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justmywritingstuff · 17 days

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Speechless Changes~Number 6 (part 1)

Summary:

When you always have done whatever it takes to get your goals, it's very hard to change or surprise people--even harder to leave them speechless.

In other words, the six firsts of Shadybug and Claw Noir's relationship that left someone speechless.

AO3

Warnings: language, heavily implied abuse

Word Count: 13k+

Author's notes: Hello friends! Yes, I'm alive. I'm sorry for the delay, I messed up my wrist and shoulder in a car accident and the pain killers (and you know, my wrist) made it really hard to work on this series. This is a two part chapter, so the second part will come out soon. And this is the end of the series, there might be a sequel in the future, I haven't decided yet. This is a bit of a heavy chapter, so be prepared for that. As always, a line break means a change in POV, enjoy!

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It’s a good day for Marinette, one of the best she’s had in awhile.

She had aced a test in school, watched Chloe fall face first into a muddy puddle, Alya called her her best friend, and she’s currently beating the hell out of some girl in a magic ox costume with her lucky charm—it’s an umbrella—while Claw is trying to get her Miraculous. It’s a weird life, but sometimes it’s a damn good one.

The ox girl finally seems to fall back from the numerous hits, much to Shady’s displeasure—she was just starting to get into it.

Shady and Claw stand by her to make sure she stays down, Claw groans in annoyance and pulls out his staff to call someone.

She can’t help but ogle him as he does so, she loves this guy more than anything and he’s much more than a pretty face—but damn, she’s the first to admit he’s definitely a hot piece of ass, especially in the leather. She’s having a good day, but what would make it a fucking great day is the opportunity to drool over her attractive partner and get her daily dose of affection from those sinful lips of his.

The ox girl tries to get up, breaking Shady from her daydreaming. Shady sighs and hits her with the umbrella again, dazing her. Frankly, she’s amazed at how many hits to the head this girl can take and the fact that the umbrella hasn’t broken yet.

“Hello?” She hears Betterfly’s voice coming from Claw’s staff.

“Where the hell is this lady’s miraculous?” Claw asks, exasperated.

“What lady? Oh no, are you two fighting another holder?”

“Yeah, ox girl.”

“Ox? That’s one of the Supreme’s favorites! Are you two alright? I’ll send reinforcements right—”

“Hell no, we’ve already got it handled. Where’s the miraculous? This girl’s covered in fucking jewelry.”

“Oh um nose ring, I believe?”

“Great. Hang on, you’ll get it in a sec.”

Claw leans down to the semi-unconscious ox girl and grabs the nose ring, handing it over to Shady as the girl returns to normal. Shady puts it into her yo-yo to send it to Betterfly.

The girl groans loudly.

“What was that?” Betterfly asks accusingly from Claw’s staff.

“That’s the ox.” Claw says. “I told you, we got it.”

“…Shadybug used her Lucky Charm as a weapon again, didn’t she?”

Claw sends Shady a look. “Uh no?”

Betterfly sighs, and she can practically hear him rubbing his forehead tiredly. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Claw hangs up his staff and Shady sighs, knowing that tomorrow probably holds another long lecture about violence from Betterfly.

“Did you have to beat her with the fucking umbrella?” Claw says.

Shady shrugs and sends him a smirk. “She slapped your ass and made you uncomfortable. You would have done the same fucking thing if it was me instead.”

“…Fair point.”

She tosses her umbrella up in the air and does her miraculous cure. After all the usual things, damage is fixed, the girl thanks them for curing her disease but has a terrible headache, etc., Shady grabs Claw and leads him into a nearby tight alleyway to get them both away from any prying eyes as her miraculous beeps.

The alley is small, small enough that standing in it with backs to the walls would leave two people only a few feet apart. With how close the two of them choose to stand where they can feel the other’s breath on their face, though, it almost looks like the alley way is wide, but they just don’t understand personal space.

“You know Mothra’s gonna give you shit for today, cockroach.” Claw says with a smile as he plays with a loose strand of her hair.

“Yeah,” She answers, “but that’s tomorrow me’s problem.”

And she really believes that, she’s having a really good day today, so lectures and worrying about if solving problems with violence is becoming of a hero can be dealt with on another day.

“You’re in a good mood, Bug-a-babe.” Claw says teasingly. “I almost don’t recognize you without that pouty scowl on your face.”

She playfully punches him as her miraculous beeps again, signaling it’s final warning.

He grins and blinks like he’s realizing something.

“Something’s…different.” He says.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, fleabag.” She answers.

“Your suit.” He slowly brings his fingers down the side of her body and her breath catches. “I don’t know, it just looks…different somehow.”

“Oh? How?”

“Can’t put my finger on it, but it’s fucking distracting.”

She hums and leans in close, pressing her body against his as his gloved claws find their way to her hips.

“Distracting, huh?” She says. “Maybe I should just get the hell out of here then. Wouldn’t want to distract you from all your pretty boy shit.”

She starts to pull away, but his grip tightens on her hips before she can get far. It’s a dance they know, it’s usually done with a lot more punches and violence, but it’s a good day and she knows that he must be having a good day too to be so calm. On good days for both of them, neither of them feels the need to argue, it’s more playful and teasing.

“Oh no,” he says, “your spotted ass is stuck with me, cockroach.”

She blinks, taken aback at the familiar words she’s only heard him say once before.

~Flashback~

Swinging through the Parisian skyline wearing nothing but a bodysuit is not something she pictured herself doing, but feeling the rush of the wind in her face for the first time makes everything shitty about her life seem so trivial and forgetful…even the things that make her life hell seem so small in comparison.

Maybe that’s why the Supreme gave Marinette this Miraculous thing in the first place, he knew that once she got a taste of freedom from her shitty life she’d do anything to keep pushing—maybe that’s why he did a lot of things.

Marinette scowls to herself as she lands on a rooftop, what does she care what the Supreme does? He gave her power to do with as she pleases against some dumb butterfly guy, who is she to complain about such a great opportunity?

She flings her yo-yo at a weird pole to fling herself again. Why should she question any of this? So far, she hasn’t found any downsides to this whole superpowers thing.

Crash!

She crashes into something hard, getting dazed, and her yo-yo wraps itself around her and whatever it is. She groans and slowly opens her eyes to see a black mask attached to a not-unattractive face. She opens her mouth to scream at this guy in the mask as he groans and slowly opens his eyes, her mouth shuts as she’s meant with the most beautiful purple she’s ever seen.

He pulls his head back as soon as he sees her face, but she’s too mesmerized to really notice.

“What the…” The guy says. “Hey! Get me out of this fucking thing!”

The guy starts wiggling and Marinette realizes that their bodies are pressed together like something from a sex scene in a movie. She screeches as her cheeks heat up and quickly untangles them, her yo-yo bonking the masked guy in the head as they go onto a rooftop to have their feet on the ground.

As he rubs where the yo-yo hit him, Marinette finally gets a good look at him.

His hair is a weird green color, his eyes are a beautiful over-the-top purple, he’s covered in tasteful spikes and studs, there’s a bell around his neck for some reason, he’s wearing black lipstick, wearing perfectly form-fitting leather from head to toe, and has two cat ears on top of his somehow working-for-him mess of hair.

Hot damn are the only words that come to Marinette’s mind.

She chastises herself, she’s supposed to be wreaking chaos in the name of the Supreme, not ogling some eye candy who’s probably a huge asshole.

“That fucking hurt!” The attractive masked guy says. “What the hell is wrong with you, you psycho watermelon?”

And he’s got an attitude…hmm…maybe Marinette could spend a few minutes beating up the guy in skin-tight leather before she fucks up the butterfly guy. Not like she’s ever gonna see him again, how often would she get the chance to yell at a cat guy?

“I’m a fucking ladybug, asshole.” Marinette snaps back.

The guy rolls his pretty purple eyes. “You look more like a cockroach to me.”

“Yeah? Well, you look like a bag of fleas!”

“Hey!”

He grits his teeth and gets in her face.

“Cockroach!” He growls, pushing her.

“Fleabag!” She growls back, pushing him back.

“Bug breath!”

“Fuzz face!”

They snarl at each other, and she grabs him by the collar, preparing to threaten or punch him. His snarl falls as he sees a large purple butterfly coming towards them.

“What the fuck is that?” He says.

“That’s an akuma, you dumbass.” She says, still holding him by the collar. “It’s attracted to our anger.”

“Then stop being angry, dammit! We don’t need that fucking thing over here!”

Huh, so he’s not a complete dumbass.

They both take a deep breath to calm down and the akuma flies away.

Marinette is suddenly all too aware that she’s still holding him by his jacket and that their faces are close enough that she can feel his breath on her face. She tries really hard not to think about how good his cologne smells or look at his attention-grabbing lips as she quickly pushes his (totally not attractive) face away from her.

He clears his throat and picks her yo-yo off the roof, holding it out to her. “Here, your yo-yo thing.”

Wait, why would he do that? He didn’t need to do that, no one had ever helped her for no reason before…he’s got something more to him under all that attitude, it seems, something that is grabbing her attention.

Her heartbeat picks up a bit as her hand brushes his when she grabs her yo-yo.

Oh no, that needs to stop right there. It’s fine, probably nothing, it’s not like Marinette has to worry about seeing him again, she can completely forget about it and—

“You must be that partner the Supreme is forcing me to work with.” He says. “I’m the cat holder, name’s Claw Noir.”

Fuck. Great, attractive asshole is her stupid partner.

She crosses her arms then eyes him up and down, trying to figure out the kind of person he is. Everyone she’s ever met had always either been afraid of her or wanted her to be afraid of them. Her guess is the latter, if his attitude is any indication, which is going to be a huge fucking inconvenience.

“Damn, do you ever pay attention, cockroach?” Claw Noir says, breaking her from her thoughts. “I asked what I’m supposed to call you?”

“I’m…” She pauses, remembering the Supreme mentioned secret identities, and tries to think of a name for her new super powered persona. “Shady. Yeah, Shadybug.”

“Shadybug? I think cockroach suits you better.”

He eyes her for a moment and something familiar flashes in his eyes, something she recognizes.

She blinks, suddenly overly aware of the guy in front of her. She can see all of it in his eyes, he’s broken and fucked up just like she is (which isn’t surprising since the Supreme obviously went after a specific kind of person)…anger and violence are how people like them communicate. But, that’s not what’s holding her attention. No, what’s holding her attention is the fact that alongside all that anger and pain she can see in his eyes is also that he isn’t afraid of her and he doesn’t want her to be afraid of him. She had never met someone who didn’t interact with her using some kind of fear, it’s…intriguing.

Her heart beats a bit faster at the thought, but surely, it’s just from the adrenaline.

…Right?

Well, maybe it isn’t, but if it isn’t then there’s a problem, she can’t let herself fall for an asshole like him, especially if she’s stuck with him. Not when she finally has some power.

Claw Noir looks her up and down again then sighs tiredly. “Great, the Supreme stuck me with a bitchy partner, just great.”

Does he already hate her? What the fuck is his problem? He doesn’t even know her!

So, falling for him won’t be the problem, not killing him however…well, that might be difficult.

She scowls and sends him a deadly glare. She swings her yo-yo and hits him in the stomach with it.

“If I’m so bitchy,” She says, “then give me your Miraculous so I can get a partner that isn’t such a jackass.”

He glares back, not intimidated in the slightest but still not caring if she’s afraid of him. The nerve on him. He growls and extends his staff, swinging it at her, but she dodges before he manages to hit.

“Oh no,” He says, “your spotted ass is stuck with me, cockroach.”

As they start throwing punches at each other between yells and spreading chaos through the city, she decides that if she’s stuck with him and he hates her for no reason, then she swears she’ll always hate him harder than anyone else.

~End Flashback~

…That was the day they first met forever ago. The day she fell for the guy under all that pain and buried all her want under endless hate. They’ve come so far from that day, so many things have changed, but some things would always be the same. That was the day she fell for the heart under his pain, the day that under all the hate and anger her heart had become his and has always been since.

“What?” Claw says. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You just reminded me of something.” Shady says with a smile. “It’s been a pretty great day, fuzz face, and you’re just making it better.”

“Really? Oh, you’re in a REALLY good mood.” He practically purrs. “Well, Bug-a-babe, I can think of something that would make this day even better.”

He leans in close, their noses touching, his hands still on her hips pressing their bodies together.

“Hmm, and what would that be, fleabag?” She says, her hands moving up his chest teasingly.

Claw opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, her transformation wears off and she immediately pushes him away so she can catch Tikki.

“Hey, what about…” Claw starts but Shady completely ignores him. He sighs and pouts. “Plagg, daggers in.”

Claw detransforms and catches Plagg.

“Hey, Tikki.” Marinette says. “Do you want a cookie or a macron? I can go get you something else too if you want.”

“Cookie’s fine, Marinette.” Tikki says.

She nods and pulls a cookie from her purse at her side—chocolate chip with a hint of fudge, Tikki’s favorite that Marinette always makes sure she has—it’s the last one in her purse. She makes a mental note to make more later.

She looks up to see Adrien pulling a wedge of cheese from his pocket and giving it to Plagg. She snorts, getting Adrien’s attention.

“You’re still bribing Plagg with that gross cheese?” Marinette says.

“Hey!” Plagg says, taking a very large bite of the cheese. “Leave my delicious camembert alone!”

“Yeah, it just became habit.” Adrien sighs tiredly. “I know, I smell like stinky cheese, but he loves it. So, I figure why not? Least I could do after…”

He trails off solemnly unable to finish his sentence. She knows what he means, though, he didn’t have to say it for her to know he’s talking about the muzzles.

She had felt uneasy about the muzzle even when she was evil, it seemed so cruel and unnecessary, but the Supreme had insisted. It’s also one of the reasons she took such joy taking the Miraculous out of his shitty minions’ control, each Miraculous they retrieve is another Kwami freed and a big ‘fuck you’ to the Supreme. It’s one of those things that her and Adrien kept unspoken—another thing they’re ashamed to have done before the other universe.

Tikki sees Marinette frown at the thought and flies up to nuzzle her cheek. Marinette smiles at the action, Tikki understands things better than most.

“Hey, I don’t remember,” Adrien says, eyeing Tikki curiously. “How did you get Tikki to forgive you for uh…well you know?”

“You don’t remember because I never said.” Marinette answers as Tikki flies to her spot in her purse.

“Well, how did you? You two seem almost inseparable now.”

“I didn’t do anything…we just kind of…are.”

And she hadn’t. She didn’t do anything to get Tikki to forgive her. She knows Adrien pulled out all the stops for Plagg, buying him as much expensive cheese as he can eat, flattery, countless apologies, etc.. But, all of that felt hollow to Marinette—not that she had an issue with Adrien doing it, of course—bribery, flattery, countless apologies, those aren’t things Marinette is fully capable of and doing so just would have been hollow excuses. She knows what Tikki is like with other her, she knows what they could be, and something like that shouldn’t come out of the way Marinette had treated her—she knows she doesn’t deserve it and no bribe or flattery or apology could ever make up for it.

And yet, it had. Tikki and Marinette didn’t talk much because Marinette herself didn’t talk much in her parent’s house, but Tikki had been nothing but kind and caring to Marinette from the moment she took off her muzzle. Tikki took care of Marinette when Adrien couldn’t, and whenever Marinette asks her why, she always says ‘I understand feeling trapped and not being able to do something…what it can make you do. I forgave you long before the other universe, Marinette.’ Marinette can never bring herself to respond to that.

She shrugs and sends Adrien a look. “That probably sounds fucking ridiculous.”

Adrien smiles and pulls her closer once again, leaning his forehead against hers. “Nothing you say could ever sound ridiculous to me.”

She hums and closes her eyes, taking in everything that is her partner with a smile. On days like this, her life doesn’t seem so shitty. As long as he’s here with her, her day could only get better from here.

“Good day, Bug?” Adrien whispers.

“As long as you’re here, yeah.” She answers, opening her eyes to look into his.

Adrien smiles even wider and presses a gentle kiss to her nose, lingering much longer than he really needs to.

She sighs contentedly and her hands move up his chest. “You probably have to get back for a photoshoot or something, huh?”

“Hell no, screw that. It’s been a good day, I wanna be yours for the rest of the night.”

That sounds perfect to her, but that doesn’t mean she has to make it easy for him.

“Hmm…” She pauses like she’s considering it. “…tempting, but I don’t know, fur face.”

Adrien whines and moves his lips down to her neck, ghosting over the one spot he knows drives her crazy.

“Please?” He says. “I want your spotted ass with me for as long as possible.”

He squeezes her butt to enunciate his point and she can’t help the smile that spreads across her face. Cheeky little asshole.

“Fine,” She says, giving in. “Can we go back to your place, then?”

“Yes!” He answers, way more excited than usual.

“You two are disgusting.” Plagg suddenly says. “Do you have to be gross in front of us every time?”

“Plagg, leave them alone.” Tikki says.

Marinette sighs as the two Kwamis ruin the little dance they have going on, usually they stayed quiet when her and Adrien are doing their little argue-tease-flirt-kiss dance, but lately Plagg has been much more vocal with his ‘distaste’ for them being together (he actually is completely supportive of their situation but pretends to find them gross). It’s simultaneously a good thing and a bad thing that Marinette has some mixed feelings about. On the one hand, she’s happy that Plagg is finally comfortable with them both to tease them and speak up. On the other hand, though, it’s very awkward to make-out when there’s two tiny gods talking about you right fucking next to you.

She steps back from Adrien, disentangling them as she stretches.

“Alright, fleabag.” Marinette says. “Your place. Can we go through the door, or do we have to go through the fucking window again?”

Adrien smirks and cocks his head to the side, telling her without words the answer to her question.

“Dammit.” She says, sighing. “We literally just detransformed. Fine, okay. Who’s turn is it?”

His smirk seems to get wider, even more mischievous.

“Oh, you asshole.” She says with a glare. “Of course, it’s MY fucking turn.”

He winks at her and she rolls her eyes.

“What can I say, Bug-a-babe?” Adrien says. “Someone’s gotta carry the team.”

She narrows her eyes at him and scowls. “Ugh, do you have to make the same pun every fucking time I do this? Tikki,” She turns her attention to the Kwami in her purse, “are you okay for another transformation?”

“I’m ready to go, Marinette.” Tikki answers.

“Great. Tikki, blots on!”

Tikki is sucked into Marinette’s earrings and Marinette transforms back into Shadybug.

She bends down and picks up Adrien in a bridal carry, which as always, he enjoys way too much in her opinion. She grabs her yo-yo and flings it to the top of the buildings the alley is between, slinging herself onto the roof. She runs from rooftop to rooftop with Adrien in her arms until she finally makes her way back to the Agreste mansion, jumping through the window to Adrien’s room before the security cameras have a chance to pick her up.

Shady places Adrien on the ground and stretches, Plagg wastes no time and immediately flies to the little bed and cheese corner Adrien set up for him.

Adrien wipes imaginary dirt off his black jeans as he gets his footing back, the smile on his face almost too bright in the darkly decorated room. She doesn’t know why he likes to be carried so much, but his expression afterwards is always super cute and it’s an excuse to have him in her arms, so she’s okay with it.

Her eyes fall on a full-body mirror that’s on his wall that wasn’t here last time she was in his room—well, maybe it was, every time she’s snuck into his room with him, they’re either completely focused on each other or they play video games on his couch, so maybe she hadn’t noticed it before.

She notices her reflection in the mirror and there’s all these new details in her suit that she’s sure weren’t there before, small and barely noticeable, but new details all the same. Adrien was right, she looks different, if she had been anyone else she never would have noticed. There’s more black around her gloves and ankles, there’s a small cluster of spots on her chest that look out of place, and her hair just seems slightly shorter. It’s hardly different from what it changed to after the other universe, but different all the same.

Adrien steps over behind Shady and wraps his arms around her waist. He nestles his chin into her shoulder and follows her gaze.

“See, cockroach?” He says. “I don’t know, somehow you just look…you don’t look so much like her anymore.”

Her as in Ladybug, as in her from the other universe. When they left the other universe, all she wanted then was to be more like her, she wanted her life, her friends, her world…her parents. Until she looked in the mirror, she hadn’t realized that she hadn’t wanted to be her in a long time—she still thought of her from time to time, wondering how Ladybug is doing or if she would be proud of who she’s become, but at some point she had stopped wanting to be her all together. She doesn’t know what the hell that means, but she likes to think that’s maybe a good thing.

Even Adrien noticed how different it is, despite how little differences there really are. Once again, she finds another reason to love this dumbass for everything he is in and out of the mask. But, as nice as it is that he noticed, that’s a conversation for maybe another day. As good of a day as this is, she doesn’t want to push it in case talking about the other universe brings up some heavy things for him.

She leans her head against Adrien’s, a small smile on her lips. “What, fleabag? Afraid I’m gonna put your pretty model ass out of work?”

He pinches her side with a grin as he detangles from her hips and she yelps in surprise. She curses the day he found out she’s ticklish, the asshole takes way too much advantage of it.

“Aw, you think I’m pretty, cockroach?” He teases. “How embarrassing.”

“Your cheeky ass is literally a model, Fur face.” Shady says with a roll of her eyes.

“Really obsessed with my ass today, huh Bug?”

She tries to scowl at him but can’t help the smile that spreads across her face. He leans in close with a knowing grin and raises his eyebrows at her. She chuckles slightly and immediately shoves his face away as he starts to laugh.

“You’re such a dumbass.” She chastises.

“Yes, but I’m your dumbass.” He dramatically blows her a kiss then starts looking around his room. “Now where did that bag go…I’m fucking starving, and that croissant is calling my name.”

She shakes her head and looks around the room, her eyes falling on a pastry bag she gave him yesterday by the end of his bed. Adrien sees it the same moment she does and makes a beeline for it. She smirks and grabs the bag before he can.

“Hey!” He says with a pout. “I fucking called that!”

She takes the croissant out of the bag and takes a big bite in front of him.

“Not my fault you’re slow without the suit, fleabag.” She says playfully.

“What?” He answers, offended. “I am not!”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“No way, I’m not slow.”

“Please, I could take you down easily, pretty boy.”

“The suit makes you faster and stronger!”

“Even if I didn’t use the enhancedness. You need to work on your punches.”

“Fine.”

Adrien stands up and gets in a ready position.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“You said I need to work on my punches, so I’m showing you that I don’t.”

“Oh?” She puts the rest of the croissant back in the bag and places it back on the ground. “You wanna spar?”

“Hell yeah. Take me on without using the enhancedness like you said, I bet I knock you on your spotted ass.”

“I bet you I knock you on your ass in your own bed.”

Adrien throws a punch and Shady blocks it. She throws one of her own and he blocks it too, they fall into a comfortable rhythm of both of them throwing punches or kicks—none of them really landing, even without using the enhancedness on her end, she has to admit that Adrien can hold his own against her.

She ducks and kicks her leg into his foot, knocking him off balance as she comes back up. She punches his chest and he falls backwards onto his bed. Shady jumps on his bed and pins him with her body before he has the chance to recover.

“Told you.” She says cockily.

She grins at Adrien lying beneath her, both of them breathing heavily. She notices his eyes are blown wide with lust as they dart from her lips to her eyes, the tension between them from the day feeling heavy in the atmosphere. His hands slowly move their way up her thighs, giving them a gentle squeeze to give her an idea of what he’s thinking.

She raises an eyebrow and drops her voice to a whisper. “Thought you were hungry, Cat?”

“Oh, I’m hungry alright.” He says, his voice an octave lower.

She isn’t sure who leans forward first, but their lips crash together like they need each other’s breath to survive.

She can never get enough of him, his entire being is a drug and she’s addicted. From the way he kisses her breathless to the way he moves his body into hers in moments like these, every bit of it feels like he’s made for her, like no one else would ever be able to make her lose control like he does.

She presses herself into him and moves her hands up his t-shirt covered chest.

Adrien grabs Shady’s hips as she presses into him while straddling his hips, their lips on each other’s in a way that she knows sets them both on fire. He moves his hand down to her butt and gives it a squeeze. She moans slightly and he takes the opportunity to put his tongue into her mouth. She accepts it easily against her own as she starts to pulse slightly against him, wanting to feel a little friction.

He sits up a bit without breaking the kiss, his hands still holding her butt and hips as she sits in his lap pulsing against him—starting to rub against her himself. The new position makes it easier to feel every detail of his body against her.

She wants him right now, and badly. And from the part of him she can feel against her suit pressing into her in a perfectly sinful way, she can tell he wants her too. If he keeps going like this, she’ll come undone before she even gets the suit off. They had both agreed a long time ago that the physical part of their relationship is fine in the super suits, but the full physical part should be without the suits…it seems unfair to Plagg and Tikki that they have to be apart of it.

She pulls back from the kiss, intending to detransform, but Adrien moves his mouth down to her neck and sucks on the one spot that makes her completely lose control. She moans loudly and moves her neck more to the side to give him better access, her hips grinding against his clothed sex. Her hands find their way into his hair and she gives it a little pull, just the way she knows he can’t get enough of.

While he continues his work on her neck she opens her eyes slightly, planning to recapture his lips in hers after she says the detransformation words, but she notices the clock by his bed and her stomach drops as she remembers something.

She pulls away from him a little.

“Shit!” Shady says. “Is that the time? Shit, shit, shit!”

She pushes him back and his back hits the bed with an ‘oomf’ as she pries herself off of him, falling off the bed in doing so.

“What?” Adrien says.

“I have to go!” She answers, trying to scramble to her feet.

“Go where?”

“I forgot I was supposed to clean up the bakery, if I get there quick enough, maybe no one will notice. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

“But—”

She leans forward and grabs his face, kissing him on the lips and trying to convey every bit of want and longing she would have for him when she left. She pulls away suddenly, and he whines at the loss of contact.

“I’ll see you later, fleabag!” She says, already ready to jump out his window. “Love you, bye!”

Before he can respond, she swings her yo-yo out his window and flings herself across the Parisian skyline. She hates leaving him like this, but she’ll make it up to him later.

She quickly swings her way back to her parent’s bakery as fast as she can, praying to whatever divine beings there might be that she’ll be lucky enough to get there after everyone has fallen asleep so no one would notice she hadn’t cleaned up the bakery yet. It was a good day today, maybe she’ll catch a lucky break for once. She jumps through her trap door and lands softly on her bed as quietly as possible.

“Tikki, blots off.” She whispers.

She detransforms and Tikki falls into her hands. She needs to get down to the bakery without anyone knowing, clean it up, and get back up to her room without anyone knowing she didn’t do so sooner. But first, before anything else, Tikki needs to eat something. She looks around her room for food and sees the bag of cookies she keeps hidden peeking out from a drawer across the room.

She takes a deep breath and carefully gets down from her bed, tiptoeing quietly across the floor. The floorboard beneath her creaks and she curses to herself, hoping no one else in the apartment heard it.

“Marinette!” She hears her mother yell in Mandarin followed by stomping up the ladder that leads to her room and her stomach drops into her toes.

“Hide, Tikki.” Marinette says as she runs across the floor to put her in the drawer with the cookies.

“But Marinette—” Tikki says.

“Don’t come out. I’ll be okay.”

Marinette hears the latch to her bedroom being opened and takes in a shallow breath.

Suddenly, all at once, Marinette knows all too well that today isn’t going to be a good day anymore.

—

Adrien hasn’t seen Marinette for almost three days and it’s driving him insane.

Did he do something? Was she mad at him? He can’t think of a single thing he could have done to upset her, especially not with what a good mood she was in the other day in his room.

It’s probably nothing, but ever since the other universe they had never gone this long without seeing or talking to each other. Well, they had ‘talked’ a few times he supposes—but her sending one word replies hours after he messages her or leaving him on read doesn’t really count, it made him worried about her. And to top it off, his schedule has been packed with lessons or photoshoots and the Supreme hasn’t sent out another holder since their fight with the ox girl, so he didn’t have any opportunity to sneak away to her these past few days.

Which is why when she agreed to meet up with him this afternoon by that secret garden they had found awhile back he left right away to enjoy every minute he could with his Bug—completely skipping one of his lessons and ditching a photoshoot in the process. This little garden is hidden away from everyone behind an alleyway most people ignore, they had stumbled on it a bit back and it became their personal hangout place whenever they needed somewhere to go outside their suits. It’s a place where no one would bother them or annoy the hell out of him because he’s a model.

He needs to see her, he needs to know he had no reason to worry, so he’s been waiting for awhile—over an hour earlier than when she said she’d be here, but she doesn’t need to know that when she gets here.

“Cat?” He hears his favorite voice in the world call from the alleyway entrance.

He smiles and stands up from the bench he’s sitting on, anxiously looking at the sweets bag he brought for her beside him. Should he hold it? Just leave it there? He was trying to do something for her to show he was thinking about her in their time apart, he even did his makeup the way she said she likes best on him and threw on the black shirt she made for him, but now the sweets maybe feel like too much.

“Hey, Bug-a-babe.” He says looking in the direction the voice came from. “Did you miss…”

He trails off as he sees her for the first time in three days, whatever remark he’s about to say falling dead in his throat. And not because he’s stunned by her beauty, no, because something is very VERY wrong.

She’s wearing an oversized sweater on a hot day, she’s walking with a slight limp, her bangs are covering one of her eyes, and the usual light of her smile is just not there. He’s seen her like this a few times before and every time he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong about this, that it’s strange that when she’s like this there’s much more venom or malice in her voice than usual.

He meets her halfway on her way to the bench, engulfing her in a gentle but firm hug. She’s surprised for a second but quickly melts into his arms like she needs it.

“You miss me or something, pretty boy?” She says teasingly, but he can hear the relief in her voice.

“Always, Bug.” He answers, inhaling her scent. He pulls back and brings his hands down to hers as he turns. “Come on, let’s sit so we can—”

He freezes as he suddenly registers the feeling of her hand in his, instead of the usual warmth of her skin against his, there’s something scratchy like cloth. He turns back around and pulls her hand up to his eyes, slowly moving her sleeve back to reveal a bandage around her hand, wrist, and trailing up her forearm.

“Marinette,” He says, voice laced with concern as his eyes stay only on the bandage in front of him. “What is—”

“I just fell onto some glass.” She answers, quickly pulling her hand away. “It’s nothing, fleabag, I’m fine.”

“But I also saw you limping.” He says, eyes still focused on her hand at her side.

“Yeah, I fell pretty badly. You know how clumsy I can be, nothing too serious.”

She could be pretty clumsy outside the suit sometimes, he couldn’t count how many times she’d stubbed her toe on his bed frame or had bruises in weird places. But he’s never seen her hurt bad enough to need a bandage or anything out of the suit before…he doesn’t like it.

He kneels down and sweeps her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style.

“Hey!” She shrieks. “Put me down, asshole!”

“You sure as hell shouldn’t be walking on a hurt foot, cockroach.” He answers stubbornly, walking her toward the bench.

“I told you, I’m fucking fine.”

He places her down on the bench and sits next to her, pulling her legs into his lap so he can get a better look at her foot. He grabs the bag beside him and passes it to Marinette.

“Here,” He says, “I got you some sweets, you can eat them while I look at your foot.”

She sends him a glare as she opens the bag. It quickly turns to a slight smile when she sees all the sweets he got her inside. Technically, the bag is a bribe now to let him give her a once-over, but he cheers silently in his head that she doesn’t think the sweets are too much—not that she likely would anyway, Marinette has the biggest sweet tooth he’s ever seen.

She pops one of the chocolate candies into her mouth and he smiles a bit at the sight. He turns his attention back to her feet in his lap and gently pulls off her shoe to take a look at her injured foot.

Luckily, Marinette doesn’t fight him on it, she’s one of the most stubborn people he’s ever met but when it came to one of them being hurt whoever it was is always immediately out-stubborned by the other—in this case, him.

He checks her foot left to right as Marinette eats some more of the sweets, her foot is swollen but ultimately okay. He sighs and looks at her face, which is still on the bag of sweets.

“If you hurt your fucking foot,” He says sternly, “then you should be resting, cockroach. I would have come to you. You didn’t have too—”

“I know, I know.” She says, putting the bag to the side as she starts nervously fiddling with her fingers. “I just…I just really needed to see you.”

There’s something in her voice, something almost pained that makes him look at her like there’s a puzzle he can’t see etched into her features. She got like this sometimes, distant and broken and scared of something, even back before the other universe there had been days where he could tell something was really wrong—it happens sometimes out of the blue on a random day—but he’s never been able to pinpoint why.

He blinks, suddenly realizing this is the first time he’s really looked at her face since she got here. Looking at her fidget and trying to not seem as unnerved as she is, he can’t help but notice that she’s wearing much more eye makeup than usual. Thinking about it, she’s always been meticulous about her makeup but hates whenever someone brings it up, it’s like she always tries to change the topic. It’s almost like she’s trying to…his stomach drops as a terrible thought suddenly pops up in his head, one that’s never once crossed his mind before.

He takes in a deep breath, hoping to hell he’s wrong.

“I don’t wear the makeup anymore.” He says.

“What?” She asks, meeting his eyes.

“To cover up the disease from overusing our powers, I mean. I still wear eyeshadow and eyeliner, but I don’t wear the makeup anymore.”

She blinks at him, confused, and eyes him questioningly as she takes her legs off his lap. After a long pause, she finally responds, “…I noticed.”

“But you do.” He says, trying to tread carefully with what he’s trying to say.

“So?”

“At first, I thought it was maybe just habit or that you just felt more comfortable wearing it, but that’s not it, that’s not why you wear it. If it was out of habit, you wouldn’t be so meticulous about it and if you felt more comfortable wearing it, then you wouldn’t try to hide it whenever someone brings it up.”

Marinette says nothing and looks away from him, her shoulders suddenly tensing.

“Even back when I just watched you from my car window before everything, I wondered why.” He continues as he takes her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “I was always wondering why the hell someone so beautiful with and without makeup cared so much about hiding her face sometimes.”

Marinette looks at him nervously, a look in her eyes that pulls at Adrien’s heart strings, but she doesn’t try to get him to stop talking. She’s letting him continue to talk about the one thing she never let him speak about before, the one thing he knows she never let anyone talk about…not even herself.

“After everything that happened,” He continues, “we started spending more time together…I started noticing some things I didn’t see before.”

He swallows hard as she looks away, avoiding his eyes. He hates this, he hates that he has to bring this thing up that could cause her pain. He hates that he’s noticed all of these things that are starting to add up if his thought is right.

“How quickly your demeanor changes when you’re working in the bakery alone, how calmer you are.” He lists. “How you sometimes wear a bunch of layers even with the heat outside, and how angry you get whenever someone mentions you should take them off. How you always want to spend more time with me after and before school, how you always want to stay out just a bit longer and you just don’t want to go home yet.”

Before he had never really thought much of those things, he would ignore them as just habits she has or just wanting to spend more time with him—which maybe is also the case, but…

“How sometimes you flinch when I ask about things outside of school and our time together.” He continues. “How quickly you get quiet and change the topic when I bring up your house. How you never want me at your place when your parents are there.”

Adrien pauses and leans closer to Marinette, gingerly putting his thumb under her chin to bring her eyes to his.

“How…” He hesitates, trying to find the right words. “…How you have the most beautiful eyes in the world that I could get lost in, but you always seem to look away when I look too long like you’re worried.”

He pauses again and gently uses his fingers to push her bangs away from her eye, the makeup on it thick and dark but at closer inspection, likely not makeup at all.

“…And how you hide behind your hair often but even more after you came home late the night before or made a mistake in the bakery.”

Marinette leans into his touch, tears forming in her eyes. She rips her gaze from his as her lip starts quivering.

He knows how much she hates crying, he knows she doesn’t want him of all people to see her cry, the fact that she’s this close to doing so means this is something really serious and terrible. Which doesn’t give him hope that he’s wrong about what’s happened, and damn does he really hope he’s wrong.

Adrien gently places his hands on both of her cheeks, rubbing comforting circles into them with his thumbs as he brings her gaze back to look at him. A tear falls down her cheek and he wipes it away.

“Marinette,” He says with hundreds of emotions dripping into his voice. “You are my partner, my best friend, my everything more and inbetween. I would never do anything to hurt you or force you to tell me anything, I never want to be the reason you’re in pain. So, you don’t have to answer me, you don’t have to say anything. But I…fuck…I need to ask. It’s…it’s your parents, isn’t it?”

Marinette closes her eyes and takes in a shallow breath, her tears falling freely to confirm his suspicions.

Adrien kisses her sweetly and pulls her into a hug as she starts to cry with everything in her. He pets her hair, and she holds him like he might slip away, like he’s the thing grounding her to earth.

As she sobs into his shirt, he feels his own tears form in his eyes—whether tears of anger or hatred or sadness, he isn’t sure. On the one hand, he feels heartbroken that his partner, his friend, his love—the one person that makes this shitty world feel like it isn’t so shitty—has been living with something so terrible for who knows how long. On the other hand, he feels like he could burn the whole world to the ground for the mere idea that anyone fucking dared to hurt HIS Marinette like this. He shoves both of those feelings down for the moment, his only focus has to be on Marinette.

“I’m here.” He says trying to comfort her with the only words he knows he can. “Stay with me. Breathe.”

Her hands clutch his shirt like a lifeline and he holds her firmly in his embrace to show he means it, that he’s here with her and would never turn away.

“I’m here.” He says. “I promise I’m here.”

The more he learns about this girl, the more he understands her, so many parts of her start to make more sense. The anger, the willing to do anything, the tears when the wish didn’t work in the other universe…the reason she is who she is and was suddenly became much clearer to him. And it makes him love her more than he already did, which he didn’t think was possible. He knows he will always do anything for her, he’s hers in every sense of the word, and no way is anyone ever laying a damn finger on her ever again if he has anything to say about it.

Her crying doesn’t stop but her sobs become less frantic. He squeezes her tightly and grits his teeth, anger and rage still bubbling inside him at the thought of Marinette’s parents even thinking about…

“You are not going back there.” He says, barely managing to say it without transforming and running off to wipe the Dupain-Chengs off the face of the fucking planet. He isn’t sure if he’s telling it to her or to himself, either way, he knows he’ll never let her go back to that wretched place again, not without him by her side.

“I…” Marinette says into his shirt. “…I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Yes, you do.” He says, pulling her back slightly to look her in the eyes. “You have me, you’ll always have me.”

“But—”

“No, no buts. Today, tomorrow, fifty fucking years from now, you have me. You’re not going back there.” He leans his forehead against hers, their noses touching, and takes her cheeks in his hands. “I won’t let them hurt you ever again. You can stay with me, at the Resistance, or we’ll find you a place, but that damn hell hole is not home for you. You are my home, Marinette, if you’ll have me and want me to be, I can be yours.”

She sniffles and lunges forward, wrapping her arms around him as she reburies her face into his shirt. He can feel her shaking and start crying all over again, there’s only one thing he can think might help.

“Plagg, daggers out.” He says and transforms, wrapping his arms around her to hold her.

The moment his clothes turn into his super-suit, his breathing immediately turns to a purr that rumbles from deep in his chest. He finds the purring a little embarrassing sometimes, but it always seems to calm Marinette down when they argue or deal with a rough fight. She told him once that something about hearing it brings her feet back to the ground and reminds her that he’s there. He hopes that’s also true for when she’s broken like this…he doesn’t think there’s something he can say for something like this, but he needs her to know he’s here with her.

Remarkably, his purring seems to calm her down. They sit in silence as she catches her breath and slowly seems to recover, he doesn’t dare move but she nuzzles into his chest making him purr louder—she can tease him all she wants about it, he doesn’t care as long as it helps her.

He tries to keep his anger in check as he waits for her to be okay again. He wants to be what Marinette needs right now, someone to hold her and comfort her, but it feels so fucking hard as it hits him that this is the first time she’s had someone to comfort her about this. He’s the person who’s there for her for something like this and he also hasn’t been by her side in days.

Three days. He hasn’t seen her in three fucking days. Who knows what she was dealing with in that time? She could have ended up in the hospital or worse because of those damn monsters she calls parents. If he had been there than she wouldn’t…he shoves those thoughts out of his mind, all that matters is that both of them are here now and he won’t let it happen again—those thoughts can be saved for later when he raises hell and makes them pay, they have no place in his head while Marinette is falling apart in his arms.

“You must think I’m so weak.” Marinette whispers.

He kisses the top of her head. “Never. You’re the strongest most amazing fucking person I’ve ever met.”

She sniffles and hums, moving her head up to rest against his leather-clad shoulder. Although she still looks like she’s breaking apart inside, at least she isn’t crying as much. She fiddles with the bell around his neck—the bell that feels like it’s meant to be hers—as he continues purring, the soft calming jingle barely loud enough to hear.

“I lied to you...I never wanted to lie to you. But I…” She says, almost fighting fresh tears.

“I don’t care about that, Marinette, I care about you.”

“…I’m sorry.”

He pulls her into his lap and rests his chin on her head. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Bug. You’ll never have to be sorry for any of this.”

She sighs and curls into him as they fall into silence again.

He isn’t sure how much time passes as they sit there like that, it feels like days but he knows it’s probably only a few minutes. He wishes they could sit there like that for days as if the rest of the world isn’t as shitty as it really is, but the world keeps spinning and that means they keep moving.

“What do we do now?” She whispers in a voice that almost breaks his heart.

“Now, I take you home and we worry about the rest later.”

“Home? As in—”

“Yeah, as in my place.”

“But what about your father?”

“He can fucking deal with it. I don’t care what he thinks.”

“…Okay.”

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

Marinette isn’t normal, she knows and understands that. She’s never been normal. She’s always keeping secrets, holds her emotions close to her chest, and hides behind her mask as Shadybug to understand what she’s really feeling. So, when the biggest most terrible secret she holds close to her bruised and battered chest is finally discovered by Adrien…she doesn’t know what to do.

As soon as she stops crying, she does the only logical thing her brain can think of: she convinces herself that this is all a stupid nightmare.

Even as Adrien detransforms in the street by his house and leads her through the gated entrance to his front door (which is notably the first time she’s even seen this side of the house—she usually only goes in through his window), she still can’t believe she could have been so careless as to actually let Adrien see her so weak.

Even harder to believe that Adrien would let her come into his house with complete disregard to his father—that in itself is enough to make Marinette think she’s dreaming.

“There you are, Adrien.” His father says as he comes down the steps by the front door they enter through. “I was worried when you missed your lesson and photo shoot this afternoon. You know better than to…who is this?”

“This is Marinette.” Adrien answers assertively. “She’s my…she’s um…”

His father looks her up and down, scrutinizing her suspiciously. It makes Marinette’s skin crawl that this man who makes Adrien’s life so difficult would dare to judge her, so she returns his look with a threatening glare.

“Is she the reason you missed a lesson and the photo shoot?” His father asks, his eyes on Marinette turning angry and staying only on her.

Adrien grits his teeth, clearly annoyed at his father’s tone towards Marinette. “She’s staying here with us for awhile.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m not asking.”

“…Adrien, you can’t—”

“She’s. Staying.” Adrien growls, his protectiveness that comes out when he’s Claw seeping into his voice like a threat—she’s surprised to hear it directed at his father, Adrien had always mentioned to Marinette that he couldn’t find it in him to stand up to his father most of the time.

“Adrien,” Marinette whispers, “it’s okay, you don’t have to—”

“Adrien,” His father says sternly, regaining his attention. “Can I speak to you privately?”

“No.” Adrien answers. “If you have something to say, you can say it to both of us. I’m not leaving her until she’s set.”

“Fine. You can’t just let some random girl stay in our home.”

“She’s not some random—”

“Clearly, she’s also probably the reason you missed a lesson and a photoshoot—and if I had to guess, it’s likely not the first time she caused you to do so.”

“That’s not—”

“Her hand is wrapped in a bandage and that’s probably a black eye hiding under her makeup, isn’t it? So, she’s been fighting too if I had to guess.”

“You don’t know what—”

“She clearly isn’t a good influence and very obviously spells trouble. I won’t let you bring yourself down with someone like this, you have so much potential to be someone great, Adrien. I won’t let you throw everything away by aligning yourself with a girl like her, you’re better than that.”

Adrien grits his teeth and turns himself and Marinette around, walking away from his father. “She’s. Staying.”

“I won’t allow it.” His father says from behind them. “I’m disappointed in you, Adrien.”

At that, Marinette freezes in her tracks.

Adrien is trying to be better, he’s trying to protect her and keep her safe in this dream—anyone who knows him should be proud of him. But his damn father is talking down to him like he’s some kind of monster for doing this one thing. Where the hell is the justice in that? If anyone is a monster, Marinette thinks it would be her…that’s how her parents treat her, her own mother has screamed at her numerous times that she’s a clumsy freak who’s wasting space. How could anyone treat her favorite person in the world like that? She couldn’t stand for that.

Marinette clenches her fist and whips around to his father. If this is a dream, then she might as well start swinging. She knows this won’t end well even if it is a dream, too late to stop now, her mouth is already moving with venom before she can consider this as a bad idea.

“Hey, fuck-head!” She yells at his father, stomping toward him as quickly as she can with an injured foot. “Your son is a fucking masterpiece work of art who’s doing his best and you’re an asshole for ignoring him. Stop being a fucking dickhead! He’s the most incredible person I know and I’ll be damned if I let anyone tell me to stay away from him. You can have a problem with me all you want, but don’t you fucking dare try to make him feel bad about himself because of it you piece of shit!”

Adrien and his father gape at her, speechless and stunned in place, and it suddenly dawns on her the very high likelihood that this actually isn’t a dream…and she just yelled at Gabriel Agreste and insulted him…repeatedly.

She shrinks into herself, feeling the need to beat herself up at the sudden realization of what she had just done. That’s exactly what she always imagined saying to Adrien’s father whenever Adrien told her about his issues with him…she never thought she would ACTUALLY say that to him the first time they met.

After a moment that seems to feel like an eternity, his father clears his throat and scrutinizes her.

“You care about my son?” His father says.

Marinette looks to her feet and nods, feeling like the world is going to cave in on her.

“Adrien,” his father continues, “why does she need a place to stay?”

Adrien joins Marinette’s side and puts a protective arm around her, an underlying threat in his voice as Marinette feels his eyes on her. “I won’t let her go back to that damned place she calls home. I won’t and I can’t, she deserves somewhere safe, and that’s here by me.”

His father hums thoughtfully and Marinette meets his eyes.

The distrust and judgement in his eyes that previously set her on edge is completely gone, in it’s place is a kind of…realization Marinette can’t place—but the malice behind it, seems like it’s gone, and Marinette doesn’t know how to feel about that.

“Marinette, was it?” His father says.

Marinette nods in affirmation, taking in a breath to prepare herself for what’s about to come.

“We have a guest room you’re welcome to stay in for as long as you like.” His father continues. “I’ll get you set and don’t be afraid to ask for anything you need. Adrien, while I get her comfortable in the guest room, go ask the chef to make something for her, she’s probably hungry.”

“W-what?” Adrien asks, dumbfounded.

“Adrien, go get her something to eat.” His father insists. “I’ll help her to the guest room, we want her to be comfortable here.”

Adrien tightens his grip on Marinette protectively.

His father eyes them and sends them a gentle smile—Marinette can see why it annoys Adrien so much with everything he’s said about his mom, his smile seems so nice and genuine and so…wrong.

“It’s okay, Adrien.” His father continues. “I promise we’ll take care of her, she’ll be alright.”

Marinette isn’t sure how it happens, but next thing she knows Adrien is running to the kitchen and Gabriel Agreste is directing her into an elegantly decorated empty bedroom.

She awkwardly sits on the edge of the bed as Mr. Agreste stands by the door. For a moment she’s terrified he’s going to shut it and raise hell against her for what she said or worse if he closes the door and reacts like her parents would…the thought of something like that happening to her so close to Adrien is the most terrifying idea she may ever have.

Thankfully, Mr. Agreste leaves his place at the door and kneels to the floor in front of her, so she calms down slightly—only slightly, as Gabriel Agreste is now mere inches from her face and she literally just insulted him to his face…repeatedly.

“I’m sorry for being so abrasive, Miss Marinette.” Mr. Agreste says. “I worry about my son and many people try to take advantage of him…I was worried you might be doing the same since he’s a model, wealthy, and famous.”

His father is nicer than Marinette pictured, which sets Marinette’s teeth on end knowing how much Adrien goes through because of him. She might not be in a great place right now with what Adrien now knows about her, but she’ll be damned if she lets Gabriel Agreste not be read for the filth he is—even if he is a little nice and even if she would deal with terrible consequences. She’s already insulted him, she probably can’t make it worse at this point, right?

“I would never hurt Adrien, I don’t fucking care about any of that.” Marinette says almost threateningly. “Maybe if you weren’t such an asshole, you’d know that he fucking despises anyone who would care about that shit.”

Fuck. Why did she say that? Now he’ll know that she meant every word, she could’ve backtracked or made up some excuse, but no she has to run her big mouth. Apparently, yes, she probably can make it worse.

“I’ll let that one slide given the circumstances.” Mr. Agreste says. “You’ve got some bite to you, I respect that. But what I respect most is your concern for my son, he’s never introduced me to one of his…” He pauses like he’ s carefully choosing the word. “…friends before. I trust his judgement, if he thinks you need to stay here then you’re more than welcome to stay as long as you wish. But…”

Marinette blinks, not sure if this isn’t her imagination playing tricks on her. “But?”

Mr. Agreste shifts his weight uncomfortably, trying to avoid her gaze. “But…your black eye?”

Her hands clench into fists at the sudden reminder of what got her into this situation in the first place and the painful memory that goes along with it.

“What about it?” She answers with venom dripping into her voice.

She knows Mr. Agreste didn’t mean anything by it, but she knows he was entering dangerous territory and felt the need to warn him to not tread further—the only person she would even consider in that aspect is Adrien.

“I won’t pry.” He answers calmly. “But with the way Adrien is protective of you and you needing a place to stay…I have a feeling I was wrong about how you received it and if that’s the case…well, I’m sorry for assuming and hope I can help. Stay in my house as long as you need, I won’t send you back to a place that’s bringing you pain.”

There’s a quiet knock at the open door and they both look up to see Adrien holding a tray with some food on it.

“Nette?” Adrien says, eyeing his father suspiciously as he walks into the room. “Are you okay? Did he fucking—”

“I’m fine, Adrien.” Marinette quickly answers. “We were just…talking.”

“Yes,” Mr. Agreste says as he stands, “I was just getting to know our new house guest a bit better.”

Adrien sends his father a suspicious glare and places the food tray on the bed by Marinette. He opens his mouth to say something, but his father speaks before he can.

“We should give her some space, Adrien.” Mr. Agreste says. “It’s probably been a long day, we should leave her alone to eat and get some rest.”

“But—”

“Adrien…” Mr. Agreste says more sternly.

Marinette reaches for Adrien’s hand, gaining his attention, and gives it a gentle squeeze.

“Adrien,” Marinette says, “it’s okay, I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure? Because I can—”

“Go on, Adrien, I’ll be alright. I have my phone and my purse.”

She emphasizes her last word, hoping that Adrien understands her double meaning. She knows he doesn’t want her to be alone, but his father won’t let him stay, so she’s trying her best to convey that she won’t be alone—Tikki is waiting in her purse.

Adrien nods in understanding and a moment of silent communication passes between them that Marinette knows means they’ll be seeing each other later.

“Okay,” Adrien says, his eyes never leaving hers. “But call me immediately if you need anything.”

“I will.”

Mr. Agreste escorts Adrien out of the room and he watches her as they leave, worry clear on his face. Marinette hates that he might think she’s weak, but a part of her is actually relieved that he cares so much.

Adrien closes the door behind them and Marinette releases the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in.

Tikki flies out from Marinette’s purse once they’re alone, floating inches from her face.

“You should eat and rest, Marinette.” Tikki says.

“I’m fine, Tikki.”

“No, you’re not. You haven’t been fine since long before I came into your life…long before the other universe.”

“I’m not weak Tikki.”

“No, you’re not weak, you’re strong and smart and capable and much more. But, you’re not okay.”

“But I—”

“Marinette, you’re in shock. Please, let Adrien help you with this.”

“But—”

“Marinette,” Tikki says more sternly. “I wore a muzzle for centuries and have been forced to do things I didn’t want to do. I’ve been in pain, abandoned, misused, and tormented. I know what it means to be hurt by someone who is meant to protect you, I know what it does to you and the things it makes you do. Please, listen to me about this and let Adrien help.”

Marinette closes her mouth and guiltily avoids Tikki’s eyes. Tikki barely, if ever, spoke about how things had been before the other universe…everything the small Kwami had been through. And Marinette had never wanted to cause Tikki pain, she knew how it felt to be reminded of the thing that could destroy you, so she never asked.

Marinette slowly grabs some of the food and starts eating, Tikki smiles slightly and watches her eat to make sure she eats enough.

They don’t say another word and there’s a gentle understanding between them as Marinette finishes the food and lays back on the bed. It’s soft and the blankets are thick—far better than the hard mattress and thin blanket she’s always known.

She looks out the large window by her bed, it’s dark and well into the night. How long had she been here? Had it been hours? Minutes? Would her parents notice she’s gone?

She feels fresh tears forming in her eyes at the thought of her parents and bites her lip so hard she draws blood. She runs her hands over her wrapped hand, the tears falling freely as she remembers how it happened—how it really happened.

She shakes her head, trying to focus on something—anything—else, and looks around the room.

There’s expensive art and furniture everywhere, far nicer than anything Marinette has ever known in her whole life, but it’s also comfortable and tasteful. The room is…nice. She tries to close her eyes and go to sleep, but despite the comfortable bed and the welcoming ambiance of the room she feels completely restless.

The silence is deafening and a reminder of why she had ended up in the Agreste house in the first place.

Maybe Tikki is right, maybe she’s been in shock all day because she’s never told anyone the truth about her parents. Maybe she’s in shock at the fact that Adrien would help her with something like this. Maybe she buried her emotions for so long that she didn’t know how to fully feel them. Maybe this had never been a dream. Maybe her parents really are monsters. Maybe they never cared about her in the first place.

Maybe, maybe, maybe…

There’s so much she isn’t sure of and will never be sure of, so much she’ll never understand. But one thing that she does understand is that there’s one thing she’s always been sure of.

She snaps her eyes open and leans forward. This bed is incredibly nice and comfortable, but…she can’t sleep alone.

“Tikki?” Marinette whispers, hoping her Kwami is awake.

“I’m here, Marinette.” Tikki answers, suddenly flying in front of her face. “I’m always here.”

Marinette hugs her knees to her chest. “Tikki I…I can’t sleep when I’m…when I’m…”

“You can’t sleep alone.” Tikki finishes for her.

Marinette nods and closes her eyes as a tear falls down her cheek.

“When you’re alone all you see is them and what they’ve done to you, isn’t it?” Tikki says.

Marinette nods again, glad that she didn’t have to say the reason she can’t sleep out loud.

“You’re not alone, Marinette.” Tikki says. “You’ll never be alone again, you have me and you have Adrien. We won’t ever let you be alone again, we won’t let you go back to that place.”

Marinette slowly opens her eyes and meets Tikki’s gaze. “I know, Tikki. I just don’t…I need to…”

Tikki smiles and gently hugs Marinette’s knee. “You need to see him?”

Marinette nods.

“You only have to ask.” Tikki continues.

“Tikki, can I…”

“Of course. You know the words, Marinette.”

“…Thank you. Tikki, blots on!”

Tikki is immediately sucked into Marinette's earrings and she transforms into Shadybug.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she opens the window and jumps out, quickly swinging over to the other side of the house where she knows Adrien’s room is. Thankfully, the window is open like it has been at night for as long back as she can remember…if her head wasn’t so clouded, she’d probably be wondering if he left it open just for her like she had for him with her balcony.

She stops that thought in its tracks, she can’t let herself think of that place…she can’t let herself go there, at least not for tonight, tomorrow she can let herself feel all of that.

She jumps through Adrien’s window and he immediately leans up from his bed.

“Bug?”

“Did I wake you up?”

“I wasn’t sleeping…I was thinking of transforming but I…”

“Tikki, blots off.” A pink light flashes and Marinette detransforms. Tikki sends her a concerned glance then flies off to Plagg’s corner to rest.

Adrien rips the blanket off and comes to her side, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. “What’s going on, Bug?”

“I just wanted to see you, after everything today and everything you know now…I was worried that you wouldn’t…that we weren’t…”

Adrien pulls back to look her in the eyes. “Nothing could ever change what this is, Marinette. Nothing. Your spotted ass is stuck with me, now and forever.”

Marinette feels a warmth spread through her hearing him say he would never leave her like everyone else had. She knows he’s trying to lighten the mood to maybe get her to smile after the day they had together and hearing those familiar words he said the first time they met just further reminds her of how far they’ve come from who they once were.

“I couldn’t sleep in there.” Marinette says, quick to change the subject so her thoughts don’t wander where they don’t belong. “…In a new place and bed I don’t know, it just felt so…wrong.”

Adrien nods in understanding. “You can sleep in my bed, Nette.”

She nods awkwardly and sits on the edge of the bed, looking at her hands. Adrien kneels in front of her and rests his head on her knees similar to a housecat waiting for attention. The thought of the infamous Claw Noir acting like a domesticated housecat almost makes her smile—almost.

“Are you okay, Bug?” Adrien asks.

If it were anyone else, Marinette would say fine and aggressively change the subject, maybe throw in an insult or threat for good measure.

But this isn’t just anyone. This is Claw Noir, her partner and the only person who understands her. This is Adrien Agreste, her best friend and the person who makes the world less shitty. This is her fleabag, fur-face, pretty boy, and Cat—her everything more and inbetween.

“No,” Marinette answers with tears starting to form in her eyes. “No, I’m not okay. I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay, Adrien. I…I’ve been burying my feelings for so long that I’m not sure how to feel them and this…m-my parents…I…I don’t know anything else. It’s all I’ve known my whole life and I know I’m fucked up. But I’m terrified that I’m going to fuck us—this—up and you’re the best thing that’s ever fucking happened to me. I can’t, I won’t—"

Adrien leans forward and hugs her hips, resting his head against her knees. A low vibration going against her that immediately calms her down and causes her to stop talking, something that had only ever happened when he’s transformed as Claw Noir. It takes her a moment to realize what’s happening: he’s purring. She didn’t even know he could purr as Adrien.

He slowly stands up and leans his forehead against hers, his purring quiet and hard to hear, but a sound Marinette would know anywhere.

“You’re not going to fuck this up, Marinette.” Adrien whispers. “I promise that won’t happen.”

Marinette hums. She’ll fight like hell to believe him, but how can she when her whole life the people who are meant to care for and love her called her a useless fuck-up? She doesn’t know how to believe she won’t, but with Adrien…with Adrien maybe she could learn.

“You should get some sleep, Bug.” Adrien whispers, which Marinette knows is his way of saying he means it without pushing past a boundary she isn’t ready to cross. It’s always been a relief to her all the things they could say without ever using words, especially when her head isn’t on right.

Marinette nods as Adrien takes his hands off of her and she lays down on his bed to get comfortable. Tomorrow she could feel all those things she’s buried, all the hurt and the pain she kept hidden. Tomorrow she could let the truth sink in, but tonight, she just wants to feel completely safe.

Adrien takes a step away and Marinette immediately grabs his arm, knowing there’s more to say between them. She swears she can almost hear both of them saying the things they never would because, why would they need to when the other already knew?

“Are you sleeping here?” Marinette says. Please don’t leave me alone.

“I can sleep on the couch or in another room if you want.” Adrien answers. I’m here, whatever you need.

“No, I don’t want you to go.” You’ve done so much for me already.

“And I don’t want to go.” Anything for you.

This is the person that had been closed off and hated her. This is the person who had her heart from the very beginning and showed her the way out of the darkness. This is the person who’s always meant more to her than anyone else, even before she accepted that fact. She wants him to understand that, that with every broken promise or violent attempt to please the Supreme, every day before and after the other universe, the one thing that had always been the best part of her life has been him.

“Then stay.” Marinette whispers, knowing he’ll understand what she really means. I love you. I always have.

Adrien blinks and a gentle smile spreads across his face. “Okay.” I love you. I always will.

She falls asleep in his arms knowing that she could feel the world crashing down on her tomorrow and every day after, but for now—just for a moment in his arms—she has a little peace.

#speechless changes #claw noir #fanfic #miraculous ladybug #shadybug #adrinetteapril2024 #villains #reverse crush #sharing bed #found family #flirting

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rosie-b · 11 months

Text

The Mer-Human Race

(9139 words)

Bringing her hand closer to his lips, Adrien tried to plant a kiss on it, but Marinette pulled away before his lips could touch her. “Save it for your girlfriend,” she said teasingly. “Or do you still not have one yet?” Adrien smirked and crossed his arms. “It’s a girl,” he said. “And I know her in real life. That’s all you get. Now, let’s get back to planning, shall we? We have a mermaid to beat.”

You can read the full story on AO3 with this link or on Tumblr below!

Marinette had always wanted to be the captain of one of Dupont’s ships.

It was a port town, and she’d grown up watching sailors set out on and return from voyages across the ocean. She’d heard their tales of far-off lands when they stopped in her family’s bakery for something familiar and fresh to eat after weeks of voyaging, and wanted to see the exciting places they visited for herself, one day.

And she knew that she would be an excellent captain! She was already an outstanding sailor,, though the ships she sailed on never left France’s waters, and they only transported goods from town to coastal town.

Adrien agreed that Marinette would be “the best captain Dupont’s ever had,” though she didn’t expect anything less from her best childhood friend. Alya was equally as supportive, without the dramatics, and Nino said that he’d sign up to be on her ship in a flash.

As a matter of fact, nearly everyone in Dupont already knew that Marinette was the best sailor they had to offer, so the unfairly high minimum age requirement for ship captains was the only real obstacle blocking her path. She could wait for a few more years to become a captain, of course, but she would rather not, when there was no good reason for her to have to.

Still, every single one of her professionally drafted requests for an exception to the town council was turned down.

A different girl might have given up.

But Marinette had a plan, one that depended on her town’s unique history and traditions.

You see, in addition to having a bustling port and a booming economy, Dupont was also one of only a few towns in France with a mer city nearby. For hundreds of years, the Mer-Human treaty had guaranteed peaceful relations between the two races, and over time, a number of holidays and traditions specific to Dupont and to the mers’ city of François rose up, two of which Marinette was particularly interested in.

One was the upcoming Mer-Human race, held once a year when the water temperature was deemed warm enough by the mers. They would send a challenger with the date of the race, and one human from Dupont would volunteer to take the mer’s challenge. They would race in conditions as equal as possible over a section of water near the coast; the mer swimming naturally, without enhancements, and the human sailing a small boat, called a melusinette, which had been developed over the years specifically for this race. The winner could ask for anything they wanted from the loser, from a meal or a piece of jewelry to something less substantial, as long as their request was reasonable. Marinette had never accepted a mer’s challenge before, but she was determined to this year, and she already knew what she would ask for as her prize.

It was another tradition in Dupont, a town with many hopeful sailors and ships’ captains, that any citizen who was sponsored by a mer would be given whatever position on a ship they requested. After all, who could judge a person’s skill on the seas better than a mer, whose entire life was spent in the ocean? If Marinette could just get a mer to sponsor her request, she was sure an exception would be made for her, so that she could become the captain of a ship.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know any mers, Marinette complained as she explained her plan to her circle of friends as they sat in her room above her parents’ bakery.

Alya crossed her arms.

“So instead of trying to make friends with one — which you could have done at any point before now — you’re going to challenge one, instead, and hope that you win the race?”

Marinette shrugged. “I know I’ll win that race, Alya. I’m the best sailor in Dupont, and I’ve trained on the melusinette before. It’s not that hard to pilot, especially since it’s simpler than most of the boats we trained on to join the Coccinelle. Besides, I won’t be doing the challenging. I just have to ready to take the mers’ challenge before anyone else does.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Adrien pointed out. “No one knows when the challenger will arrive, although with how warm the days are getting, it should be sometime within the next few weeks. But more importantly, no one knows where they’ll arrive, either. Dupont has a lot of beaches the mer could visit.”

“Besides, isn’t there a better way to do this? We’ve guessed that Chloe’s influence kept the mayor from letting the council take your previous requests, but couldn’t you find a way to go around him? There’s got to be something in a dusty old law book somewhere. Dupont has a lot of old rules; I’m sure you can find something,” Nino said.

Marinette frowned. “I already searched the library’s physical and digital collection multiple times, Nino. There’s nothing! The rule about age, itself, is new enough that nothing from the distant past can help us. Although, there was one handwritten book from the 1400s that I couldn’t read, so I might be missing something. But I don’t think it was about sailing or mer-human relations,” she said with a shrug. “Winning the race is my last option, other than just waiting for two years, eight months, and nine days to turn twenty-one! If this doesn’t work, fine. But I have to at least try!”

Marinette crossed her ankles and leaned forward in her chair, her wide eyes pleading with her friends to understand.

Adrien was the first to crack.

“I think it might work,” he said. “As long as the mer challenger isn’t too much older and stronger than you. Or if they’ve been training on the course already— you’ve been too busy sailing to do that yourself.”

“Yeah,” Nino agreed, “It’s really lucky that we’re off for the whole month, or you’d risk losing your chance of accepting the challenge, anyway.”

“I’m not off,” Adrien interrupted.

Nino whacked him in the head with his cap. “Well, excuse me, bakery boy, I was talking to the sailors in the room!”

Adrien chuckled as he grabbed the cap away from Nino. “Yeah, it’s too bad Père never let me sign up to learn how to sail with you guys.”

“Learn how to sail? My dude, he never even let you learn how to swim! What kind of father does that? I mean, I guess he’s from Paris, so he’s weird like the rest of the landlubbers, but still. He needs to loosen up,” Nino said.

Adrien frowned as he handed Nino’s cap back to him. “He was always stricter than he needed to be,” he agreed. “It sucked watching you all get to go on boating trips as kids while he kept me at home.”

“Well, you’re over eighteen now,” Alya pointed out. “You could just learn from one of us! We’d all be happy to teach you.”

Marinette nodded vigorously. “Yeah! I’d be happy to help kick off your overdue teenage rebellion,” she offered. “And if he tries to kick you out because of it, my parents would just adopt you.”

Adrien laughed. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Besides, I’d hate to be your brother,” he said, his eyes glinting mischievously. “That’s the absolute worst thing I can imagine.”

Marinette gasped and jumped out of her chair. “You take that back! Alya, help me,” she said as she tried to get revenge on Adrien by tickling him. He twisted and leaned back in his chair, hiding the parts of his body Marinette knew were the most ticklish.

Alya laughed as she watched them, and Nino looked on in mild interest. They were used to seeing their friends fight by now, but it never lost its entertainment value.

“No, I think I might record this, instead,” Alya joked as Marinette struggled to hold Adrien down while she resorted to messing up his hair. “You can rewatch it when you’re feeling lonely at sea, missing Adrien.”

“Yeah, she cried almost every night on the first trip because she missed you so much, dude,” Nino supplied helpfully. “It hasn’t gotten much better since then. She’s always staring forlornly at your pictures on her phone.”

Marinette whirled on her friends. “I am not!” she protested with blazing cheeks.

Behind her, Adrien slowly straightened up, running his hands through his hair in an attempt to calm it into its usual shape.

“Aww, you miss me when you’re gone, Buginette?” he teased. His smirk slowly softened into a smile as he watched Marinette’s pout grow. “I miss you, too,” he admitted, his voice tender as he spoke. A gentle blush covered his cheeks, too, but Nino and Alya knew Marinette would never notice.

“Oh,” she said softly. She smiled back at Adrien. “I guess I’ll have to forgive you, then. It’s no fun to feud with you, anyway. You mean a lot to me; we’re best friends for a reason!”

“I would hardly call that feuding,” Nino remarked as Adrien’s smile momentarily slipped off his face.

“Yeah, if that was feuding, an all-out war must consist of you guys only having one long conversation a day. Maybe that’s why you hate sailing on long trips so much, Marinette,” Alya said.

Marinette sniffed. “That’s not it, Alya. I love long voyages. I wish I had more of them! I just don’t see why Adrien can’t come, too. We could stow him away in our luggage next time.”

Adrien scoffed. “My father would find out about it before your ship left the docks. I love him, but he needs to be less protective. Taking baby steps, getting a job here and signing up for online classes at a university I like, is getting exhausting. But I can’t just leave him. It would feel wrong.”

Marinette frowned sympathetically. “You’ll always have me in your corner, Adrien. Whenever you’re ready for a bigger step, I’ll be right by your side. You know I can speak up to your father for you, if you need it.”

Adrien reached out and squeezed Marinette’s hand with a smile. “Thank you, Marinette,” he said. “You and your parents have already done a lot for me, and I hate to ask for anything more—”

“—But you will if you need to,” Marinette said firmly as she squeezed his hand back.

Adrien’s eyes softened as he looked up at Marinette.

“I will,” he agreed. “Thank you.”

Bringing her hand closer to his lips, he tried to plant a kiss on it, but Marinette pulled away before his lips could touch her.

“Save it for your girlfriend,” she said teasingly. “Or do you still not have one yet?”

Adrien frowned as he let go of her hand. “It’s not like Chloe isn’t trying, but that’s one fish I know is rotten. Besides, I have my eye on someone else.”

“And you still won’t tell me who they are,” Marinette complained, throwing her hands up dramatically. “What kind of friend am I if you can’t trust me with your crushes? Come on, we used to design wedding dresses together. You can give me at least a hint,” she pleaded.

Adrien smirked and crossed his arms.

“It’s a girl,” he said. “And I know her in real life. That’s all you get. Now, let’s get back to planning, shall we? We have a mermaid to beat.”

“Or a merman,” Alya cut in.

Adrien waved his hand. “Same thing. Now, there are five main beaches near town, and we’ll have to watch all of them if we want to be the first to see the mer swim up. Here’s what we’ll do…”

__*__*__*__*__

Five days later, Marinette was shivering on Star Beach, watching waves crash on the shore’s tall rocks and smooth sand as clouds obscured the normally bright night sky. It was colder than she’d expected, but the day had been warm while it lasted, and Adrien had said not to give up hope of seeing a mer near shore.

They’d already seen several, but none of them were wearing the traditional robe of the challenger, a black garment with gold embroidery. It had been a gift from the dauphin, once, and was repaired (or replaced) every decade or so, so that it remained in good shape. It was only worn once a year, for the announcement of the challenge, though a second gift, a black tunic of similar weave, was worn during the race. The human contender would also wear a tunic during the challenge, made of a tough red cloth woven by the mers.

Marinette was only a little concerned that it wouldn’t fit her. She knew how to sew, so she could always make some adjustments, if necessary. But the tunic was old, made during a time when people were smaller on average, and not much had been done to change it since it was first woven. It should fit her just fine, she reflected as she kicked off her sandals and buried her toes in the sand.

She didn’t see why Adrien had insisted they all stay out so late today. They hadn’t missed anything by going to bed earlier the last few days they’d waited. All the other beach-watchers had gone home.

Marinette glanced at a few tide pools as she walked closer to the ocean. A few more minutes and she was going home. She would text the others that this was a dumb idea and try again in the morning.

Dipping her toe in the water, Marinette sighed. She’d been excited when they’d begun their watch for the mer challenger, but she was getting bored of it now. Nothing big ever happened, although Nino got a mild sunburn, his first, on day three.

A wave broke on the rocks, leaving a large, black shape behind as it receded.

Marinette glanced over at it.

The black shape spluttered and moved, spreading out its tailfin for balance as it tried not to fall off the rock.

“This is harder than I thought,” the merman gasped. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to catch your attention?”

Marinette blinked.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have dressed in all black on a starless night, then,” she retorted.

The merman cautiously slid off the rock into the ocean on the next big wave.

“Well, I was busy all day,” he said, moving his dripping wet bangs out of his eyes and blinking them open at her. “This was the only chance I got to come here. Besides, I had to convince the mer-council first, which was not easy. Luckily, I’m friends with their current president.”

Marinette waded into the water, wondering whether this was real or just a scene her mind had made up. It certainly didn’t seem like something she’d thought would happen, even while she made plan after plan to talk to the mer when she finally saw them.

A wave moved the merman closer to the rock he’d landed on before, and he reached out to it for support.

“Have you figured out why I’m here yet, or is it too dark for you to see the gold in my robe?” he asked in a funny voice. “If I swam all this way for nothing, I’ll be pi— upset. It’s still pretty cold,” he marveled. “I thought it would be warmer than this.”

Marinette’s brow wrinkled. “You’re telling me that you’re the mer challenger? You just fell onto a rock; are you sure you can even swim?”

The mer spluttered and lashed his black tail, swimming closer to Marinette, who was nearly waist deep in the water now.

“I can swim better than you can,” he insisted. “Faster, too. But if you don’t believe me, go ahead and race me now, swimming,” he said as he held up a charm bracelet made of seashells, proof for the council that a challenger had really come. “We’ll see who gets their prize then.”

Marinette smirked. “Awfully sure that I’m a challenger, aren’t you? I know you are, at least,” she said, fingering the charm in her hand.

The clouds had moved again, leaving some moonlight to shine down on the merman and the now unmistakeable black robe he wore. The gold threads shone in the light, and as Marinette looked closer at it, she noticed that his tail, too, was not just black. Metallic green scales glinted under the more numerous black ones, almost like glitter.

She’d never known mers could have such beautiful tails.

“Like what you see?” the merman asked, lifting his tail so she could see it better.

Marinette flushed and shoved it back under the water.

“That’s none of your business,” she huffed, though her excuse made no sense even to her own ears. “You came to issue a challenge, so go ahead and do it or I’ll head home. There’s no point staying out late for no reason, freezing my legs off in the ocean.”

A wave splashed the mer’s hair into his face, and he had to push it back again, looking up at her with startled green eyes.

“Oh! Right. Well, it’s colder than I thought in here, so let’s maybe have the race in a week and a half, on Saturday at ten in the morning.”

Marinette nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

The merman grinned. “Great!” A moment passed by before he cleared his throat and asked, “So, are you accepting the challenge, or are you just here to pass on the message to someone who will?”

Marinette slapped her hands to her cheeks. “Yes! I do, I mean I will! I am accepting your challenge! Saturday at ten!”

“And not this one, the next one,” the mer repeated.

“Got it! Thanks!” Marinette squeaked. Remembering that she also needed to provide proof of her challenge, she reached into her pocket and drew out her own handmade charm, plastic beads made on land. “Here. Proof!”

The merman took the bracelet from her and examined it in the moonlight. “It’s beautiful! Okay, I’ll see you at the challenge,” the merman said, flashing a smile at her.

Woah, was he about to leave? Marinette reached out imploringly to him. “Wait! I don’t even know your name! What do I tell the council?”

Bobbing out of the water, the merman smirked. “Tell them Chat Noir is challenging you. Maybe you can find out my real name after you win. If you win,” he corrected himself.

Marinette quirked a brow at him. “For someone who was so feisty earlier, you seem pretty content with the idea of getting beaten. You’re not going to go easy on me, are you?”

Chat Noir gasped. “I would never! After all, we both have a prize that we’re fighting for, right?”

Marinette pursed her lips. “I know I do. Care to tell me what yours is?”

Grinning, Chat Noir crossed his arms over his chest. “I think I’ll keep it a secret for now. Although seeing how pretty my challenger is, I’m tempted to ask for a kiss from your lips,” he teased.

Marinette flushed. “T-that’s not the most uneaseable request I’ve heard,” she said, and then shook her head. “No, I mean unseasonable. Teaseable. Oh!” She clenched her fists at her side. The ocean immediately splashed them. “It doesn’t matter what you ask for, because I’m going to win anyway.”

Chat Noir’s eyes glinted as he backed away from her. “We’ll see about that,” he said with a grin. “Good luck, human. I’ll see you next Saturday!”

“Bye!” Marinette’s hand shot up as she waved. “I’ll see you then. And my name is Marinette! Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” She backed towards the beach, nearly falling down when a wave knocked her off balance.

Chat Noir raised a webbed hand and waved back at her.

“It was nice to meet you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” he called. He ducked under a wave and was gone from her sight.

Marinette stood shivering on the beach for a while before she headed off to report the challenge and its date to the council.

__*__*__*__*__

In the daylight, Chat Noir looked awfully familiar.

It was too bad Adrien was sick and couldn’t make it to the race, or Marinette was sure he’d help her figure out who her handsome challenger was. She must have seen him before, on the short journey to François the Coccinelle had taken, maybe, or by the docks of Dupont.

Chat Noir smirked at Marinette as she scrutinized him, his cat-like pupils flashing.

“Considering my offered prize again?”

Marinette blinked. To her left, a team of sailors slowly brought out the melusinette, set it in the water by the dock, and began to unfurl its small sail.

“Your kiss? I have much better things to consider than that. I’m not desperate, merman.”

“I never said you were, human,” Chat Noir returned. “But meowch, it’s good to know you think that’s the only reason a person would kiss me.”

Marinette snorted. “If all your jokes are that bad, then it’s probably the case,” she said with a smirk.

The mayor stepped up behind her.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, the race will be starting in a few minutes. You should get into your boat,” he said politely.

Clapping her hands together, Marinette smiled nervously. “Right! Can’t win the race if I don’t sail in it,” she chuckled.

Mayor Bourgeois stood stiffly, watching Marinette climb into the melusinette and grab the oar.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, we may have had to deny you the position of captain before, but Dupont is proud to call you one of our most promising young sailors. It is fitting that you are the one to represent us in this year’s race, and we wish you the best of luck.”

Marinette turned in the boat to smile and nod her thanks to the mayor. “Thank you, sir. I promise to do my best.”

Mayor Bourgeois cleared his throat. “Excellent.”

He checked his watch and walked over to stand in front of the microphone set up for him. A crowd of humans stood a meter away, and just past the dock where Marinette and Chat Noir were getting ready, a group of mers were similarly waiting for the official start of the race.

“Mers and humans,” the mayor began to announce, as Marinette and Chat Noir took their starting positions. “The annual race between our towns is about to begin!”

To the side of the crowd of humans, Gabriel Agreste stood with a frown on his face. He squinted at Chat Noir, who caught his gaze and shot back a careless grin.

“I’d like to thank everyone who made this possible,” the mayor continued. “Jade Turtle of François for his work setting this year’s course, and Gabriel Agreste of Dupont for the finishing touches to our contestants’ tunics. To this year’s councils, thank you all, especially the mer’s president, Mayura.”

A mermaid with a dark blue tail and black hair raised her hand in acknowledgement, looking over the crowd of humans, who were politely applauding. Her gaze seemed to linger when it found Adrien’s father, who continued to frown at Chat Noir.

“To those of you who are guests here, come to see this year’s race, you are in for a treat. Mayura and Pegasus, also of François, have worked to create an intelligent robot, who will follow the race through air and sea and provide live footage as the race progresses. You can watch it on your phone by scanning the QR code on the pamphlets handed out earlier.

“Our contestants have a two kilometer-long race ahead of them, beginning here and ending at the finish line by West Beach. It’s the one furthest west of town, for those of you who don’t know,” the mayor said, prompting a few laughs from the crowd.

Mayor Bourgeois turned to Marinette and Chat Noir.

“Contestants, are you ready?”

Marinette her oar a bit tighter and nodded. Chat Noir grinned and gave the mayor a thumb’s up.

“On your marks. Get set. Go!”

The merman had the advantage at the start, as always in this race, ducking under the water and pulling ahead of Marinette, who pushed off the dock and began to paddle the melusinette out to sea. It was slow going at first, and Markov, the robot Pegasus and Mayura had crafted, seemed to agree as it zipped off to record Chat Noir’s progress, instead.

But once they got to the open sea and the boat’s sail caught the wind, Marinette would have the advantage. The melusinette wasn’t a very fast boat, nor could it go far out on the ocean, but with the wind at her back, Marinette could count on catching up to Chat Noir in ten minutes or less.

And sure enough, she did, almost sooner than she was expecting. As the wind billowed the sail out, Marinette tucked the oar under her seat and focused on steering.

Green, black, and red buoys marked the racecourse, and beyond them, mers and boats full of humans observed from a safe distance. Chat Noir’s scales sparkled in the sun as he swam beside the melusinette, ducking below the water and resurfacing occasionally for air.

Marinette looked over the edge at him curiously. The melusinette was running smoothly now, cutting through the medium-sized waves with ease, and before long, she would overtake the merman.

He seemed to be flagging. Normally a mer’s lead would hold for longer than this.

The next time Chat Noir came up for air, Marinette called to him, “You’re not giving up already, are you? We’ve still got most of the race to finish!”

She shouldn’t care about an easy win, but Marinette wanted a fair challenge to make this more fun. Besides, what if the merman was injured? She’d have to stop the race and get help for him.

Chat Noir waved nonchalantly.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “This is the slow bit for me. I’ve got to conserve energy, just like a runner in cross-country. I’m expecting you to pull ahead, so don’t feel bad about it.”

Marinette squinted. “I guess that makes sense. But don’t fall too far behind, or I’ll start to suspect you’re trying to throw the race. A bit strange, for the one who issued the challenge.”

Chat Noir grinned, his pupils thinning. “Maybe I’ve got a plan,” he said. “Just wait and see, human. I’ll catch up to you by the end.”

“If you say so,” Marinette said. Chat Noir was sounding cocky again. At least he wasn’t trying to lose, like she’d worried before. “We’ll see who wins… but I still think it will be me.”

Moving the tiller before she could sail off course, Marinette finally pulled ahead as Chat Noir went below the surface again, a dark shadow beside her boat.

The crowds along the course thinned, either staying behind to watch the race on their screens or taking a shortcut to West Beach, where the victor would be announced. Over the next kilometer or so, the only company Marinette would have was Chat Noir, who’d be busy swimming, and Markov, who couldn’t talk, as far as Marinette knew.

It was just her, the sea, and the sun.

Marinette smiled as she shifted her weight in the boat, swinging the sail around to better catch the changing wind. She imagined the finish line, the rope stretched out from cliff to cliff above her head as she kept the sail steady or rowed if she needed to. The winds would die down and her momentum would slow down as she reached shore, so she needed to build a strong lead during this section of the race, because once Chat Noir switched into his final sprint, he’d be going faster than her.

Marinette enjoyed the calm seas for a while, almost able to relax with her lead built and knowing that she’d likely maintain it.

No offense to Chat Noir, but she’d seen many a faster mer in her life.

Seagulls called above her head, and a cloud moved in front of and then past the sun, followed by another puffy white cloud. An airplane soared by, and Markov splashed into the water to mark Chat Noir’s progress.

That was all the excitement there’d be for a while.

Marinette sat back in her seat.

Alya and Nino would be waiting by the docks to welcome her, win or lose. Alya would probably have a noisemaker in her hand, or one of the small flags with the Dupain-Cheng symbol on them Marinette had made a few weeks ago for the bakery. Maybe she’d have both, and hand the noisemaker to Nino while she waved the flag excitedly and they cheered for their friend.

Adrien was probably watching the race on TV at home.

Marinette couldn’t believe he’d gotten sick. He’d been so excited for this race, pumping Marinette up and encouraging her whenever she didn’t seem as excited as the rest of her friends. When Chloe had come to the bakery and tried to scoff at Marinette’s place in the challenge, he’d shoved a day-old croissant in her mouth and shown her out the door.

He’d blushed and stuttered when Marinette kissed his cheek as thanks.

She smiled at the memory. He really was the sweetest best friend she had.

The current changed under the melusinette, and Marinette held on to the tiller, straining to keep the boat on course. The winds blew hard, and a few waves crashed over the boat, draining over the sides after making a small puddle over Marinette’s feet. She fought with the ocean for nearly ten minutes, but soon, the seas calmed again.

She frowned.

The weather was supposed to be excellent today; that’s why it had been one of the possible dates picked out by the mer council, who knew the sea’s temper best.

Behind her, Chat Noir splashed in and out of the waves, going faster than he had before. The strong current might still be affecting him, Marinette thought, and she glanced behind to check on him.

There was a jellyfish bloom in the water by him.

It hadn’t been there earlier in the day, or someone surely would have reported it, unless it was missed in the excitement before the race. The jellyfish must have been there, just meters under the surface, while she was fighting the current, but she was too busy to notice them, she realized. She could have warned Chat Noir if she’d been more observant.

Marinette’s heart raced as she watched Chat Noir try to avoid the jellyfish, who swam mindlessly through the water, moving their stinging arms without a care.

The wind blew hard again, and the sail tugged the melusinette against one of the buoys. Marinette quickly moved to correct the ship’s direction and get away from the buoy.

A cry sounded from behind her. Chat Noir had been stung.

And again, as he faltered in the water, trying to evade more jellyfish and swim through the pain. Marinette reached out for the rope holding the sail in place. If Chat Noir was hurt too badly, he’d need her help to get out of the bloom.

His motions were jerky now, his face twisted in pain.

Marinette swung the boat around, pushing jellyfish aside with the oar as she neared Chat Noir.

“Grab onto the boat!” she called. Another jellyfish stung him, and he reared back. Fighting to swim, he struggled to reach the melusinette. Marinette grabbed his arm and pulled him close, heaving to lift him on top of the boat.

Chat Noir gasped for breath as she swung the boat around again, carefully piloting it out of the bloom and back on course.

She was silent until she was sure they’d made it through safely.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t see them, Chat Noir,” she apologized.

Making sure the sail was secure, she settled down beside the merman, laying a hand on his arm. He looked up into her eyes mournfully, wincing as his tail spasmed. Lines of red welts were growing under his scales, and Marinette was glad his tunic had prevented him from worse stings on his torso.

“How bad is it?” she asked, preparing herself for the answer.

Chat Noir lowered his head onto the boat. “It’s bad,” he said softly. “I’ve never even gotten stung before, so I don’t know how serious it is. My stomach’s not feeling good, my tail’s gone numb. And I think I have a headache,” he admitted.

Marinette’s lips thinned.

“You took a lot of bad stings, Chaton,” she said, keeping her voice low. “And I didn’t bring much that can help us. I have a water bottle and a couple pills of tylenol. You should take the pills with some of the water, and drink the rest slowly. We need to rinse the stingers out of your tail. Are you feeling strong enough to swim again?”

Chat Noir gingerly lifted his tail a few centimeters. “I don’t know that I’m race-ready, if that’s what you mean,” he said. “I don’t know. I might need help.”

“You definitely need help,” Marinette said. “Luckily, there’s only a bit of the race left. We’ve stayed on course; we’ll be near shore soon. Once we get there, you need a doctor.” She found and opened the packet of tylenol she’d brought, handing them to Chat Noir, who rolled over on his side and swallowed them with water from the bottle she offered him.

“Thank you,” he murmured in a low voice. “I’m sorry I messed up. I should have known the jellyfish wouldn’t move for me, or at least swum around them. I guess I was too tired to swim fast enough for that, though.”

Marinette gently pushed his bangs out of the way and looked directly in his eyes.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “We were both focusing on the race, and if you getting stung is anyone’s fault it’s mine. I can’t believe I let it happen!”

She let out a deep breath and clenched her fists. Chat Noir’s eyes shone as he looked up at her, still weak from the stings.

“Okay. You might not be able to swim yet, but you can hold on to the boat, right? You only have a couple stings on your arms. So, I’ll slow the boat down, and we’re going to move your tail back into the water. Once the stingers are out, you’ll start to feel a bit better. Ready?”

Nodding, Chat Noir braced himself, pushing himself back as Marinette shoved his tail firmly but gently off the boat. It landed in the water with a splash, and Chat Noir shivered and closed his eyes as he grabbed onto the side of the boat.

Marinette’s hands hovered over his arms, ready to grab him and hold him up if he needed it. He opened his eyes and smiled weakly at her.

“Thanks, Marinette,” he said in a friendly voice. Marinette was struck once again by its familiarity. “I think I’ve got it from here, as long as I can keep holding on to the boat. You won’t kick me off just so they can see that you’ve won, will you?”

Marinette scrunched up her face. “Of course not,” she said defensively. “I don’t think anyone cares about the race at this point. Markov probably recorded the whole thing, and they’ll have a doctor waiting at the finish line for you with vinegar and whatever else you need. They might make us have a redo, though,” she pondered.

Chat Noir let out a groan. “Oh, no,” he whined, lowering his head to the edge of the boat with a thud. “There’s no way I’m doing this again! You can find someone else to race against and trick into getting stung.”

Marinette’s face fell. “I said I was sorry!” she protested. “I didn’t mean for you to get stung. Please forgive me,” she begged.

Chat Noir looked up at her with a small smile. “I don’t really think there’s anything to forgive. But how could anyone refuse a lady as fair as you?”

Marinette sighed in relief. “Thank you,” she said.

The shadow of the finish line crossed over the boat as it slowed, and Marinette readied the melusinette for docking by preparing the docking lines and fenders.

As soon as she started docking, a green-tailed merman took Chat Noir away for medical assistance. He waved to Marinette as they were separated with a sad smile, and she watched him go as her stomach tied itself in a knot.

While Marinette finished tying the last docking line, the mayor’s loud voice reached Marinette just before he did, assuring her that Chat Noir would be taken care of properly and that she shouldn’t worry about him.

“And you shouldn’t worry about the outcome of the race,” he added confidently as Marinette climbed out onto the dock and the race’s workers took over caring for the melusinette. “Due to the unusual circumstances, a tie has been declared. You and Chat Noir will meet up after he’s healed and decide what your prizes will be. Make sure he knows he can ask for anything at all; the entire town will make sure he gets whatever it is. Nothing like this has ever happened before,” he fretted. “We can’t risk our relationship with our closest allies!”

Marinette nodded absently as Nino and Alya shoved through the thick crowd, pausing when they saw the mayor. Concern was written over both of their faces, but the mayor didn’t seem to notice, intent on talking Marinette’s ear off even more.

She cut him off before he could.

“Thank you, Mayor Bourgeois,” she said abruptly. “I understand our position very well. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my parents and friends are waiting for me. Unless you have something more for me to do right now, I need to get home.”

The mayor cleared his throat. “Ah, I see. Well, in that case, thank you for making the best decisions you could out there today. Chat Noir was lucky to have you as his racing partner. Goodbye, Miss Dupain-Cheng,” he said as Marinette made her way over to Alya and Nino, who gave her sympathetic looks as she turned her face down and hurried off the dock, holding one of their hands in each of her own.

__*__*__*__*__

Adrien had seen the whole thing, apparently. He assured Marinette from under his blankets that she’d done all she could, but she couldn’t let go of the nagging voice in her head that insisted she could have prevented the whole thing.

“Maybe I should have let another, more seasoned sailor take the challenge,” she said as she sat by Adrien’s bed, stroking his hair.

He was still sick, enough that Gabriel hadn’t wanted to let anyone in to see him at all. After a few days, he finally listened to his son and let Marinette, Alya, and Nino visit him, one at a time so that they wouldn’t overly excite Adrien and slow down his healing.

She sighed as Adrien nuzzled against her hand. “Maybe they would have noticed the bloom in time, and Chat Noir would be fine.”

Adrien frowned, his eyes still closed as he enjoyed his friend’s ministrations.

“I doubt they would have seen, either,” he said. “The water got pretty choppy, and it was hard to see the jellyfish even on Markov’s camera. Experience had nothing to do with it.”

Marinette leaned down and brushed a kiss to Adrien’s forehead. It wasn’t particularly warm, so his fever must have broken.

“You might be right.”

Adrien shifted, quickly pulling the covers back over his arms as he turned onto his side.

“I’m always right. Are you feeling less afraid to see him again now?”

Marinette sniffed. “I was never afraid, just nervous. What if he blames me?”

“Did he blame you before?”

Marinette shook her head.

“Then he won’t now. Trust me,” he said with a soft smile.

“Okay,” Marinette said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest.

A few moments passed.

“Do you think he still wants a kiss?” she asked abruptly.

Adrien blinked, and then blinked again as a red flush took over his face.

“What?” he croaked.

Marinette cocked her head. “Didn’t I tell you? He said he was going to ask for a kiss before the race. I wonder if he still wants one,” she said with a shrug. Her own cheeks were growing pink, and she looked away, towards the window in the room.

Adrien sat up, twisting to face Marinette.

“And you thought he was serious? No, wait. Do you want him to kiss you?” he asked in a squeaky voice.

“I don’t know,” Marinete said, fighting to keep her tone nonchalant. “He is kind of hot, don’t you think?”

Adrien squeaked in response.

Marinette turned to look at him. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, is all I’m saying! But I do think he deserves more than just a kiss after I basically let him get stung.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, half the treasury, maybe! I just feel so bad about it. And I’m seeing him again tonight,” Marinette fretted, tugging her hair, which was hanging free of its pigtails for once.

Adrien stared at her for a moment and threw his head back in a laugh.

“Oh, Marinette, I don’t think he’ll want Dupont’s money,” he chuckled. “Though if you’re right, maybe he’ll ask for two kisses, instead of one.”

“Adrien!” Marinette hissed, red-cheeked.

She ignored the way her heart fluttered in her chest.

But Adrien’s easy attitude about the meeting seemed to help. By the time she had to head to the shore — Chat Noir had suggested the beach where they met through an email, and she’d agreed — Marinette was feeling only a little bit nervous about it.

She had worn her cutest sundress and put on a bit of makeup, though. Not for any particular reason, she insisted to Alya when she asked about it, just to make her feel more confident.

“Confident for what, a kiss?” Nino had asked, and Marinette had tripped over the last stair of the porch.

She straightened out her skirt as she walked to the beach by herself. It was almost sunset, and Chat Noir might be waiting for her by now.

She caught sight of him as she stepped into the sand. He was sunning himself on the rock he’d landed on that first night, wearing a green tunic this time, but he turned and smiled at her when he heard her footsteps.

He had a beautiful smile. She nearly tripped again, looking at it. Marinette caught herself and hurried the rest of the way to the rock, standing by its base, a few meters back from the water. Chat Noir wiggled down it to meet her, stopping when his eyes were level with hers.

“Hi, Marinette,” he said with a grin. His pupils were wide as he took in her outfit, and his smile softened. “You look beautiful.”

Marinette tucked her loose hair behind her ear. “Thank you,” she said shyly. “You don’t look bad, yourself. Your stings are healed?”

Chat Noir nodded. ”Jade Turtle said that it was smart of you to rinse most of the stingers out with sea water. Otherwise it might have been a bit worse,” he said.

“You’re welcome. I’m just glad you’re feeling better! I was scared when I saw how big the jellyfish bloom was, and you in the middle of it.”

Chat Noir winced. “It was pretty terrifying; I’m glad we got through it okay. But if you don’t mind, let’s move on to a more pleasant subject. What do you want for your prize?”

Marinette twisted her hands together. “Well, I have one in mind, but honestly it’s a big request, and I still feel responsible for what happened to you, so it’s fine if you say no way to it! I just have to try, you know, and if it doesn’t work then that’s fine and I’m asking for too much anyway and—” She took a deep breath and let her hands fall beside her. “I was hoping you could sponsor me when they pick the new ship captains in the fall. I’m technically too young to sign up, but I was hoping that with your backing, the council would make an exception for me. Again, I have a backup request!” Marinette said, waving her hands in panic. “You can tell me it’s too much, or that I’m not as good of a sailor as I thought. It’s fine.”

Chat Noir watched her panicking with a fond curve in his lips.

“Marinette. I’d be honored to sponsor you,” he said in a tender voice. “That’s not too much to ask for. The way I see it, you’re the one who saved me back there. You deserve even more than this; and honestly, I think you should have been declared the winner of the race. It was obvious that I was going to lose,” he chuckled. “I’m still not used to my mer form, I guess.”

Marinette, who had been smiling in relief, froze. “Your mer form? You mean, you’re only part mer?”

Chat Noir rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly. “Is that a problem?”

“No! Nonono, it’s just surprising! You seemed really sure of yourself, and I thought you must be an experienced swimmer because of that. And I guess you’re not,” she said uncertainly. “How did you even get your council to approve you as their challenger?”

“Well, my mother was friends with Mayura,” Chat Noir explained. “She’s almost like a second mother to me. And since she’s the current president, it was hard for them to say no to her, so I really only had to convince one person. It was a great way to make my father mad, so she was all for it,” he grinned.

“I see,” Marinette said with a frown. “So your father is human, your mother was a mermaid, and your father doesn’t like you exploring your mer side? That’s so unfair!”

Chat Noir crossed his arms on the rock and rested his cheek on them. “It isn’t,” he agreed. “But I didn’t even know I was part mer until I was nearly ten. It wasn’t so bad until then, because I didn’t know I could be anything but human.”

Marinette was angry at whoever Chat Noir’s dad was. “I might punch your father if I ever meet him,” she said, crossing her arms with a huff.

“Please don’t, I need him for college money,” Chat Noir joked. “So… you’re really okay that I’m only part mer? And the council will be, too?”

“Of course,” Marinette said with a nod. “I have a few friends who are part mer, though none of them live near Dupont. And Chloe, our mayor’s daughter, is half mer, though she prefers to spend her days on land, instead of in the ocean. It might mess up her hair, or something,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “As long as you have your council’s backing, which you do, then Dupont’s council will have to listen to you.”

“That’s a relief,” Chat Noir said. “I’m glad your plan still works.”

Marinette nodded. “Me, too. Okay, I’ve called in my prize. What do you want for yours?”

Chat Noir looked at her with a guarded expression from his perch on the boulder. There was a strange look in his eyes, and Marinette felt her cheeks heat up.

“If I said…” he began, and cut himself off with a sigh. He sat up, turning to face the ocean as he thought of what to say.

Marinette waited patiently as a new wave broke on the beach.

“I didn’t really think I would win the race when I volunteered for it, or even tie,” Chat Noir admitted, turning back to face her. “I didn’t have a prize in mind when I challenged you, and I don’t think it’s fair of me to ask for one now. But there is something I’ve wanted for a long time now, something that I’m afraid might be too much. But this might be my only chance, and I’m willing to risk it. Marinette,” he said, almost begged, a pleading look in his eyes, “Will you kiss me? I promise, that’s all I want, but if you don’t, then I can ask for something else. A pastry from your parents’ bakery, or the least favorite seashell that you’ve collected, something small like that. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Just, please tell me what you think?”

Marinette swallowed, her palms growing sweaty. She wiped them off on her skirt and wondered if she was really blushing or if her face just felt hot.

“I think one kiss isn’t too much to ask for,” she said shyly. “Besides, I lied before. You can probably have anyone you want, not just the desperate ones, or me just because of an old tradition.” Marinette fell quiet, afraid that if she talked more, she’d stutter or mess up her words and embarrass herself.

“You’ll kiss me,” Chat Noir breathed, like the words would shatter if he spoke louder. “Really?” He leaned down, closer to Marinette, like he belonged right next to her and couldn’t leave for too long.

Marinette gulped. Her hands were trembling. She hadn’t felt like this in years.

“Really,” she said, and quickly leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “This work?”

Chat Noir flushed pink. “If you want it to,” he said. “But I would prefer something… closer to here,” he said, angling his head so that his breath brushed against her lips.

“Right here,” she murmured, and Chat Noir shivered.

“Yes,” he said, and she surged forward to kiss him. It was a gentle kiss, and she thought it might be Chat Noir’s first from his shy movements, but it was tender and full of quiet passion.

When she pulled away, Chat Noir kept his eyes closed for a moment.

Then he opened them, and they were soft and green and oh so familiar.

His pupils were normal. He’d switched to his human form sometime during the kiss, Marinette realized, and she stared at him.

“Marinette,” Adrien murmured, his cheeks still pink, “I— what is it?”

Her mouth was hanging open.

“Adrien,” she said, and he tilted his head.

“Yes?” Then he gasped. “Oh! Sorry, I was going to tell you before, I promise! I just forgot!”

“This makes absolutely no sense! You’ve been half mer all this time? And your father hid it from you? Oh, this actually sounds exactly like him. You were right in front of me this whole time,” she marveled, grabbing Adrien’s face and tilting it as she looked it over, trying to match the merman to the boy she’d grown up with.

“Surprise?” Adrien laughed nervously. “Are you okay with this, Marinette? Knowing who I am?”

Marinette let go of him and crossed her arms. “I guess! I’m just madder than ever at your father. He didn’t even tell you anything about your mother! How did you find out?”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I got jealous of you guys being able to swim and go on boats and stuff one day when we were nine, and Father was busy, so I decided to sneak out and teach myself how to swim. I almost drowned at first, because I decided to dive into the ocean like an idiot instead of wading in, but then my mer half kicked in and I transformed. It was a little easier to not drown then, and I worked up to swimming to François, but without Mayura’s help, I probably never would have found out about my heritage. It was a shock, for sure.”

Marinette climbed up on the boulder and sat beside him. “Did you find out what happened to your mother?” she asked hesitantly.

Adrien’s expression soured, but he nodded and answered her. “My mother was a mermaid from a town off England’s coast. My father visited there for inspiration from the mers’ fashion in his designs, and eventually, they met and fell in love. Not unheard of, as you know, but still unusual, and a difficult relationship to maintain. They had a small wedding in the ocean above her town, and before long, I was born. They decided to move to Dupont to raise me, since it’s so close to a mer city that they could see each other more frequently and bring me up knowing about both of my halves, mer and human. Father bought our house and moved first, taking me with him. Mom wanted to stay with her family for a few more days, and then swim here by herself. But she never made it,” he said with a frown. “She died sometime during the journey. And Père never told anyone what happened. He just cut off contact with the mers and raised me by himself. Mayura used to live in my mother’s town with her before moving to François. She’s the one who knows the story best, and even she doesn’t know the full story, though she tried to ask my father what happened. He wouldn’t say,” he said, shrugging hopelessly.

“But now you know,” Marinette said. “You know who you are, and you can make him give you the full story. You deserve to hear it, and if he won’t answer you, then maybe he’ll answer to both of us. I’ll always support you, Adrien.”

A small smile curved his lips. “You and me against the world,” he said, and reached down to take her hand.

Marinette took a shaky breath.

“Soo, I don’t know if now’s a good time, but about that kiss…” she trailed off, looking down at their entwined hands, instead of him.

Adrien smiled and rested his head on her shoulders. The setting sun began to turn the ocean a rich, warm gold in the distance.

“It meant whatever you want it to. I’ve had feelings for you for a long time, and I think you might have some for me. But I’m willing to wait, and I can always take no as an answer. Whatever you want,” he repeated.

Marinette squeezed his hand a bit tighter. “I think I might need some time,” she said. “But I want to try us. Alya’s right, I miss you too much when you’re gone. I need you close to me.”

She could feel Adrien’s smile without needing to see it.

“That sounds perfect to me,” he said.

And it was.

#ml fanfic #ml au #mermaids #mermay #marichat may #marichat #adrinette #lovesquare #reverse crush #identity reveal #rosie-b writing #miraculous ladybug #miraculeakless #ml leak free

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