Brown with 14 designers in Paris to find and investigate in the right age range, because she doesn’t think Bruce started having sex at 15, unlike Tim who is allowing college kids into his ‘could be Bruce’s daughter’ mix.

             Stephanie is also going to need a plane ticket to meet these girls, and that means getting help from one of Wayne kids… Or stowing away on the private jet that she knows Tim can and will be using sometime today to do ground work himself.

             She’s cool stowing away—Babs is covering for her on principle since Tim wouldn’t take the deal. Steph was smart enough to relinquish one piece of blackmail in total in exchange for use of Babs filtering tech—she has more than that thanks to one Supergirl spilling a number of things Babs has done over the years. Has Stephanie mentioned she’s the only one of the Bats to listen to Oracle, Queen of Technology, in this bet? She is, and she is better for it.

-----------

             Marinette managed to make it to the Agrests Mansion with little issue this time. Today she was going to one of the production lines with Gabriel to learn how to reset the machines and program them to follow any simple stitch pattern she wanted. It was good.

             She also noticed that during none of her times with Gabriel, was there a single akuma sighting. Not an attack—those never happened anywhere near their time together. It was an… interesting pattern. She was beginning to suspect that if Hawkmoth wasn’t Gabriel (he was akumatized, it can’t be him. Get that theory out of your head Marinette), then it had to be someone who worked for him, and high on the food chain.

             She made sure to memorize each of his ‘supervising managers’ and partners’ names. One of them had to be Hawkmoth. And Gabriel had to be someone that this Hawkmoth either really respected or really didn’t want handle re-scheduling with. Which would be all of them…

             She really wished she had more time to dig into their lives herself. For now, she had to trust Max and Markov to do the research… which reminded her, her name had been pinged on multiple searches in Gotham last night. From numerous devices. If the Bats were planning anything…

             Marinette gripped her purse a bit tighter. Her team has her back. She just doesn’t want them caught up in this mess too. She wishes that Aquaman never showed up. If he hadn’t, then the Bats wouldn’t be looking into her civilian life, the one they already knew about but only now deemed worthy of their attention.

             She wished they would just stop—she won’t look into the Great Detectives. She knows she’s not one of them. That she wouldn’t hack it in Gotham. But Damnit, in Paris? Her Territory—she does more than hack it. Sure, she may have blown herself up that one time, and yes, there is the timeline where as Princess Justice she may have sort of broke the world by forcing it to conform to that akumatized version of hers’ idea of Absolute Justice (apparently she was ruthless, made no exceptions and took out a third of the Justice League using Multimouse at the time on top of it all). Yes, she is not a perfect leader. Or hero. But Damnit, her (admittedly two) supervillians have been almost caught twice. Her re-akumatazation rate is much lower than any of the Justice League’s heroes’ normal villain or general crime recidivism rate by more than a little. By a lot. She’s not some Detective but she’s a damn good strategist, a champion at improvising and she and her team do work with the public and victims and reworked so much of Paris’ social culture to lower akuma-creating circumstances and keep the public emotionally healthy.

             She’s no detective.

             She’s a Guardian. That means caring about the details that shift the bigger pieces. That means adaption with what is there and creating what she needs. That means knowing her limits and getting help—to set an example and prove that not even her or Chat are an island. That even superheroes need help, need others and need to work together.

            She’s no detective. Detectives work alone.

            Her? She’s forged a team that (she hopes) could become the new Order of Gaurdians with her… some day. For now, they’re heroes with the same mission and different roles to play.

            Marinette just wishes that she could shut up this hunch since its been disproven. Her instincts on guilt and possible baddies aren’t the best—Adrien’s job is to sense what’s wrong and take them out. Hers is to make whatever is needed to help fix things, to push someone forward and help them grow. Her job to craft a better tomorrow today… and to do that, she lost the parts of her that picked up Danger. She can still find Caution signs (and her anxiety will always invent danger) but real Danger detection went to Adrien when she agreed to become Ladybug in the first place… And until both her and Adrien renounce their roles as the pair wielding the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses, she’ll always be missing it.

            The same way Adrien is missing his ability to think outside the box—seeing things as what they could become to help them went to her. He can only see potential threat and act on them. She can only see potential aide and act on that.

---------

            Jason grinned when he managed to make it into Paris. The second there was some damn akuma attack, he was grabbing the baby Bat and hunting Hawkmoth his way—she need the jewelry? Fine. She can have it. The guy brainwashing kids? The one that slaughtered the city? He’s Jason’s. ---------

            Bruce didn’t like being benched. He doesn’t like not knowing he had another child. He especially doesn’t like that this one is constantly preventing an apocalypse and his allies can’t be bothered to even send him anything about it. Not even a basic ‘she’s not living on the streets’ like Jason did. Or ‘she’s got parents here, calm down’ so he could get this stupid instinct to storm Paris and take on the bastard threatening his family that he didn’t know he had.

            Apparently Barbra has a hunch, but isn’t sharing until she has “conclusive evidence” of his daughter’s identity. Damian just isn’t speaking of it. As if being someone’s father biologically gives him a built-in alarm system for when he’s had a child and the ability to track them down at birth. Damian being raised in the League of Assassins should be enough proof to the contrary there.

            The others were… he wasn’t absolutely certain, but fairly certain his self-proclaimed ‘middle kid club’ were tracking his missing daughter down themselves. Possibly to claim her as part of their group, specifically.

            God, she was so young, It was before he even heard of the League that she was born. In that lifetime before becoming Batman. Would she like him? He was absent her whole life—did she want to meet him, meet the family? They’re a mess, he knows it. But they’re his—he chose them and they chose him. Would she chose him too?

            He watched another video of Ladybug in her early days, before she and her partner (dear god he’s cat-themed. Is it genetic? Should he test her and himself for some ‘drawn to dresses-as-a-cat’ gene?) were given any kind of training.

            She blew herself up to stop her city from being taken over by ‘Animan’ and his creatures.

            His daughter.

            Exploded.

            (She died. She died and he didn’t know. God he’s a horrible parent, and he hasn’t even parented her yet.)

            She died.

            To keep her city safe.

            She somehow reconstituted. But her face, in that video, she was shocked.

            His daughter should be dead but she’s not.

            Magic, he’s so glad his daughter uses magic.

            He. He’s going to need to consult someone. Raven? Raven should work. He can’t talk to the Justice League—nothing wrong with talking to the half-demon all of his Robins that lead the Titans has worked with.

            Loopholes.

            The Justice League is horrible at closing them.

---------

            Dick wanted to be mad when Damian came clean to him about the needles. He wanted to freak out over almost losing a sister he hasn’t met.

            He did.

            But.

            But this is Damian.

            Damian who still has trouble connecting. Who still flinches at certain tones of voice and phrasing. Damian who desperately wants to do Good but… struggles.

             Damian who has all of Bruce’s communication problems and then some.

             So no, Dick did not scream when he found out Damian only sparred “the blood daughter” because she looked too frail and weak for her to be considered anything resembling a threat to him. He did not sigh when he found out that Bruce didn’t know when Damian assumed he did. He did not hit himself when Damian discussed the various weapons he’d gifted her as a apology with the bouquets over the years and their meanings.

             He did take a deep breath, and begin explaining from this baby bat’s stance what had happened.

             “Imagine for a moment that it was me before I became Robin, and I was almost killed by someone who only let me live if I never contacted a shared parent or that parent’s known family. How do you think Pre-Robin me would have responded?”

             “You would have feared for your life and done whatever you could to prevent contact.”

             “Now, imagine I wasn’t told who to be avoiding, only aliases.”

             “You would avoid everyone with an alias that you did not help them create, and keep them from unknown aliases.”

             Dick snapped his fingers. “Exactly. That’s what this sister, what are we calling her?”

             “Her alias is Ladybug.”

             “Yes, that is what Ladybug was going through before Aquaman made contact.”

             Damian was quiet for a moment. “She must be on edge.”

             Dick nodded at that. “She probably is.”

             Damian furrowed his brow. “Do you think the League would allow me to contact her and end our agreement?”

             Dick rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure, but we can try.”

             “… And if they refuse?”

             “Then we find another way. We’re Bats,” Dick reassured Damian. He just hoped the missing members weren’t doing anything too rash…    

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

             Marinette made a (painful) decision. Adrien and her would swap miraculouses—at least until there were less pings on her sites from Gotham. For added protection, she kept the Mouse miraculous on. Chatte Noire was less known, and she doubted Wonder Woman or Aquaman informed Batman about the miraculous of Creation and Destruction’s particular… refusal to let anyone but a pair chosen together to wield them at any point.

             Chatte Noire would only be on call for a day or so… what’s the worst that can happen?

--------

the characters are jinxing themselves, and procrastinating the (vague) plot of Shenanigans. i swear. 

if anyone can message me on how to add in a read more, that’d be great since i know these can get long to scroll past for mobile users.

@heldtogetherbysafetypins @laurcad123 @raisuke06 @chaosace @jeminiikrystal @toodaloo-kangaroo @kris-pines04 @laurcad123

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Ladybug Puppet Show 6

Forbidden Love

-

Adrien arrived at his home later that night. Nathalie greeted him, as always.

“Dinner will be ready soon.” She said, as stoical as always. Then she smiled. “You father is waiting for you”

“Really?” Adrien was at a loss of words, and practically ran to the living room, forgetting he was still carrying his bag with him. His father was absentmindedly watching a family portrait.

“Adrien, no running inside the house.”

“Sorry”

“Nevermind. So, how was your… ‘puppet making’ session with Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Adrien could swear his dad smirked, but it had been so quick he wasn’t sure. He was still a bit glad his dad seemed genuinely interested.

“It was good. We made a lot of prototypes, and it seems she finally made a puppet she was satisfied with”

“… you actually made puppets?”

“Yes! She even gave me one of them” Adrien reached inside his bag for one of the Chat Noir prototypes. The one that was given to him had a purple body with butterflies, green camo arms of different patterns that were too small for the size of the body, an orange head and bright blue hair. Adrien offered it to his father, who started inspecting it. “I know it’s a bit ugly, but…”

“Nonsense. There is nothing ugly about this puppet. The craftsmanship alone is remarkable, and the stitches… they are evenly and in a perfect straight line. The doll could use different materials, but…” Gabriel put his hand inside the puppet, it barely fit.

“It’s just a prototype, Marinette made it with leftovers…” Adrien went on the defensive, “the final product will be better”

“Most people don’t know the effort and work that goes into designing, sometimes the things we plan don’t exactly turn out how we desire. Miss Dupain-Cheng seems to know this” Adrien could swear his father was smiling “Every prototype, every pattern testing is a step in the right direction to get the result you so desire, and that is never a waste of time, OR of materials. It might take a couple of tries, or five or a hundred, but a good designer never quits; it’s a proof of their perseverance. This might not be aesthetically cohesive, but it was part of Miss Dupain-Cheng’s journey to create a perfect product, and it was obviously made with all her heart and soul. And by giving it to you, she has made it very clear that you were part of that very journey. Treasure this son; something you made with all your heart is not easy to part ways with. She must think very highly of you.”

Nathalie and Adrien were very surprised at the sincerity of Gabriel’s words. “Now go and give it a place of honor in your room, we wouldn’t want to disappoint Miss Marinette by ruining it by staining it with today’s dinner, would we?” He returned the puppet to Adrien. “We’ll have dinner when you return”

Speechless, Adrien thanked his father and left to his room.

“Wow, your father seems to have a very high opinion of the baker girl” said Plagg upon exiting Adrien’s bag. “I had never heard him expressing so much praise of someone before”

Adrien smiled, while placing the Chat Noir doll in his computer desk, near a picture of his mom with him.

“Yeah… he must really love puppets”

-

“I never thought I would say this, but you really outdid yourself Marinette”

Chloe had just received her Queen Bee doll, which Marinette had handmade and matched the rest of her dolls. Uncharacteristically of Chloe, she was hugging the doll after having inspected it.

“And she smells like honey too! I shall call you Queenie”

“Well, it was only fair, you have held up your part of the deal” said Alya, amused at Chloe’s attitude towards a doll… and wondered how she could ask Marinette for a Rena Rouge doll for herself without mentioning she was Rena Rouge.

“I can’t wait to see the puppet version!”

“Well, considering you only became Queen Bee after your mom returned from New York that might take quite some time”

“What? You mean you’re not adding Queen Bee from the beginning?”

“Huh… no?”

“But why? Queen Bee is a very important part of the team!”

“But she’s not a permanent part of the team, so she will only guest star in some episodes. Like Rena Rouge and Carapace”

Chloe placed her doll in her bag, and then crossed her arms defiantly.

“Let me put it this way Cesaire…” Alya feared this. Chloe would take her sponsorship and they would end up with no budget for the show. “Would you rather make fun of me once every 20 episodes, or make fun of me in every single episode?”

This left Alya speechless.

“She does make a very convincing argument” commented Marinette. She wondered if there was a way to put Volpina in the show and make fun of her too.

“Okay, you do have a point. I guess we could include Rena Rouge and Carapace too and make a Five Hero Team”

“I don’t care about Rena Rouge” said Chloe rolling her eyes. “But Carapace is a total cutie, of course we should add him.”

“what”

“You like Carapace?”

“Well duh, I’m not a fan of the turtle theme, but I know he didn’t choose it… what’s not to like about a big strong guy who can totally protect you? He’s like a Knight in –form fitting - Green Spandex. And those arms? A total Hottie.”

-

“Achoo!”

“Gesundheit.”

“Thanks. I don’t know why, but a chill just ran down my spine”

-

Marinette was using all of her willpower to not fall to the ground laughing, while Alya was equal parts jealous, amused and furious that Chloe seemed to have developed a crush on her boyfriend.

“Chloparace has a nice ring to it”

“But isn’t Carapace the boyfriend of Rena Rouge?”

“Sadly, yes, and as much as I like him, I would never interfere in the relationship of a teammate.”

“How… nice of you”

“I know. I’m awesome. I’m not even going to force you guys to write a love triangle in the show, as cool as it would be”

“SO, are we going to introduce Rena Rouge, Queen Bee and Carapace along with Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“I guess, but we would need to rework their origin…”

“It’s not like we know how they were chosen…”

“Didn’t that Pharaoh Guy said Ladybug was like 5000 years old? Maybe they were dormant in pods and only woke up in modern times to fight Hawk Moth.”

“Maybe she was a princess of an ancient Kingdom and had to sacrifice her life to be with her beloved, and they have reincarnated in modern times.”

“Maybe they sealed a contract with a magical being to become a Magical Hero and the Akumas are former Magical Heroes that have been corrupted by negative energy.”

“Oh, I know! She was snooping at her father’s study and found a book with all the akumas and they became free and now she has to capture them!”

“I bet a radioactive ladybug bit her”

“I mean, if we’re going to rip off another franchise, we could go with just an ancient being giving the Miraculous to five Teenagers with Attitude™”

“An ancient being wearing a Hawaiian shirt…”

“Why a Hawaiian shirt?”

“… It would be… funny?”

“An Ancient Being that is in charge of the Miraculous… someone who was betrayed by an apprentice in the past, who took with him the Butterfly Miraculous… Someone that guards the Miraculous from the Forces of Evil… we shall call him… The Keeper”

“Why not the Guardian?”

“Keeper sound cooler”

[chocoluckchipz]

Dance with Me, Chaton - 12

Read it on A03, WattPad, FF.net

Written for @ladynoirjuly2019

< Previous

12. Tears.

Plagg’s way of teaching was a little unconventional. At least concerning the scheduling of their lessons. For one, he preferred to see Adrien late at night or before everyone woke up. And he never warned about the next lesson more than an hour in advance. Effectively, it had come to this: no matter where Adrien was or what he did, if Plagg texted him, he had two choices: he either showed up with five wheels of Camembert at precisely the appointed time at the studio, or he could quit.

“You seem grumpy today, kid,” Plagg said, opening his “fee” for a before sunrise snack. “What’s up?”

“I’ve had five hours of sleep tonight. Why do you think?”

“Ah, poor you. Why didn’t you go to bed early?”

“Why, indeed,” Adrien grumbled. “I’m sure it has nothing to do with you letting me go only at midnight.”

"I fail to see the issue," Plagg said, chewing as he put the first empty box away. "You signed up for my lessons yourself and now you're complaining?"

“For dance lessons, Plagg,” Adrien groaned. “I didn’t sign up for you to completely mess up my sleep schedule.”

“That’s the way I teach dance,” Plagg shrugged. “You don’t like, you can quit. Or did you think that learning how to dance despite the rain is easy?”

“No.”

“Then quit whining because, if you haven’t noticed, I could’ve been dreaming of a lady in red right now. Instead, I’m stuck here with you. Would it hurt you to at least be thankful?”

“I’m paying you for this,” Adrien groaned under his breath. “Let’s just start. I have work in a few hours.”

“Un momento," Plagg smirked. “I have to appreciate your offering first. Give me five minutes.”

“Fine,” Adrien mumbled and dropped to the floor. He focused his eyes on the ceiling instead of the glutton on his throne. Weird. From what he’d seen from Plagg so far, Adrien could tell the man had mad skills. How he could reach this level of mastery with his attitude was beyond Adrien’s comprehension. And even more confusing was the fact that Plagg hadn’t had Adrien do any actual dancing yet. At least one, sometimes two, excruciatingly hard workouts was all that Plagg offered. Workouts that had nothing to do with dancing. If Adrien wanted that, he’d stick to his personal trainer. At least that guy was nice and didn’t smell like Camembert all the time.

***

Barely moving on his feet, Adrien entered the halls of Gabriel a few hours later. His first objective was to gift Marinette the lucky charm he’d made for her. Then head for the business management and accounting departments. Adrien sighed. Boring. He'd rather go back to the designers' one. At least that was fun. Well, hopefully, he wouldn't have to stay there for long, though, because Ladybug had emailed the edited designs to his father last night, and if everything went well, Adrien might learn Ladybug’s identity soon. She promised him to think about that date. Although… maybe he should warn his father to play along, just as a precaution…

Someone zoomed past Adrien, lightly bumping his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” The girl stopped, turning around “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to—”

“Marinette?” Adrien’s eyes widened as he frowned. “Why are you crying? Is it Lila again?”

She shook her head, her lips quivering. Eyes looking to the ground, she struggled with words. “I—I…”

Adrien took her by the shoulders and caught her gaze. “Marinette, calm down. What happened?”

“He—your father—”

“What did he do?”

“Fired us—all of us…”

“What? He fired you?”

She shook her head. “The whole department. All the designers.”

“He what?”

“It’s my fault—I have to talk—”

“This isn’t your fault,” Adrien seethed through his teeth, anger boiling in his veins. He promised! His father promised he wouldn’t fire Ladybug! “Go back to your office. I’ll talk to him.”

“Adrien—”

“Don’t worry. Leave this to me, Marinette. I promise everything will be fine.”

She tried to say something else, but Adrien didn’t listen. His breathing heavy, he headed straight for his father’s office. He didn’t bother with knocking, barging in the room uninvited.

“You can’t do this, Father! You promised me you wouldn’t fire her!”

“She can’t mock me like this,” Gabriel snapped back, glaring at sheets of paper with the reworked designs Ladybug had sent him that night scattered all over his desk.

“She’s trying to prove her point just like you wanted her to do.”

“I wanted to see her in person!”

“Well, this isn’t happening because she loves her job and if that’s how you react not knowing who she is, what would you do if you knew?”

“So, I see, you’ve been in contact with her?”

Adrien stilled. “I didn’t say that.”

“Then how do you know what she did?”

Adrien pressed his lips together. “Fine. I have been talking to her, but I don’t know who she is yet, and I was this close to finding out. But you had to step in, and now, she won’t come forward because you fired her.”

Gabriel smirked. “So, she’s one of the designers. I thought so.”  

Adrien sighed. “I don’t know for certain. She’s good at keeping her identity a secret, so you might’ve just sacked a whole team of innocent people.”

Gabriel laughed. “Have you seen the poll? None of them are as innocent as you think.”

Adrien clenched his teeth together. This was going nowhere. Still, he pushed. He had to. He promised Marinette he’d get her job back. “You promised you won’t fire her.”

“And I kept my promise.”

“Are you serious? How?”

“Can you can prove that one of the fired is Ladybug, Adrien?”

Adrien’s jaw hurt from all the pressure he’s been putting on it. He couldn’t answer. Not for certain. Suspicions weren’t facts. His eyes locked on the ground, he growled in desperation. He should’ve known! He knew his father enough not to trust him, and yet he made the deal. The deal with the devil for the soul of someone innocent. Great job, Adrien! This was all his fault and his alone, and he had to fight tooth and nail to fix it. If only he’d known how. Years of blind obedience, unfortunately, stripped him of that knowledge. How to stand up to his father was not something he’d practiced often, if at all.

Adrien’s eyes widened a speck as an idea came to his mind. Father wouldn’t do anything Adrien could ask for unless it benefited Gabriel directly. He had to play on that.

“You can’t fire all your designers so close to the show, Father,” Adrien said. “There is no time for hiring and training new ones.”

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at his window. "Tell me who Ladybug is, and everyone can have their jobs back.”

“I can’t. I don’t know who she is.”

Gabriel’s lips pressed into a thin line. “You’ve wasted two weeks and learned nothing?” He scoffed. “Tell me why I am not surprised?”

A sick feeling settled at the pit of Adrien’s stomach. He’d rarely confronted his Father before. It never ended well. “You’re wrong. It wasn’t a waste. I’ve earned her trust. She was considering meeting me if you reacted well to her email.”

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow. “She knows who you are?”

“No, she doesn’t. I’m a random employee who shares her opinion. That’s all.”

“At least you’ve been smart enough to keep your identity a secret,” Gabriel scoffed.

“I can do this, Father. Give me more time, and I’ll do this.”

Gabriel laughter sent chills down Adrien’s spine. If not for both, Marinette and Ladybug, Adrien would’ve walked right out, but he couldn’t. They trusted him to fix this.

“You really loathe working here, don’t you Adrien?” Gabriel puffed. “You own half of this damn company, yet you can't wait to get out.”

“Loathe is a strong word,” Adrien replied. “I wouldn’t use it. But I do want to explore what’s out there before I settle in my role here. And you know just as well as I do that my ‘ownership’ as you say it is on paper only. I can’t do much.”

Gabriel leaned back into his chair and spun to look at his late wife’s portrait. “Paper or not, your mother left you quite a present.” He pounded on something for a short while, then, without looking at Adrien, added, “You have until the show as we’ve discussed before. Bring Ladybug to me for a conversation, and you can have your freedom.”

“You won’t fire her?”

“I won’t.”

“How about the others?”

“They can have their jobs back. I do need a team for the show.”

“Thank you,” Adrien said.

Gabriel waved his hand, letting Adrien know this conversation was over.

“Have a good day,” Adrien said and turned around, heading for the door. He stopped right before exiting and added, “No matter what you think, Father, Ladybug respects you. She always speaks highly of you and admires your talent. It’ll be a shame to lose such a worker.”

Gabriel didn’t look up from his work. Adrien opened the door and walked out.

He headed straight to the men’s room and splashed cold water on his face. Hovering over the sink, Adrien fought to stabilize his breathing. His first victory. He got everyone their jobs back. That was good. He’d have to go there right away and speak with Mme Bustier to ensure everything was well and their jobs were safe… if they still wanted them because he wouldn’t be surprised if a few or even all of the designers would walk out after the way his father treated them. The media was sure to hear about this incident as well. Adrien would leave it to his father, though. He got himself into this mess, it was his job to manage it.

But hell, he would give away his Lady to this man now! His father had broken his trust way too many times, and Adrien liked Ladybug way too much to jeopardize her any further… which meant he’d probably need to let her go. Even if by accident, but with his father being aware Adrien was looking for her, identity reveal couldn’t happen. Too much risk.

His chest clenched. Adrien closed his eyes. He was so close. His freedom… It slipped right through his hands. A lump forming in his throat, he felt tears gathering in his eyes. Adrien’s breathing quickened, and he splashed cold water on his face again. It was worth it. Ladybug was worth it. It was fine. It wasn’t the first of his dreams to die. It probably wouldn’t be the last one. He was used to this. He could get through this. Easily. He always did. Why should this time be any different?

***

Chat Noir: So. It backfired.

Ladybug: I caused the whole department to be fired.

Chat Noir: Correction: We caused the whole department to be fired. I’ve heard they got their jobs back, though. No?

Ladybug: They did, but everyone’s feeling insecure and down. A few people quit already. Can’t blame them. That was awful and quite frankly illegal. The media is starting to sniff around, so I’d expect a scandal to break out soon. That’s the last thing we need right before the show. Depressing.

Chat Noir: I’m sure Gabriel Agreste can handle this mess. He landed himself in it, so he can deal with it.

Ladybug: It’s all my fault. I should’ve never done anything. It was a losing battle from the start.

Chat Noir: You wanted what’s best for the company. You can’t blame yourself for that. And it was me who pushed you to continue, so if anyone’s it was my fault. I’m sorry.

Ladybug: I’m sorry too.

Ladybug: Hey, Chat?

Chat Noir: Here.

Ladybug: I know, I should say that we should stop chatting after our epic failure but…

His heart raced. Could it be?

Chat Noir: You don’t want to?

Ladybug: I’ve gotten used to you. You’ve often made my day with your silliness, and I know we haven’t talked for a long time, but it feels like we’ve known each other forever. I’d hate to lose you. Especially over a failed conspiracy. So, I thought maybe we can continue to chat? Just as friends, all missions aside.

Chat Noir: It could be dangerous.

Ladybug: Danger is my middle name.

Chat Noir: XD I highly doubt that.

Ladybug: Come on. We were brave enough to face the Hawkmoth. We did face him, so we’re tied forever by this secret. You can’t back out of this now.

Chat Noir: Well, Hawkmoth can start investigating.

Ladybug: I highly doubt he will, and even if he would, how would he know to look for a random Discord chat with just the two of us in it? Come on, Chaton. Don’t leave me like that.

Adrien had to restrain himself from typing. He wanted to stay with her, he really did. But she was in danger if he would. He couldn’t have that. She meant too much for him. Plus, if he’d persisted and complied with Plagg’s nonsense, he could meet her later at the Kwami Kave, away from Gabriel Agreste and the danger.

Chat Noir: I’m sorry, my Lady. But you mean too much to me to endanger you anymore. We’d have to delete this chat room to erase all the backlogs.

Ladybug: We can always make another one. Please?

Ladybug: Chaton?

His heart was breaking, but he had to do this. He had to protect her from his father.

Chat Noir: Please, my Lady. You’re only making it harder than it already is.

Ladybug: Then how about I’ll go on that date with you? We can meet in the real world and switch to texting each other over the regular text? All references to this room and any anything that went down here aside? Just two random Gabriel employees hanging out together. Nothing unusual or suspicious?

Adrien sucked in the air. She… did she want him in her life so much?

Ladybug: You’re breaking my heart, Chaton. Say something.

His heart was about to give up on him. No one had ever wanted him so much, not knowing who he was. She liked him for him! Ladybug liked Chat Noir for him. That was too much to reject.

Chat Noir: We’d have to be careful in setting this up.

Ladybug: :relieved: I already have a plan.

Chat Noir: XD I’m all ears.

Ladybug: Do you know the pre-show company party that’s coming up soon?

Chat Noir: Yeah. I haven't been to one yet, though.

Ladybug: We can “meet” there. Just two people clicking at the party with the whole company as a witness we’ve just met. No prior history, no conspiracy, no dark secrets. A brand new start.

Chat Noir: :3 I like your thought process. Tell me more.

_______________________________________________________________________

Next >

[mikauzoran]

Adrienette Drabble Fifteen: Judge

Gabriel snapped something about sartorial trends in Italian that Adrien didn’t quite understand. He had heard his father rant heatedly about fashion in Italian often enough to the point where Adrien himself was able to thoroughly insult designers, models, lighting specialists, the sound people, the critics reviewing a show, and the owner of the venue, but the comment Gabriel had just made was more subtle; thus, it went completely over Adrien’s head.

“Maybe I should learn how to say something useful in Italian like, ‘Where is the train station?’ or ‘Does this have meat in it?’,” Adrien thought as he watched the Seine fly by outside the car window.

Gabriel put his line back on mute and sighed, “This call is a waste of time. The idiot has no conception of the direction current trends are pointing for next season. Why, just the other day, I was speaking with a few of our new interns, and Ma—aa…”

Gabriel stopped dead, slowly turning to scrutinize the damage he had done.

Adrien smiled sadly. “Go on. What did Marinette say?”

Gabriel gulped. “…Neoclassicism is making another comeback. And she’s absolutely right.”

Gabriel cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. Are you okay? Are you going to be okay going to school today? Are you going to be okay seeing her? Am I pushing you too hard? We don’t have to do this.”

Adrien chewed on his lip thoughtfully. “I don’t know. There’s only one period left today, so…I’m sure I can tough it out for one period. As for Marinette…”

He covered his face with his hands. “God, I want to see her. I want to see her more than anything. Is that masochistic?”

Plagg sighed, poking his head out of Adrien’s shirt collar. “A little bit, Kid.”

Adrien blew out a long sigh, his hand trailing down his face to rub at his neck.

“I’m pathetic, aren’t I?” Adrien mumbled.

“Not pathetic,” Gabriel assured. “Just pitiable.”

“I can live with ‘pitiable’,” Adrien decided, distractedly tracing the bruises with a finger.

Gabriel’s lips pressed together in a thin line. “It won’t be like this for much longer. Things are going to get better.”

“I hope so,” Adrien mumbled, leaning his head to rest against the windowpane.

“Did Nathalie tell you we were able to schedule you to see a counselor at six this evening?” Gabriel inquired.

Adrien���s head whipped around, and he stared incredulously at his father. “What? Really? So soon? I thought we’d have to sit around on a waiting list for a few months or something.”

Gabriel shook his head gravely. “We didn’t really have time to be waitlisted. Measures might have been taken to circumvent the waiting list.”

Adrien’s expression slowly morphed into a frown. “What did you do? Do I want to know?”

“Let’s just say,” Gabriel sighed. “They’ll soon begin construction on the Emilie Agreste Memorial Mental Health Wing thanks to our generous donation.”

Adrien pursed his lips. “Part of me feels bad for cutting in line, but there’s also a part of me that reasons that they’ll be able to help more people with a new, updated wing.”

Gabriel shrugged. “I’m not concerned with being a good person. I’m concerned with being your father.”

“Mother would be pleased to have something named after her.” Adrien smiled nostalgically and began to giggle. “She would probably make some snide remark about giving her name to a psych ward.”

Gabriel began to laugh even as his heart throbbed. “Yes, she would, wouldn’t she? Emilie always had something snarky and irreverent to say.”

“…Dad?”

“Hm?” Gabriel was still getting used to the new moniker.

Adrien smiled with green eyes full of gratitude. “Thank you so much. You’ve been so great the past two and a half weeks, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I’d be absolutely lost right now without your support…. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you said things were going to change.”

Gabriel reached out to run a hand through Adrien’s hair. “I’d given you no reason to believe me.”

“Thank you for today,” Adrien whispered. “I know you think psychologists are quacks, so it means a lot to me that you’ve gone to so much trouble.”

“I am willing to do anything you think we need to do to get you better, Adrien, regardless of my personal beliefs. At this point, I hope that I’ve been wrong this whole time and she’s actually able to help you,” Gabriel confessed.

Adrien nodded. “Yeah. Me too…but still. Thank you, Dad.”

Gabriel shrugged. “All I did was throw money at the problem like usual. This was a team effort. Nathalie spent all day finding a doctor and making the phone calls, and Plagg covered Nathalie’s desk while she was doing that, so…”

Adrien awkwardly tried to look down his shirt at the kwami. “Really, Plagg?”

Plagg floated out to shrug, landing on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I mean, you were out cold, so it’s not like you needed strict supervision. It wasn’t so hard to answer the phone and play around on the computer between poking my head in to check on you.” Plagg cleared his throat and recited, “‘Gabriel Enterprises. You’ve reached the desk of Nathalie Sancoeur. This is her assistant Plagg. How may I help you?’ And then you just have to tell them what day you need what where. Nathalie made me a cheat sheet. It wasn’t too hard since Nathalie has everything so organized.”

“Wow, Plagg,” Adrien snickered. “I didn’t think you had it in you to be useful.”

“I surprised myself,” Plagg admitted.

“He’s actually a very skilled resource manager,” Gabriel praised. “He reworked our invoice system.”

Adrien’s eyes widened in surprise.

Plagg shrugged. “I had a kitten who was an accountant for a law firm back in the late eighteen-hundreds. The principles are the same. I just had to learn how to work the computer, but I’ve seen you do that plenty of times, Kid.”

Adrien nodded dumbly as they pulled up to the school and the car stopped.

Gabriel looked at the building and then at Adrien with a dubious expression. “You’re sure you’re okay to do this?”

Adrien shrugged. “I’m at least going to try. I’ve got this. I mean, I get pummeled by akuma thrice a week, so how bad can this be?”

Gabriel winced, thinking, “Not anymore, you don’t.”

Gabriel leaned in to press a kiss to Adrien’s forehead. “Have a good day…. I’m proud of you.”

With a genuine smile, Adrien stepped out of the car and made his way into the school.

He snuck into Madame Mendeleiev’s Calculus class through the back door, hoping to escape notice by sitting at the back of the room, but Mendeleiev herself foiled his plan.

“Monsieur Agreste, so nice of you to join us,” she remarked sarcastically.

Nearly the whole class turned to stare at him.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Madame,” Adrien replied, head down, refusing to look at anyone so as not to witness their reactions to seeing him.

Apparently, the akumatization sensitivity training the teachers had to take had not made an impression on Madame Mendeleiev.

Adrien could feel his cheeks burning as he buried his eyes in the textbook and tried not to fuss with the scarf covering up the marks on his neck.

His classmates started whispering, and as much as Adrien actively tried not to hear, Chat Noir’s heightened senses affected him residually even outside of the mask.

“Wow. He looks like crap.” Juleka.

“Did you see the pictures online of him crying at the park Saturday?” Max.

“Look at that scarf. No points for guessing what that’s covering up.” Alix.

“Someone saw some action. Maybe he was so bad she broke up with him.” Kim.

“Serves him right for the way he’s been treating Marinette.” Mylène.

“Has your brother said anything yet?” Rose.

“How is he? How does he look? Does he look okay?” Marinette. Marinette obviously unable to look at him herself and asking Alya to do reconnaissance.

Adrien heard Alya draw in a sharp breath. “He’s…fine,” Alya lied.

Marinette sighed. He could almost see her rolling her eyes. “Alya?”

Alya blew out a weary breath. “Honestly? I think you wrecked him. If anyone was ever being held together by rubber bands, it would be him.”

“Oh,” Marinette replied in a barely-there whisper. “G-Great. Thanks.”

God, he hoped she didn’t look at him. He hadn’t thought he’d looked that bad, but, apparently, the situation was dire, and he didn’t want her to see him like that.

Tomorrow he’d put on more makeup. He would smile so hard and look everyone in the eye and stand up straight and be the Adrien Agreste that everyone saw on billboards. Tomorrow he would fake it so well that no one would suspect a thing.

But in that moment, he felt like a wounded seal watching the sharks circling round. He was not the Adrien Agreste on the perfume bottle. He was just that dorky loser Adrien whose life was currently rimming the drain.

He sank lower in his seat, hunching his shoulders to hide his face. He kept his head down until Madame Mendeleiev called for order and resumed the lesson.

He considered sneaking back out of class and heading to the nurse’s office until all the other students had left for the day. He’d been wrong. Battling akuma might be physically challenging and painful, but that was nothing compared to the mental anguish of sitting in that classroom, feeling like a freak show and having everyone whisper about him.

“Don’t stop breathing on me, Kid,” Plagg whispered. “Come on. In and out.”

Adrien took a shallow inhale. It was all his lungs could handle.

“Hey. No hyperventilating,” Plagg chided, concern softening his voice. “Kid, this was a bad idea. Let’s go home,” he suggested.

But Adrien couldn’t move. He was too afraid to get up and leave, knowing it would draw even more attention to himself. He was afraid to run away and show them how scared he was of them and what they would think and what they would whisper behind his back. He was too terrified to move, to flee and let them know they had beaten him.

He was afraid of what Marinette would think. He had to convince her he was emotionally stable. He had to prove that he was the kind of guy that she would want to get involved with. Running out of class crying would not accomplish those goals, so Adrien stayed and focused on not letting anyone see what a disaster he was.

After a few minutes, he tentatively peeked up at Marinette. Or, at least, the back of her head. Her hair was up in a bun, and she was wearing a black lace choker she had made out of some of the fabric scraps he had once given her.

Adrien lightly touched the bruises she’d left on his neck and thought that it was nice that she had a gift from him around her neck too.

 The bell had barely rung when Adrien bolted from his seat, hoping to get to his locker and get out before anyone could look at him or say anything.

His plan failed. 

He couldn’t remember his locker combination. The information was just gone. He tried several strings of numbers that seemed to have some potential, but none of them worked. It could have been the fact that his hands were shaking so badly, he wasn’t certain he’d entered the numbers he was intending to in the first place.

“Breathe, Kid,” Plagg reminded, phasing down Adrien’s arm and through the locker to pop the door open.

“Thank you,” Adrien mumbled meekly, feeling the edge come off his panic.

Until someone yanked his scarf off from behind.

“Hey, Agreste.”

Adrien spun to find Kim looming over him with a predatory smirk. “Wow! It looks like someone really mauled you. What happened?”

“Kim, could you please give me my scarf back?” Adrien reached for it, but Kim pulled it away, balling it up and holding it over Adrien’s head.

Adrien was five-nine in shoes while Kim had reached six foot three, and those few inches made all the difference.

“Make me,” Kim snickered.

Adrien stood on his tiptoes to no avail. “Please, Kim?”

“Nope,” Kim rejected the request gleefully. “You know, I don’t know what Marie ever saw in you. She’s so over you, by the way,” Kim added savagely.

“W-What?” Adrien blinked stupidly, hands dropping to his sides. “Marinette…is…?”

Kim shoved Adrien back into his locker door.

Adrien caught himself on one of the shelves inside the open locker and looked up wide-eyed at Kim as the other boy growled, “You bastard! Marie! Marie, that girl that you dated. Marie who was head over heels in love with you, you self-absorbed prick! You should be shot,” Kim spat, looking down at Adrien in disgust. “Guys like you should be taken out back and shot. I hope whoever gave you that hickey makes you suffer. I hope she toys with your heart like you did Marie’s.”

Adrien didn’t even have the presence of mind to flinch when Kim drew back his foot to kick Adrien.

Thankfully, the blow never landed.

“Back the hell off, Kim,” Marinette snapped, charging Kim like a rhino and shoving him away from Adrien while Kim was off balance.

“The hell, Marinette?!” Kim snapped.

Marinette stomped her foot, putting herself between Kim and Adrien. “You heard me: Back off,” she repeated, an eerie calm in her voice that spoke of someone who was master of the situation. “You mess with him, you deal with me.”

Kim shifted uncomfortably under Marinette’s intense glare. Upon brief consideration, Kim put his hands up, unwilling to go up against Marinette. He tossed the scarf at Adrien’s feet as he walked away, muttering under his breath.

The rest of the locker room went back about its business once the show had ended, but Marinette and Adrien remained motionless. He stared as she took a deep breath and forced her muscles, her jaw, her fists to unclench.

She didn’t turn to face him, and he was glad of it because he was positive that he looked pathetic. That he was pathetic. And she was just so cool and brave and wonderful.

Had she hurt him? Yes. Would he let her hurt him again? Gladly. Over and over and over if only that pain could be interspersed with happiness like she had made him feel when she’d smiled at him, called him Chaton, returned one of his puns with a pun of her own, kissed him…

She had told him not to speak to her. He wondered how strictly she’d enforce that rule.

“Thank you,” he ventured in a small, timid voice.

She visibly deflated.

He almost apologized, but she spoke first, “I will always have your back. No matter what.”

Without another word or a glance behind, she walked away.

But her words, that simple promise, meant the world to him. He shut the locker door and fled before anything else could happen to kill the hope inside of him.

[seasonofthegeek]

Five Minutes

Today’s drabble was commissioned by the lovely @ifirestone for Alyanette with the Rebel/Rule Follower AU from my 2018 AU Commission Challenge. Alya and Marinette both work for a large online news outlet. Thanks, sweets! I hope you like it!

“Do you live here?”

Alya looked up in surprise to see bright blue eyes peeking over the side of her cubicle wall. “What?”

“I’m just curious if you live here.” A young woman in a soft pink skirt and white blouse appeared in the cubicle entrance. Her dark hair was pulled up in twin buns of top of her head, multicolor chopsticks sticking out in every direction. “Because every day when I leave, you’re still here. And when I get here in the morning, here you sit.” She grinned. “So I’m just wondering if you live here.”

Alya shook her head with a short laugh. “It feels like it. I just got moved up from editing personal ads so I’m trying really hard to make sure Gavin doesn’t think he made a mistake giving me a chance.”

“You should take a break and come get a coffee with me.”

“I appreciate it, but I really need to finish getting everything in for this story. I’m supposed to email it by midnight. He kind of made it sound like it was a make or break type thing with this new position.”

“Gavin’s a pig.” The other woman tilted her head, a smile playing on her lips. “What’s your name?”

“Alya.”

“Alya, I’m Marinette and you’re coming to the breakroom with me and getting a mediocre cup of coffee.”

“I really shouldn’t--”

“Five minutes,” Marinette grinned. “You seem like you need it.”

“I guess five minutes couldn’t really hurt anything,” Alya agreed, standing and stretching. 

_________________________

“I thought Fashion was on the fourth floor.”

Marinette waved a hand. “Oh, we are but you guys have the nicer bathrooms and our coffee machine sucks worse than this one. It also really irritates my editor when I go missing during the day.”

Alya nodded, sipping her coffee. “So you write?”

“Oh, no!” Marinette’s eyes went comically wide. “I’m not great at the words thing. I do illustrations and design work. And I research what’s going on in the fashion world and pass it on. It makes me valuable enough to slack off sometimes,” she winked.

Alya’s phone began to beep and she sighed, taking it out of her pocket and turning off the noise.

“You did not actually set the timer for five minutes.”

“I really have to finish that article,” Alya winced.

Marinette sat back in her chair. “Fine, but you owe me another five minutes sometime.”

“It’s a deal.” 

_________________________

“On another walkabout?” Alya asked when Marinette appeared in the opening of her cubicle.

“I was told my submitted designs this week were lacking so I’ll be spending most of the day out of my office for inspiration,” she grinned. “Five minutes?”

Alya felt her cheeks warm but shot the other woman a smirk. “I think I can spare that for you. Maybe I can help with that inspiration problem.”

Marinette’s eyes widened and pink spread across her cheeks. “I’d like that.”

_________________________

“So today I was thinking and...what’s wrong?” Marinette slipped into Alya’s cubicle.

Alya wiped angrily at her eyes. “Freaking Gavin. He just tore into something I had worked on really hard. LIke for no...no reason and I’m just so angry about it.” She curled her fingers into a fist on her desk. “I did everything right. I researched and interviewed and...and stayed late every night for two weeks and for what?”

Marinette slid Alya’s purse off the back of her chair. “Come on.”

“I don’t have five minutes right now,” she sniffed, grabbing a tissue to wipe her eyes.

“Screw five minutes. You’re taking the rest of the day off.”

Alya turned in her desk chair. “I can’t just leave.”

“Why not?”

“Because...because you don’t do that. You don’t just leave work in the middle of the day.”

“Scoot over.” Marinette nudged Alya’s chair with her hip and bent over her keyboard. “I’m emailing Gavin that you’re sick and going home.”

“You can’t--”

“And then we’re going to get out of this hellhole and go do something fun.” 

Alya watched Marinette pull up her email and type out the message. Marinette looked back at her, eyebrows raised and Alya swallowed thickly and nodded, watching the mouse hover over the send button.

Marinette straightened and smiled. “Ready for the best five minutes ever?”

_________________________

“Purple looks good on you,” Marinette smiled, looking at Alya’s bare feet and then wiggling her own toes to show off the new pink polish. “Okay, we ate a ridiculously extravagant lunch, we had our nails done, now what?”

“Now I should probably go home and start reworking that story,” Alya admitted, “but thank you so much for today. I really needed it.”

“It’s good to get out every once in the while and bend the rules,” Marinette winked. “I feel so good I think I could design three new dresses tonight.”

Alya studied her. “That’s how it works for you, doesn’t it? Breaking the rules is how you get inspired.”

Marinette laughed. “I don’t know that I’ve ever looked at it like that but maybe. There’s something about feeling like I can do what I want instead of what I’m supposed to do that does usually get the juices flowing.”

“I might have to adopt that.”

“Please do. I need to know you’re not going to have a stroke from the stress one of these days.”

Alya snorted. “I haven’t been that bad.”

“You time our breaks.”

“Not every time!”

Marinette preened. “Good to know I’m rubbing off on you.”

“You really have helped me a lot,” Alya said softly. “I’d like to repay you if I could. Maybe I could take you to dinner?”

“That sounds nice,” Marinette nodded. 

“As a date.”

“Oh.” Marinette’s lips spread into a wide smile. “That sounds very nice.”

Alya flushed. “Yeah?”

“Absolutely. And you know, to help you practice with the whole bending the rules thing, you could go ahead and kiss me now before the date,” Marinette offered.

“That does sound like a good idea. I mean, I’ve got to start with this rebel thing somehow,” Alya grinned. She leaned forward, pressing her lips softly against Marinette’s.

As Alya pulled away, Marinette tried to follow her, eyes closed and lips smiling. “Just five more minutes,” she whispered happily.

AU Challenge Prompt List

Buy me a coffee?