Miraculous Ladybug, Adrinath with implied Adrinathanette; Gen (No Archive Warnings Apply), 419 words
Tags: Polyamory (implied), Canon Divergence, Partial OOC, Romance, Fluff, Kissing, Secret Identity, Past Tense
Notes: Originally written in December 2015 (unfinished but cut off appropriately, minimal editing).
Soft music filling his ears. A chilly night, and yet... The window was open.
The night was chilly. And yet, Nathaniel had kept the window open this evening. It had become his habit over the past few months. Some nights it was quiet, but during the others a stray cat or a ladybug wound wander in. Tonight was one of these nights.
With soft music filling his ears, Nathaniel didn’t hear a thud outside of his window. A dark shadow leaped onto his windowsill and snuck into the room. The red-haired boy jumped, snapping his eyes open when the bed dipped under someone’s weight. Chat Noir was crouching above him, his green eyes softly glowing in the dark. His grin for a second reminded Nath of Cheshire Cat’s – so bright it was, making everything else disappear. Chat made a motion with his hand, asking for one earbud, and receiving it, rather ungracefully flopped next to Nathaniel. Then he wiggled about, making himself comfortable, and relaxed.
Nath closed his eyes. The wind was still blowing into the open window, but now there was presence near him that radiated heat and faint smell of leather and expensive cologne. It was comfortable. The sort of romantic calm he preferred… A few songs later he felt Chat moving, scooting closer to him and pocking him in the arm, so the boy rolled his head to look at the other.
“Hi,” Chat said. He turned out to be closer that Nathaniel thought he was, warm breath ghosting over his face.
“Hi,” Nath smiled. “Where’s the Lady?”
It took them some time to figure out what to do with all these secret identities and aliases. They set on calling each other by the identity they were in. Not that Nathaniel in particular had this problem.
“Something came up at home, and she had to fly away.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yep! Told me to kiss you for her.”
“Did she now?” Nath slowly set up and, despite his best efforts, he could feel his cheeks getting hot.
“She did! Come here.”
Chat caught him by his T-shirt and tugged him down, so Nathaniel closed his eyes without thinking. Chat’s breath touched his face, and he felt a light kiss on his cheek.
Nathaniel blinked. Blinked again. The smile that cat was giving him was truly blinding now and it kept getting wider until Chat snorted. “Alright, alright! No teasing, I remember,” his look became softer, eyes slowly falling closed and opening again. “That one was from Ladybug, and this one,” the second kiss touched Nath’s lips, “is from Chat Noir.”
Divider by @enchanthings. Cover collage/photomanip by me; original images by Engin Akyurt (Engin_Akyurt) and Aniket (amgprophoto) on Pixabay.
Marinette decides she isn't dealing with being the guardian and gives the miracle box to Nathaniel. Main ship is Nathaniel\Marinette\Adrien but they're all dumb and keep thinking the other two are trying to get together.
*This is part of an archival project for https://ift.tt/2W6hnD3 and thus is not fanfiction in the traditional sense. This discord is Nathaniel (and Nathmarc) centric, and is devoted to coming up with and developing story ideas. Everyone is welcome to join!
Words: 5568, Chapters: 2/?, Language: English
Series: Part 7 of Miraculous Multiverse
Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Synopsis: Adrien has been sheltered and smothered his whole life. And maybe it was a little much to experience freedom through trying to arrest his father and bring down his fashion empire. But when Marinette laughs and Nathanael smiles... he feels like everything is going to be okay.
Nathanael is an artist of a rebelling political movement (members including but not limited to: Alya, who gathers intel and runs an underground printed newspaper, Alix, who breaks into buildings to steal reports, Ivan, who protects witnesses from corporations and rich families, Max, who hacks into emails, Kim, who runs information through the slums, and more of their graduating class) and Nath creates art murals (vandalizes) on buildings and billboards.
One night he goes across town and he is caught in the middle of a mural on a billboard. By the man who is modeling on the billboard.
Adrien Agreste is the son of fashion designer, deep-pocketed corporate mogul Gabriel Agreste, who is known to the public to cut corners, to smother competition, and even rumors of embezzlement and ties with the corrupt mayor of Paris, whose pockets run just as deep with dirty and even sometimes bloody money.
Adrien is a tired man, sheltered all his life, can only escape during nighttime walks from the suffocating world of his father and the expectations to be the one to take it over and the disappointed looks that tell him that his father doesn't even believe he can do it.
Every night he climbs the stairs to this tall building and he stares at the billboard of himself in hate, because it's the perfect image of who everyone wants him to be.
Until he catches a man painting over it one day.
Marinette is the daughter of small bakery owners. They get their business throttled and have had their rent be steadily increased on a weekly basis. She has known Nathanael and most of the other young people in the rebellion since she was a child and her parents often offer their basement as place for them to convene, as well as offer them what little leftover food from their bakery as they can. Marinette dreams of dresses and sketch books and runways in Milan, but her dreams are drowned by debt, hunger, and fear.
Then one day she walks downstairs with her arms laden with bakery goods to see the face of a poster that realizes all her dreams and nightmares rolled into one.
Adrien's world is opened when Nathanael takes him around Paris and shows him the slums and the way people hunger and fear the shadow of his family. He hates that the world is like this.
"I can't let you go back unless I know you're with us," Nathanael tells him, standing behind him as they stand at the top of a large building, looking down at buildings that are falling apart and that have blankets as windows, kids running in the streets without shoes, bones jutting out from under their skin in their hunger.
His eyes turn to the artist, who has pulled down the black mask that covered his mouth as he had painted such provocative words across the billboard of his face.
M U R D E R E R
T H I E F
A beautifull haunting image of Gabriel Agreste with his hands covered in blood.
"And if I'm not?" he asks, voice quiet.
Nathanael shrugs. "I'm sure someone will know what to do. We're not a monarchy. You need to convince all of us."
"All of you?" he echoes.
They don't trust him, Adrien knows. Nathanael believes in him the most, having seen the look on his face, the absolute shock and dawning of understanding as he witnessed more and more of the state that Paris was in. The girl, Marinette, who sort of laughs nervously when he asks what she does for the rebellion. "I," she says, not look at him, "bring the food." Her hand gestures towards a small plate of croissants that others are snacking on. Her eyes and friendly smile never reach him. Her words are small and voice is hollow when she speaks to him.
The next time they meet, he brings Chloe with him. She's not stupid. She knows what her father does. She has heard the silenced pops of guns in the halls of their hotel. "I'm here for Adrien," she says when they ask. "If he decides he's done with this, then so am I." It's a solidarity thing. Something she's doing out of her love for him--if Adrien wants to stop their parents, then she will help him. This isn't about Paris or about her or about justice. This is for Adrien.
Over the next several weeks both he and Chloe, as well as several other people in the rebellion, are sent on missions to test their ability and their loyalty.
"I think we should... get disguises," Adrien mentions as they're eating cake. Others look at him and he cringes a little. "I overheard my father talking about installing cameras should the thefts continue or increase. Plus, with the way I walked up on Nathanael and the close calls we all have had... I think we shouldn't be leaving the safe house without being in disguise."
Nathanael chews on his cake thoughtfully. "Marinette?" he asks after he swallows, nodding a little.
She hesitates before reaching into the bag that is constantly at her feet. She pulls out a sketch pad and a pencil. The book falls open and that's when Adrien fully understands her fear.
She's a designer.
A fashion designer.
As in the competition his father is known to snuff out.
And, god, she's good. there isn't much room left on her pages, all the space taken by cramped designs and notes along the edges.
Adrien slides off his seat and takes one next to her. "I can get the materials," he tells her. "Just tell me what color and how much.”
When she's designing, she's like a flower blossoming. Suddenly she's smiling and confident and spouting ideas about types of breathability and flexibility for them to move around and be evasive, but also stay out of sight.
Her eyes are blue, he realizes as he watches her talk to Nathanael, who is smiling at her. Nath's smile turns to a smirk when he sees Adrien watching and he winks at him.
Adrien's cheeks flush pink. God, he's fucked.
Marinette makes herself a disguise. She fastens the mask to her face and Adrien and Nathanael look at her in curiosity.
"You didn't think I'd let you without me, did you?" she asks.
Nathanael just laughs and kisses her. "Of course not."
It's Adrien's first confirmation on their relationship and he blushes because he just watched their intimate moment.
Once the disguises are made, Marinette becomes a different person with Adrien. She's all laughter and bright eyes and teasing. Nathanael laughs with her and he finds himself on missions with them often.
Adrien wonders if he falls in love with them because they're the first people to be so open with him in his life. Chloe has always been his friend, but she's always reserved and quiet. There was a time she used to be sunshine and blue skies, but sometime after their mothers disappeared, her brightness dimmed.
From there it's rebellion espionage. Hacking into emails and breaking into offices. Adrien slipping in his father's room to make copies of hand notes and placing audio bugs on his telephone. Chloe giving them dates and times and names of hits her father has taken out. Sometimes they can save them. Sometimes they can't.
It ends with Gabriel taking both Nathanael and Marinette hostage and threatening Adrien for some sensitive information.
"You don't understand the sacrifices I have made for you," Gabriel yells at him. "You are a child. You don't understand everything I have given up and done to give you this life."
"I never wanted this!" Tears in Adrien's eyes and anger hot on his face. "I never wanted this. I would have rather starved than to live knowing all that you've done!"
"You say that now, but you've never had hunger claw at your stomach, have you?"
Adrien is silent and he looks at Marinette and Nathanael, who are cold and tied up and about to die. "I will do anything to undo even an inch of the damage you have caused Paris. Even if that means watching you kill the man and woman I love."
Before Gabriel can, Chloe sweeps in with police--the ones that aren't in her father's pockets. (Sabrina's father included.)
Chloe has all the ambition and passion to become the new mayor, but doesn't.
The Gabriel fashion line dies and Adrien is left with a mountain of money he hates and doesn't know what to do with. Gabriel and Andre have enough evidence against them to last a lifetime.
Adrien is living in a mansion he hates, cold empty walls that he wishes would disappear. Nathanael and Marinette haven't spoken to anyone in the rebellion. Alix, Kim, and Max have visited him, along with Sabrina and Chloe. None bear words other than that Tom and Sabine say they're okay.
Then one day he answers the ringing of his doorbell to get an armful of Marinette. Her lips are soft against his cheek and she clutches onto him. Behind her, Nathanael grabs him and holds them together. His lips are warm on Adrien's temple. And he starts crying.
Additional Tags: ot3 for life, Season 3 Spoilers, s3: Ladybug, s3: felix, aka kail fixes some episodes in s3, even tho he hasn't actually watched s3, because felix and mari deserved better, and also kail fixes why the show forgets about nathaniel so often, Soulmates, Kinda, no beta its 1am
