U r trash for ot4?? Which one and also why? (This is a genuine question please do not take it as salty dkdjdfn)
No, of course not!!! 🥰
When I say OT4, I mean Marinette/Adrien/Alya/Nino — more specifically, Adrinette, Alyanette, Ninya, and Adrino. I love Alya & Adrien and Marinette & Nino as ride or die buds, but I don’t really ship them. And I like having platonic relationships within the polycule bc not every person within one has to be dating every other person!
(Plus I’m aromantic and imagining queerplatonic Alyadrien and Ninette makes my heart soar. Please do look up QPRs when you get the chance!)
I’m massive love square and Ninya trash for obvious reasons, and Alyanette and Adrino make me scream every time I so much as remember they exist. Alyadrienette was also my very first polyamorous ship ever, but I’d always feel guilty that I was leaving Nino out 😭 So instead of breaking people up and shuffling them around and stressing over which pairing I want in a story, why not all of them? That’s the same reasoning I’ve used for Adrigaminette in the past 😅
(It’s also why I love polyamory in general, because it’s another thing that shakes the very foundation of amatonormativity, or this idea that you have to meet the right person, get married, have 2.5 kids in a nice little house...all that stuff. Just like QPRs challenge the idea that close relationships have to be either romantic or “just” friends. I highly suggest looking these things up when you get the chance because they’ll really change the way you look at relationships in the best possible way)
Summary: “If you want to take down Lila, you have to play the long game,” Kagami says. “That means winning over your classmates. You’ve tried the direct approach and where has that gotten you?”
Who would've thought that Kagami's advice would not only let Marinette tolerate Lila's existence, but also land her both a boyfriend and a girlfriend?
AO3 link
“…and I just don’t get how Mr Damocles could believe her like that!” Marinette waves her hands around, nearly spilling her orange juice all over the table. “A condition that makes her lie? There’s no such thing! And I don’t want to go into “you need official proof of your disability to be believed” territory, but with as many conditions as she says she has? Why hasn’t anyone called her mother and asked for everything they should know to accommodate her? Especially when I needed, like, ten pieces of paper just to prove to them that I’m autistic!”
Across from her, Kagami just smiles and takes a sip of juice. Why is Kagami smiling at a time like this? This is a disaster! Lila gets off scot-free, with an even more iron-clad excuse for lying, and Adrien is Kagami’s friend too, right? Why isn’t Kagami worried for him?
“How can you smile when she’s just gotten away with it again?” Marinette bursts out. “Especially after how she hurt you with that picture of her kissing Adrien?”
“I’m going to choose to take your statement as worry for me after what Lila did to me and not an accusation, since I know you meant the former,” Kagami says rather calmly. “And if you would stop allowing your contempt for Lila to cloud you, you would see that she’s just handed you victory on a silver platter.”
“Me? She’s the one who gets to lie about everything!” Marinette says.
“Exactly,” Kagami says. “She supposedly has a condition that makes her lie uncontrollably. You have an admission that she’s a liar from the horse’s mouth. How long will it take before people start to doubt her word? And they will hear about her condition. Mr Damocles will have to inform Ms Bustier, so there’s no chance that the rest of the class won’t find out.”
“And if Lila somehow manages to keep it from them?” Marinette says. Kagami’s smile widens into something that a predator might give their prey before going for the jugular.
“Whether or not she keeps it from them, she’s backed herself into a corner,” Kagami says. “Now is the time for calmness, Marinette. Fall back and strategise. First of all, you have to ingratiate yourself with your classmates again.”
“Ingratiate myself with them?” Marinette scowls and takes a violent swig of juice. “After they doubted me and shoved me to the back and – and treated me like –”
“If you want to take down Lila, you have to play the long game,” Kagami says. “That means winning over your classmates. You’ve tried the direct approach and where has that gotten you?”
“I know, I know,” Marinette sighs. “Just…all that’s necessary for evil to triumph is that good people do nothing.”
“You won’t be doing nothing,” Kagami says. “Doing nothing would involve shrugging and writing your classmates off as a lost cause, allowing Lila to have them. That’s not what you’re doing. You’re falling back and searching for another angle of attack, just as Ladybug and Chat Noir would temporarily retreat from a battle to find another way to attack the akuma. To achieve your ultimate goal, sometimes you have to accept a few losses.”
Marinette stares. How…how has she never thought of it that way? “God, why didn’t I talk to you before?” she says. Kagami’s lips twitch.
“Because we weren’t friends before,” she says. “Now, here’s the plan to take Lila down. I do warn you, though, it involves playing nice with her.”
With a groan, Marinette thumps her head on the table. “It’s not like I can do anything else,” she mumbles into the wood. “Fine. What’s the plan, Kagami?”
.
“Alright,” Marinette sighs, staring at the school building looming over her like a gigantic akuma. “You can do this.”
“It’s okay to be nervous!” Tikki says. “After being expelled yesterday, I’d feel nervous about facing my classmates too!”
“It’s not just that,” Marinette says. “I…have to be nice to Lila. I have to sit there and let her lie and just smile along with it!”
“Well, Kagami did have a point,” Tikki says. “The direct approach isn’t getting you anywhere. All you can really do now is let her lie herself into a corner.”
“Which is what Adrien told me to do. Bet he didn’t think I’d get expelled over it.”
“Adrien didn’t think she was much of a threat. You’re coming from a completely different angle, Marinette! You’re taking the active approach to letting her hang herself.”
“True…” Marinette squares her shoulders and marches through the school gates. “I can do this! I’m strong! I’m confident! I’m Marinette!”
“That’s the spirit!” Tikki cheers.
Marinette’s burst of confidence lasts right until she’s outside the classroom door, where Lila’s holding court with her loud lies about hanging out with Clara Nightingale or something like that. She gulps and clenches her fists. Nope. She can’t do this. She can’t face them. She can’t stand there and look at Lila’s smug little smirk and feel like she’s letting Lila get away with this –
Something bats against her thigh. It’s Tikki, still inside her purse, who looks up and gives her a reassuring little smile. Marinette swallows, then nods and pushes the classroom door open. Almost as though she’s walking to the gallows, every single classmate falls silent and turns to stare at her.
Fantastic. Everyday Ladybug, her arse.
“Oh, Marinette!” Lila clasps her hands to her chest. “I’m so happy to see you’re back! I’m so awfully sorry, I didn’t mean to get you expelled!”
“It wasn’t your fault, Lila!” Kim says. “You can’t help your condition!”
Ah. So, Lila has told them about her supposed condition. That makes Marinette’s job a lot easier. She pastes on a smile and tilts her head.
“I’m so sorry, Lila,” she forces herself to chirp. “I had no idea about your condition! I just really hate liars, see, and I saw you as a threat to my friends, and I’m so used to protecting them from Chloé. If I’d known that you couldn’t help it…”
“Wow, thanks,” Chloé drawls. Something flashes in Lila’s eyes, too fast for anyone else to see.
“You were just worried for us?” Rose rushes over and throws her arms around Marinette. “Oh, that’s so sweet of you, Marinette! It’s so good that you’re apologising!”
“Yes, Marinette, thank you for your apology,” Lila says with a tight-lipped smile. “I completely understand your reaction. And it’s so noble that you were just trying to protect your friends.”
With that, something in the atmosphere seems to shift, like Lila’s welcomed Marinette into the fold and her classmates have once again accepted her. It takes every little shred of willpower to keep smiling and not go on the attack, but Marinette forces herself to take her seat and listen to Alya’s speech about coming to her senses and pushing her jealousy aside.
God, this sucks.
.
“…and she said, “Oh, Lila, I simply must make up a music video about you! You have to be in it!” But you guys know me, I simply can’t bear the attention –”
“That must have been so hard for you, Lila!” Marinette says. It’s been a week of this, a week of pretending that Lila’s a saint, and god, if she wasn’t doing this to avenge Kagami for the Oni-chan thing just as much as for herself, she’d have lost her shit by now. “After the song that Jagged Stone wrote about you, it must have been so tempting to let Clara Nightingale make a music video about you!”
“Oh, yes!” Max says. “You did mention that Jagged Stone had written a song about you, Lila!”
“Can’t hate attention that much, then,” Chloé scoffs. Although she cops a few glares, there are also a few quizzical looks aimed at Lila.
“Oh – well, a song is so different to a music video!” Lila says.
“Not really?” Nino says. “They’re both songs, dude. One’s just got visuals.”
“And Nino would know,” Marinette says. “He’s the best DJ and filmmaker around!”
“Dude!” Nino reaches back to fist-bump her. Next to him, Adrien’s watching Marinette with a furrowed brow, like he’s trying to figure out why Marinette’s been so chummy with her mortal enemy for the past week. But she’s not confiding in him after that photoshoot. She’s telling no one. No one apart from Kagami. The last thing she needs is for Lila to get wind of what’s going on, if she doesn’t already suspect it.
“Well…it just felt odd, you know?” Lila says. “Jagged wrote that song because I saved his kitten, but I haven’t really done anything for Clara!”
The class seems to accept that. But Marinette doesn’t miss how a few of them, like Nathaniel and Alix, stare at Lila with frowns even after Ms Bustier arrives and calls the class to order.
“Hey, Marinette, can I talk to you real quick?” Adrien says once class is over and they’re filing out. Marinette forces herself to smile.
“Sure!” she says. She hasn’t really spoken to Adrien since the photoshoot he’d done with Lila, more for his sake so that she doesn’t explode about colluding with the enemy, but maybe it’s time to clear the air between them and just…get it all out there. Keenly aware of Lila’s scorching glare on the back of her neck, she follows Adrien out of Ms Bustier’s classroom and to the locker room, which is thankfully empty since it’s lunchtime.
“Do you…believe Lila about her condition?” Adrien says once the locker room door is shut and they’re separated from the rest of the school. Marinette scoffs.
“Of course I don’t,” she says. “But Kagami told me –”
“Kagami? You’re friends with Kagami?”
Marinette stares. “Yeah…though I don’t know what that’s got to do with this.”
“Nothing. I just…always got the impression that you didn’t like each other.”
“Not at first. But we sorted it out. Anyway, she told me that I have to play along with Lila’s condition, make myself look innocent, and Lila will eventually lie herself into a corner.”
“Which is what I said when she got back here, didn’t I?” Adrien says. Marinette raises an eyebrow.
“No,” she says. “You said to just let her be. Kagami told me to push her into lying herself into something she can’t escape while being all nice about it.”
Adrien winces. “Right. Marinette…I’m really sorry. I thought Lila was just an attention seeker. If I’d known she was that dangerous…I shouldn’t have let you get expelled before doing anything.”
“Like having a photoshoot with her?” Marinette says. Her eyes widen seconds after those words slip out. “S-Sorry! I’m sorry! That was really rude –”
“No, no, you’ve got every right to feel hurt,” Adrien says. “I didn’t know what to say before, or I would’ve come to you days ago. I didn’t want to be in that photoshoot with her. I only agreed so that she’d tell another lie to get you un-expelled.”
“You –” Marinette’s eyes widen. Everything makes sense now! Why else would Lila care about undoing her damage? “That was you? You sold your soul for me?”
“Of course I did.” Adrien crosses his arms. “You’re my friend. And if I’d done something before now, you wouldn’t have been expelled. Or nearly akumatised!”
“Adrien –”
“Do you know how terrifying it was to see you with that Hawkmoth mask over your face?” Adrien’s green eyes seem to plead with her very soul to understand. “To watch our everyday Ladybug nearly get akumatised? You’re so – so strong, Marinette. You always manage to stay positive and figure out a solution to the problem. Seeing you about to give in to Hawkmoth…it didn’t hit me until then just how bad this Lila problem was.”
Her cheeks flaming with the blood that pours into them, Marinette looks down at the floor and tries to form a coherent sentence, both in her mind and out loud. But what comes out of her mouth is something that vaguely sounds like a strangled groan; certainly nothing resembling words.
“So long as Lila leaves you alone, I’ll put up with her,” Adrien says. “Think of it as my contribution to yours and Kagami’s plan. The inside man, right?” Then he winks. Dear god, how is Marinette still alive?
“I – um – you shouldn’t – it’s your body!” she manages to babble. Adrien’s volunteering to do this for her? “You shouldn’t have to put up with someone treating you like a living mannequin!”
“She’s going to do that anyway,” Adrien says. “Remember what happens whenever we call her out? I might as well make use of it. It’s the least I can do for letting it get this far.”
“Um – uh – if sure you – if you’re sure!” Marinette forces out. She clears her throat and straightens up. “But you have to detox with me and Kagami. If that won’t hurt your plan, of course…”
“It won’t,” Adrien says. He rests a hand on her shoulder and yep, Marinette is deceased right now. “Lila can’t stop me from hanging out with my friends. And the odd photoshoot here and there will keep her happy. All she wants is attention, so if I give it to her, she won’t see you coming.” With another wink as he slides his arm around her, he says, “I’ll be the Chat Noir to your Ladybug.”
Marinette groans and shoves him. “You’d better not pun like he does or I’m tattling to Kagami.”
“I make no pawmises,” Adrien says with a grin that makes him look scarily like Chat Noir.
“Nope. That’s it. Get out. I can’t be seen with you.”
.
“You know, I never thought you two would actually get along,” Adrien says. “What exactly were you two fighting about?”
“Oh, you know,” Kagami shrugs. “How we were both crushing on you and thought the other was the spawn of Satan.”
Marinette chokes on her mouthful of André’s mint and raspberry ice cream (why raspberry? Last time it had been peach. Oh, well). How can Kagami just…up and say that? Doesn’t she have any shame?
“Oh, is that all?” Adrien laughs and licks his strawberry choc-chip and blackberry ice cream. “I thought it was something serious.”
“We eventually figured out that we were just a couple of idiots and it wasn’t worth fighting over a boy!” Marinette says in a high-pitched voice. Well, Kagami’s outed her, so she may as well roll with it. Although for some reason, she’s not mad at Kagami like she’d be if Alya just went up and told Adrien about her crush; probably because Kagami had as much to lose as her if Adrien took it the wrong way. And Kagami might not even have realised that you shouldn’t just up and tell your crush that you like them, considering her previous lack of social skills every other time Marinette’s talked to her.
“Good,” Adrien says. “I hate it when my friends are fighting.”
The tension in Marinette’s shoulders starts to melt away like ice cream on a hot day. So…Adrien doesn’t hate her for crushing on him. He’s not even making a big deal out of it. That’s…actually a relief.
“So, um…” Marinette forces out. “Are anyone you crush, Adrien? I mean – are you crushing on anyone?”
Adrien stares at her, then laughs. “Is that why you act weird around me? Thank god. I was worried that you still secretly hated me for the gum thing.”
“No! Never!” Marinette shakes her head wildly.
“Sorry, the gum thing?” Kagami says.
“Chloé put gum on her seat on my first day and she thought I’d done it because I tried to take it off,” Adrien says. “I managed to catch her after school and explain the misunderstanding but…I thought she still hated me for it and was just putting up with me.”
“Try the exact opposite,” Marinette groans. Her face must be just as scarlet as Adrien’s ice cream at this point, but she’s not dying or being horrifically rejected, so that’s something at least. “You gave me your umbrella and boom, it was…l-love at first sight.”
Kagami actually laughs long and loud at that, even throwing her head back. It’s so unlike her that both Marinette and Adrien are rendered silent as they stare at her in awe.
“Um…wow,” Marinette eventually says. “Have you checked her ice cream for drugs or something?”
Kagami hiccups and shakily licks her scoop of bright pink dragonfruit ice cream that’s neatly cushioning the same mint as Marinette’s. What that could mean, Marinette has no idea.
“There must be an akuma around,” Adrien says.
“You’re both awful,” Kagami says, her shoulders shaking with the last of her laughter. “And you’re both oblivious. So, Adrien, who is this girl you’re in love with if it’s not Marinette? I was always under the impression that Marinette was your target.”
Adrien blushes. “Don’t laugh, okay?” he says. “I’m in love with Ladybug.”
Beep. Beep. Marinette.exe has crashed. Adrien’s…in love with her? But not her? But yes her, he just doesn’t know it?
“Ladybug?” Kagami says. “Of course you’d fall for a superhero. Adrien Agreste can’t do anything by halves.”
“Well, she picked me to be a hero and I utterly trashed that opportunity, so I’ve probably got no chance with her,” Adrien says. “Maybe I need to focus on people a little closer to me.”
“You didn’t trash that chance,” Marinette squeaks. “You did your best every single time.”
Adrien frowns at her. “Every single time? How do you know which Miraculous Ladybug gave me? I Second Chanced every time I was out in public, so no one should’ve known.”
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckmissionabort –
“Hold on…” Also frowning, Kagami leans in so close that Marinette can count each freckle on her pale cheeks, and Marinette’s so flustered by Adrien tilting his head at her and Kagami’s breath ghosting across her face that she doesn’t realise what’s going on until Kagami’s moved her hair aside to expose her black earrings. Adrien’s frown changes into bulging eyes.
Fuck!
“Oh my god, really?” Adrien throws his free hand in the air. “Of course she’s you! Of course she’s you! How didn’t I see it before? The one girl who’s just as brave and kind as her and I didn’t even – I’m an idiot.”
“No arguments there,” Kagami says dryly. “Thank you for trusting me to be Ryuuko, by the way. And for the advice.”
Marinette’s brain has once again shut down. Two people know her secret identity. How could she be so stupid and let something like that slip? “You can’t tell anyone!” she finally manages to say. “My secret identity is vital!”
“I know,” Kagami sighs. “Hence why I can’t be Ryuuko again.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Adrien holds up his right hand to show the silver ring he’s always worn. Except…no way…could it be…it can’t…but…
“Oh my god.” Kagami pinches the bridge of her nose. “So, you’ve been in love with each other without even realising. This is like those awful soap operas that people seem to enjoy watching.”
“You and your stupid puns!” is the first thing out of Marinette’s mouth when she’s finally able to speak again. “All this time! You’re such a – such a dork!”
“I know!” Adrien looks like the cat that got the cream. “But you secretly love my puns, milady.”
That nickname coming from Adrien’s mouth? Stuff Marinette in a coffin right damn now. “As if,” she scoffs. “They’re awful.”
“Don’t you mean –”
“No!” Marinette and Kagami shout.
“– clawful?”
“I’ve changed my mind,” Marinette says. “You can have him, Kagami.”
“You claimed him first,” Kagami says. “He’s all yours.”
“How about we just forget about him and date each other?” Marinette wrinkles her nose.
“Sounds like a plan, Marinette.”
“Hey!” Adrien whines.
.
“It was so cool of you to organise this picnic for Lila, girl!” Alya says. She nudges Lila. “Right?”
Lila’s smile is thin and sour, like someone’s replaced the lemon tart on her plate with an actual lemon. “Yes, Alya. It’s very considerate of Marinette.”
“I just wanted to make up for our rough start!” Marinette says. It’s kind of funny how she’s just naturally slipped into being as sugary sweet to Lila as possible, but after seeing how it annoys Lila to no end that she can’t actually retaliate without looking bad, it’s gotten easier over the past few weeks. Huh. She so owes Kagami a massive box of pastries for this.
“Hey, guys!” Adrien waves as he approaches with Kagami. Lila gasps and smiles brilliantly.
“Adrien! You made it to my picnic!” she says.
“Of course I did,” Adrien says and sits down next to Marinette, pulling her to lean against him. Thank god she’s been able to equate Adrien and Chat Noir in her mind since their outing to get ice cream; now, when he touches her, her cheeks only grow warm and her brain thankfully doesn’t turn to mush. “And I brought a friend, if that’s okay?”
“Lila, right?” Kagami says with a smile that’s all teeth as she also sits down and pulls Marinette’s legs into her lap. “My name is Kagami. Adrien’s told me so much about you.”
“He has?” Lila smiles at Adrien, though Marinette’s certain that she can see a wariness beneath that smile. “All good things, I hope.”
“Trust me, I’ve heard nothing but the best information from him,” Kagami says. “I’m so glad that he’s found a girlfriend he’s really close with.”
“Girlfriend?” Alya scoffs. “Lila’s just a friend. You must’ve heard wrong or something.”
“Yes, of course,” Kagami says. “Sorry for my presumption. After that photo you took with him and the photoshoots…well, I seem to have gotten the wrong idea.”
“Lila told me once that Adrien would be hers, so I don’t blame you,” Marinette says and passes Kagami a plate of macarons. Kagami eagerly selects a strawberry one.
“Oh! I meant to say that he’d be my friend!” Lila says. Marinette covers her mouth to conceal her smirk.
“Really? I’m sorry for misunderstanding!” she says. “What with your condition and all…now it makes sense. I was a little confused what you meant by that, since you can’t really own a person, and I suppose that must have added to my bad feelings.” With a sweet smile, she adds, “But we’re friends now, so no harm done!”
“Yes,” Lila says. “Friends…”
“You’re so stiff!” Marinette says to Kagami, pulling her down so that she’s snuggling against Marinette’s side. “This picnic is all about relaxing!”
“In that case…” Adrien heaves so that Marinette’s sitting in his lap, and she shuffles around to lean back against his chest so that Kagami can lie across her thighs. Now Lila looks like she’s swallowed nails, while Alya’s eyes are bulging at the sight of her ship snuggling.
“Excuse me, girl, but when did this happen?” Alya says.
“A few weeks ago,” Marinette says. “Kagami and I ended up spilling to Adrien. Now we’re all good friends!”
Yeah. Very good friends. But the others don’t need to know that, especially since Marinette and Adrien are not only going slow with figuring out what’s between them, but Marinette’s also been unable to get the memory of Kagami’s breath across her face out of her head.
Oh, well. Such is life. And if navigating the prehistoric days of having both a girlfriend and a boyfriend is currently occupying her mind more than Lila, well, Marinette counts that as a win.
“I’m so happy for you!” Lila says with a wide, plastic smile. “And a little envious, I must say. After the drama with my boyfriend in Germany –”
“Mhm,” Alya says. “Not the one in Argentina?”
“Oh – no, this is a different one –” Lila splutters. Alya just shrugs and turns to offer the croissant plate to Rose and Juleka.
Okay. So, Kagami may have been right about this one. Sure, Lila might have thought that she was giving herself a free pass with her “condition”, but now no one really takes her seriously anymore. No one hates her or anything but, well…no one really seems to believe her or care about what she says either. Probably because every word out of her mouth is about her, and people are finally starting to realise that a) she doesn’t actually talk about anything else and b) her promises still haven’t come to fruition.
It does mean that no one’s actually apologised to Marinette, but oh well. C’est la vie. At least they’re not treating her like the devil anymore. And Lila’s largely harmless now, so that’s something as well. She can’t exactly get akumatised once a week or whatever as well; not without drawing undue attention to herself, since even Chloé hasn’t been akumatised more than three times, if one counts Heroes’ Day.
“Your parents’ pastries are magical,” Kagami says, reaching for a blueberry muffin. “They could melt even my mother.”
“My father would probably demand I marry her instantly,” Adrien snorts. “Not just for the pastries, but for her talent. “Snatch her up before Audrey Bourgeois, son!” he’d say if he actually spoke to me more than once a year.” He makes a face.
“You’ll have to defeat me for Marinette’s hand,” Kagami says dryly. Adrien smirks and boops her on the nose.
“Fatality,” he says, and Marinette snorts.
“You know what?” Alya throws her hands up. “I give up. I don’t understand you weirdoes. I’m gonna go find Nino and leave you three to be…whatever you three are.”
“Bye, Alya!” Marinette, Adrien, and Kagami chorus at her back. Now they’re left with Lila, who checks to make sure that no one’s looking before snarling at them.
“What are you three up to?” she hisses.
“What do you mean?” Adrien says. “I realised that I liked both Marinette and Kagami, and they liked me too.”
“And each other,” Marinette says, running her fingers through Kagami’s silky, dark hair.
“Why are you being so nice?” Lila jabs a finger at Marinette. “You hate me! And I know Kagami does too! Adrien, you’re supposed to be my –”
“Your friend?” Adrien says. “Of course I am, Lila. I did say that before our photoshoot, didn’t I?”
Marinette smiles at Lila, sugary sweet, not even finding satisfaction in how Lila’s bottom lip juts out and quivers like she’s going to throw a fit. Maybe the Marinette of a few weeks ago would have, but now? Honestly, she just pities Lila. Marinette’s the one with a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and she and Kagami are the ones that Adrien likes. So, she reaches over to pick up the plate of macarons and holds it out to Lila.
Hey, @zenniaphoenix - I’m your backup @mlsecretsanta gifter and when I saw Adrigaminette, I had to snap it up! This first chapter can technically stand alone, since the rest of this fic was inspired by writing this chapter, so you don’t have to read the later chapters once I post them. But this one’s all for you!
Chapter 2 | AO3 link
“Which flavours for these two?” André sings. He gestures to Kagami and Adrien. “Orange and peppermint, a perfect pairing that’s always a success; nothing can turn it into a mess! And for you two –” He waves his hand at Adrien and Marinette, “– blackberry and peppermint, an explosive mix! That’s a fact, but oftentimes it’s the opposites that attract!” Then he looks at Marinette and Kagami and finishes, “Orange and blackberry, quite unusual, it’s true! Not the most obvious but it works for you two! So, what will it be?”
“You pick,” Kagami says to Marinette. “I don’t really get what he’s saying, anyway.”
“Yeah, you pick, Marinette!” Adrien says with a smile that scorches Marinette’s insides. “We trust you!”
Orange and peppermint? Blackberry and peppermint? Orange and blackberry? Which one should Marinette choose? Which two out of the three of them would work best together?
Two out of three flavours? Or people? whispers a nasty little voice. Marinette shakes her head to clear it.
“Can’t you find a blend for the three of us?” she says desperately. André sighs and shakes his head, while Adrien furrows his brow and looks between Marinette and Kagami.
“I can, but too many flavours mixed together may throw off the delicate balance,” André says.
“Neapolitan ice cream exists,” Kagami says before Marinette can tear her hair out trying to decide which pairing would work best. “And from what I gather, the flavours you listed refer to us. Does that mean that we’re solely one flavour, or are there others that could work for us?”
“Besides, orange and peppermint?” Adrien wrinkles his nose. “Have you ever brushed your teeth and then had orange juice? I’m guessing I’m the mint and Kagami’s the orange.”
“Implying that we wouldn’t work well together,” Kagami says, raising her eyebrow at André. “Even though you said that that pairing is always a success.”
“Maybe we just need a good flavour to balance out the orange and peppermint?” Adrien says. Marinette follows their conversation like one might follow a tennis volley, with her head whipping from Adrien to Kagami and then back to Adrien. “Or maybe our triple blend is made up of entirely different flavours?”
“Well, I think Adrien’s definitely peppermint,” Marinette says. “Delicious with a hidden kick!” Then she squeaks and covers her face and babbles, “Why did I say that, why did I say that –”
“Because you’re totally right,” Kagami says. “Adrien is peppermint. And I feel like you would be more strawberry than blackberry, since you’re fresh and sweet but also have a hint of acid to you. I’m just unsure as to how orange refers to me.”
“Are you even a fruit at all?” Adrien says, while heat floods Marinette’s face at Kagami’s description of her.
“Y-Yeah,” Marinette forces out. “You’re unconventional. You can intimidate people at first but once they get to know you, they realise just how much they love you.”
Kagami’s cheeks flush pink at that, although Marinette’s not in any hurry to pause and examine the implications of what she’d just said in wake of Kagami’s words about her first. Not if she wants to keep what few brain cells that she has left around these two, especially after the morning she’d just shared with them.
“So, a flavour that’s unconventional and a little intimidating but also amazing,” Adrien says. He and Marinette exchange looks.
“Cinnamon!” they burst out together. Kagami’s eyebrows rise.
“Cinnamon?” she says.
“Yeah!” Marinette says. “I mean, you’ve got cinnamon eyes! And just like Adrien’s peppermint, you’ve got a kick to you! Oh, and you’re not as widely-picked as him but the people who pick you know exactly what they’re doing!”
“Plus, cinnamon can intimidate some people,” Adrien says. “Remember the cinnamon challenge floating around on the internet?”
“Do I?” Marinette snorts. “People are ridiculous. But hey, I bet we can handle cinnamon!”
“Really?” Kagami says with twitching lips.
“Yeah!” Marinette nods and turns to face André, beaming widely now that she doesn’t have to make a choice that’ll impact the love lives of her and her friends. “Each flavour balances the others out! Peppermint, strawberry, and cinnamon, please, André!”
“Hmm.” André strokes his chins as he regards the three of them. “André hadn’t thought of those flavours, that much is true. Perhaps this really is the blend that represents you!” He scoops out a ball of pink strawberry ice cream, followed by one of green peppermint, then pale brown cinnamon to top it off. After sticking three spoons into it, he hands it to Adrien and beams at them.
“So,” Adrien says as the three of them walk off with their ice cream. “You think they’ve figured out where we’ve gone?”
“I don’t see why they would assume that we’d gone to get soulmate ice cream,” Kagami says. Her eyes light up when Adrien offers her a spoonful of peppermint ice cream, and she hums and closes her lips around the spoon. “Mmm. You taste good, Adrien.”
“O-Oh. Thanks,” says a red-faced Adrien. Marinette forces out a laugh, though she can’t deny that the little sweet romantic interaction between Adrien and Kagami has left a sour pit in her gut. Even if her ice cream flavour is in there as well.
“You have to try it, Marinette!” Kagami takes the spoon from Adrien and scoops up a little of the peppermint for Marinette to try. Okay, so Kagami’s feeding her Adrien ice cream, and – no, Marinette, don’t think about it, not unless you want to freak out –
“Tastes just as good as the last time I had it!” Marinette blurts out after swallowing her mouthful of ice cream. Then the blood drains from her face at the realisation of what she’d just said.
“Wait…I was your ice cream?” Adrien looks like he’s been hit over the head by an akuma, although hopefully that’s due to bewilderment and not revulsion. Hopefully. But he’d agreed to a three-way ice cream…right?
“It makes sense,” Kagami says. “Marinette, tell him.”
“But – I – I can’t –”
“Don’t hesitate!” Kagami throws out an arm to stop Adrien and Marinette in their tracks, then whirls around until she’s nose-to-nose with Marinette. “Remember what I told you at the ice rink? I never hesitate. How do you expect him to consider you as an option if you haven’t made yourself one?”
“Marinette…has a crush on me?” says a slowly-blinking Adrien.
“Hush.” Kagami jabs a finger at him. “Be courageous, Marinette. No more torturing yourself with what-ifs. If you want something, go for it!”
“Why are you even encouraging me?” Marinette decides that it’s finally time to address the elephant in the room. “I thought you wanted Adrien? Doesn’t encouraging me to tell him that I love him defeat that purpose?”
To Marinette’s astonishment, Kagami just throws back her head and laughs.
“Of course I want Adrien,” Kagami says. “As do you. And I know Adrien wants both of us.”
“Wait, what?” Adrien says. “I don’t – but my – Ladybug!”
Marinette and Kagami turn to stare at Adrien, although Marinette’s reacting out of sheer shock, so she’s not sure what Kagami’s motivating emotion is. Adrien’s in love with her? Well, Ladybug, but her?
“Ladybug’s been your target this whole time?” Kagami says. “Adrien, how in the world could you have a lasting relationship with her? She’s a superhero. You’re a civilian, and a famous one at that.”
“She’d never want to put you in danger like that, no matter how much she might like you,” Marinette rasps around her swollen tongue. “You couldn’t go on real dates with her. You’d have to be stealthy to avoid Hawkmoth finding out. If she won’t even date Chat Noir…maybe she’s too careful to put anyone in Hawkmoth’s sights like that. Maybe she’s too scared to endanger someone else.”
“Focus on what’s in front of you,” Kagami says. “I like you. Marinette just confessed that she likes you.”
Marinette lets out a high-pitched squeak at the realisation that Kagami’s right, she’d just admitted in front of Adrien that she loves him –
“But I can’t choose between you two!” Adrien grabs at his golden hair with his free hand. “You both mean so much to me! I don’t want to hurt either of you!”
“I think the solution here is obvious.” Kagami points at the ice cream. “Those are our flavours, are they not? We worked together and found a blend that encompassed all three of us. You and I work well together. You and Marinette work well together. And Marinette and I could possibly work well together too. There’s nothing stopping you from dating us both.”
Both Adrien and Marinette let out choked gasps at Kagami’s words and try to recover at least one brain cell between them.
“Is that even a thing?” Marinette finally blurts out, recovering just seconds before Adrien.
“As far as I’m aware,” Kagami says. “And even if others don’t accept it, I refuse to allow them to dictate my life. I’m very much interested in Adrien. It’s very likely that I might also develop feelings for you. You’ve been in love with Adrien for a while now. And I know for a fact that Adrien likes not only me but also you, no matter how much he claims that his heart belongs to Ladybug.”
“H-How can you be sure?” Adrien stammers, while Marinette has no doubt that her face would be as red as Ladybug’s suit if she could look in a mirror.
“Marinette was your concern at the ice rink. You always manage to find a way to talk about her when we’re together.” Kagami ticks off her list on her fingers. “The way you’ve been looking at her all morning and even back during the movie premiere. Even the way you’re conflicted between me and her. If you truly didn’t have feelings for her, you wouldn’t be agonising over choosing between us. Your concern would be to avoid hurting her while choosing me, not trying to figure out which one of us you want.”
“But…I like you, Kagami,” Adrien says in a little lost voice. Marinette resists the urge to grab the ice cream out of his hand and suffocate herself with it, although she’s not sure whether that’s out of jealousy or sheer why can’t he get it?
“I know you do,” Kagami says. “And you like Marinette. That’s why I’m not telling you to choose. I know you can’t choose.”
“Kagami –”
“Adrien. Stop. Look me in the eye and tell me that this isn’t the perfect solution to your problem.”
“I-I’d be happy with it,” Marinette croaks. “I mean – well – if it comes down to it, I’ll step aside if it makes Adrien happy. But I don’t mind, well…sharing you with Kagami. And maybe I could like Kagami in that way at some point? I think the seeds are there. I’m just trying not to think about it right now, so my head doesn’t explode…”
Kagami smiles at Marinette, causing brilliant warmth to erupt in her stomach and trickle through her like a hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day. Oops. Can she not start to catch feelings for Kagami when she’s currently wrestling with her feelings for Adrien?
“You’d give up a chance to be with me just to make me happy?” Adrien says, staring at Marinette with wide eyes. The heat in her body surges to her face.
“Y-Yeah,” she says. “You deserve to be happy, Adrien. I’ll always do whatever I need to do to make sure of that, even if I have to let you go. Just like I helped you with Kagami at the ice rink.” She ducks her head and whispers, “I l-l-love you too much to keep you to myself if it’d make you miserable.”
“I truly do believe that you would’ve chosen the orange and peppermint combination if you’d been forced to do so,” Kagami says dryly. “Why do you think I spoke up? You’re my only friend aside from Adrien, and I refuse to hurt you for a boy. If we can both have him, I’m happy to share.”
“I thought you weren’t about second place,” Marinette teases weakly. When she looks up, Kagami’s lips are twitching.
“It’s hardly second place if I’m not missing out,” Kagami says. “Not only would I have Adrien, but I’d also have the knowledge that his other partner is the only other person I can think of who’s worthy of him, and vice versa. I like to think of it as equal first place.”
Marinette shoots a look at Adrien, who’s practically got visible cogs turning in his head as he processes what had just happened over the past few minutes. She refuses to let the hope break free from where it’s straining in her heart, though. It’s Adrien’s choice and she’s not going to try and influence him in any way, no matter her feelings on the matter.
“I think…” Adrien takes a deep breath. Both Marinette and Kagami lean in closer. “I really like that idea. But…I think I need a bit longer to wrap my head around it. And to push my feelings for Ladybug aside. Like, I know we won’t ever be together, but my heart doesn’t really know that yet, and I don’t want to hurt either of you by jumping in when I’m not ready. Especially because I do like both of you. I’ve liked Kagami for a while now and Marinette…” Adrien scratches the back of his neck with a nervous grin. “You’ve always been more than a friend to me. I guess I just didn’t realise it until now, when you became a possibility. I always felt like there was something…well, off between us. That you’ve never liked me but just acted like you did to keep the peace.”
“Of course,” Kagami says immediately, while Marinette lets out the breath that she’d been keeping locked in her lungs. “This isn’t a decision to rush into. But don’t take too long to decide, Adrien. Your indecision could hurt us.”
“And that’s not true at all!” Marinette says. “You’ve always been a friend to me, Adrien. I’ve just…um…I’ve…”
“Go on,” Kagami says, grabbing Marinette’s hand and squeezing it. “I’ve made my feelings for Adrien clear, so now is your chance to clear the air and be completely honest.”
Marinette takes a deep breath, drawing courage from the warmth radiating from where Kagami’s bare skin is touching hers. She’s already told Adrien that she loves him. He likes her back. She can do this!
“I’ve loved you ever since you gave me your umbrella,” Marinette whispers. “When you showed me that you weren’t just another rich jerk like Chloé. When I got a glimpse at the sweet, kind, lonely boy that was nothing like her. And ever since then, all I’ve seen is that you’re loyal and loving and brave and you just…you care so deeply, even when other people don’t deserve it. How could I not love you?”
Adrien just stares at her, his mouth hanging open and his cheeks dusted with rosy pink. Oh. Oh. Had Marinette really just said all that to him? She squeaks and covers her flaming face, but Adrien’s quick to grab her wrists and squeeze without trying to force her hands away.
“No! No!” he says. “Don’t get embarrassed! Please! Now I get why you’ve been so weird around me.”
“You should probably apologise for being so cute,” Kagami deadpans. Marinette uncovers her face just in time to see Adrien roll his eyes at Kagami in response.
“Sorry. Anxiety issues,” Marinette says in a high voice. “Not that you made me anxious! No, uh, it was just…you know, me working myself up to ask you out all these times and then freaking out because what if you rejected me or thought I was a weirdo and never wanted to talk to me again or even thought I was one of your crazy fangirls –”
“Marinette.” Kagami rests her hands on Marinette’s shoulders and squeezes. “Breathe. It’s okay. Adrien hasn’t rejected you.”
“Actually, I think I just realised what an amazing girl you are,” Adrien says softly as he looks down at the ground. “When you said all that stuff about me…wow, Marinette. I had no clue that was how you saw me. And I’ve never had anyone say that sort of thing to me. It’s usually always just about how cute or hot I am, or how they want to have my babies, or just fake compliments to get something from me.”
“I mean, you are cute!” Marinette blurts out. “But that’s not all you are! I hate that that’s all people see in you…”
“When you’ve been forced to navigate a bunch of rich people all your life, you tend to develop a sixth sense for sniffing out false compliments and fakeness in general, even if you can’t usually read people well,” Adrien says. “I didn’t even know you liked me until now, but what you said about me…it’s the truth. I can feel it.”
“I could never lie to you about something like that,” Marinette says to the ground.
“Well, you don’t need to get anxious around me from now on.” Adrien reaches out slowly, giving Marinette time to back away as she looks up, but when she nods, he pulls her into a loose hug, making sure to hold the ice cream out to avoid damaging it. “Thanks for being honest, Marinette. And thanks for telling me all that stuff. I think I needed to hear it. I’ll become your slave for life if you keep saying nice things about me.”
“We’re two socially awkward rich teenagers who thrive on attention,” Kagami says with twitching lips. “You’re the perfect balance for us, Marinette. That’s why I’m willing to share Adrien with you but not with anyone else. You bring out the best in us.”
Marinette nods into Adrien’s shoulder, then pulls back so she can grab the spoon from Kagami, scoop up a little bit of each flavour of ice cream, and hold it out for Adrien to taste, trying her hardest not to turn into a beetroot when his lips close around the spoon. His gorgeous green eyes light up.
“That’s so good!” he says once he’s swallowed the ice cream mix. “The strawberry’s nice and sweet with, like, this hint of something more, but you’d have to try more of it to get there. The cinnamon’s got a nice spicy kick but it’s also got a hint of sweetness! And the peppermint’s minty with this little bit of a peppery aftertaste. They really do balance each other out!”
“Just like we balance each other out,” Kagami says with a smirk. She winks at Marinette, who giggles and ducks her head with warm cheeks. But before Marinette can take a scoop of ice cream for herself, there’s the sound of screaming from the next street over, followed by gleeful cackling.
“The love of this city is so delectable!” says a male voice. Adrien immediately jumps in front of Marinette and Kagami and starts to shepherd them away from the voice.
“And these lovebirds! What a treat!” a female voice adds.
“You think it’s another double akuma like Oblivio?” Marinette says in a hushed voice.
“Oblivio?” Kagami says.
“Our two best friends. Alya and Nino.” Adrien drops the ice cream, letting it splatter on the ground so that he can grab Marinette and Kagami by the hands and take off running. They round the corner just in time to avoid being spotted by the…uh, head that floats around the corner?
“I cannot wait to devour the love of Ladybug and Chat Noir!” The male voice comes from the hideously stretched face on the pink floating head. But then the head flips a hundred and eighty degrees to reveal a woman’s face that’s equally as grotesque.
“What a lovely meal they’ll make, André!” the woman says. Marinette sucks in a breath as she, Kagami, and Adrien watch from around the corner of the building behind which they’re taking shelter.
“Mr and Mrs Bourgeois?” she hisses. She jumps when Adrien drops her hand and takes off running down the street.
“I’m gonna go find Ladybug and Chat Noir!” he calls. “Hide, both of you! I don’t want anything to happen to you!”
“Go after him, Kagami!” Marinette cries. “Trust me, hiding’s one of my best skills!”
Kagami grabs Marinette’s hands. “Don’t get caught! And don’t you dare do anything stupid!” Then she drops Marinette’s hands and sprints after Adrien. Marinette ducks behind a nearby car and opens her purse to let Tikki dart out.
“Time to transform!” Marinette says. “Tikki, spots on!”
@thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @lady-charinette @elmokingkong tagged as requested :)
Chapter 4 | Chapter 6 | AO3 link
Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.
“All set,” Marinette announces once she and Kagami have met Adrien in the boys’ locker room before fencing class. “Alya and Nino are interviewing Lila as we speak.”
“I have to say, it was a smart move to interview her about her new modelling opportunity,” Kagami says. “The additional evidence will definitely help incriminate Mr Agreste if he tries to deny anything. But you know it’s not guaranteed to out her as a liar, right?”
Marinette sighs and lets her shoulders slump. “Look, at this point, Lila doesn’t even matter anymore. We can deal with her if she wriggles out of this. Right now, our main goal is to confirm whether Mr Agreste is Hawkmoth and then take him down if he is. And if he isn’t…well, he still looks pretty sleazy for striking a deal with an underage girl like this.” She squares her shoulders and adds, “Either way, he’s not going to get away with treating Adrien like a piece of meat any longer.”
“Agreed,” Kagami says. Then she shoots a glance at the locker room door and her determined face melts into something more forlorn. “Since we have a little time before fencing class begins, I think we need to talk. We need to sort out what’s going on between the three of us.”
Marinette’s heart sinks. She hadn’t realised until today just how touchy-feely she’d been with Adrien yesterday, especially in the wake of the identity reveals, because now how is she supposed to feel? Her dear partner, the boy who’s been in love with her from the start, is the boy she loves and let go for his own happiness. And although she’ll keep letting him go to make him and Kagami happy…well, there’s a part of her that doesn’t want to; that wants to push Kagami aside and claim that happiness for herself, even though her rational brain is sickened at the thought of betraying her friend for the sake of a boy.
But Adrien’s not just a boy. He’s her partner. Her kitty. But at the same time, he’d also mentioned that he genuinely does like Kagami, in a way that Marinette doesn’t feel about Luka. It’s going to have to come down to his decision but, well, Marinette’s got a strong suspicion that he’ll pick her, and Kagami doesn’t deserve to have her heart broken like that. And on the slim chance that he does pick Kagami? Marinette’s not sure she’s ready to have her heart broken when she’d just gotten her hopes up about potentially dating him.
“This is ridiculous!” Marinette bursts out. “Why does all this drama have to revolve around a boy? What are we, a soap opera?”
Kagami raises her hand to conceal her unladylike snort, while Adrien looks like someone had bashed him around the head with a sledgehammer. It must now be sinking in for him just how silly this all is.
“Look,” Kagami says. “Let me be honest. You two are Ladybug and Chat Noir. I saw how he instinctively gravitated towards you after his panic attack. Even back at the ice rink, I could see that Adrien had feelings for you, even if he didn’t know at that time. If it comes down to it, I’ll step aside, because I know Adrien. I know he’ll choose you if we truly forced him to do so. And yes, it’ll hurt me now, but it would hurt far more to let myself fall deeper for Adrien and let myself think that I have a long-term possibility with him.”
“Kagami –”
“But,” Kagami cuts across Adrien, “I had an idea last night when I was trying to come to terms with it. I wasn’t lying when I said that I was crushing on Ladybug and that she made me realise my bisexuality. And after the way you helped us escape the hotel during the wedding anniversary? I don’t think Adrien was the only one infatuated with you having your hair down.”
Marinette blinks. Then she blinks again, because Kagami seems to be going in a very specific direction with this, and she’s not sure whether the thrilling butterflies in her stomach from that direction are amazing or terrifying. Maybe both.
“I do have strong feelings for Adrien,” Kagami says. “He knows this. I’ve also realised that I have feelings for you too, Marinette; feelings that I didn’t want to consider until yesterday, when I realised that we don’t need to torment ourselves with deciding who dates who and whose heart gets broken. I even called Alya last night so that we could have a “girl talk”, as you call them, and she told me about your two classmates who are dating while one of them also has a girlfriend. Kim and Max, I believe.”
“Wait, Kim and Max are dating?” Marinette and Adrien chorus.
“I had no idea!” Adrien says.
“Yeah, I thought he was dating Ondine!” Marinette adds. Kagami’s lips twitch.
“According to Alya, Kim’s dating both Max and Ondine,” she says. “And that made me realise that all three of us could date each other. Adrien clearly loves you, Marinette, and I know he’s been agonising over his feelings for both you and me. And I do have some feelings for you, but we don’t have to date each other, so that doesn’t matter right now. We can deal with the two of us later.”
“Oh, that’s why I freaked out about her being cute during the friendship game,” Marinette mumbles, though she’s not sure whether she’s talking to herself or Tikki. Tikki still giggles from within her purse. “Oh my god. I think I’m having an identity crisis.”
“All three of us…dating?” Adrien says blankly and runs a hand through his hair, looking about as error 404 as Marinette currently feels trying to process Kagami’s suggestion and whether she’s got a small infatuation with Kagami that could potentially grow into an actual crush in the future. “Is that even…but I thought you could only love one person! That’s what I’ve been taught all my life.”
“Clearly not, or I wouldn’t be suggesting this,” Kagami says. “It’s not going to magically erase all the jealousy and problems between us, and I know I’ll feel odd about seeing you and Marinette being affectionate at first because I’m so used to winning and getting what I want for myself. But I know that the three of us can work long-term if we put the effort in. Adrien and I are similar enough to truly get each other, and Marinette’s the lynchpin between the three of us to balance us out when we’re too similar. The wedding anniversary proved that.” She smiles at Marinette, who’s currently trying not to die on the spot, and adds, “You’re the only person I’d be willing to share with. It wouldn’t feel like second place next to you. And if we ended up dating in the future, I’d be very happy. But if we didn’t, I’d still be happy to be one of your best friends.”
“What the heck kind of girl talk did you have with Alya?” Marinette croaks.
“The kind where she’s frustrated beyond belief over this ‘love square’ and wants you to ‘get your crap together already’ but also wants me to be happy as one of her new friends,” Kagami deadpans.
“Alya’s definitely the one with the brain cell,” Adrien says with a shaky laugh. “And I really like her idea. But I don’t think I can commit to anyone right now. Not even my lady.”
Marinette’s brow creases and she reaches out to rest a hand on his arm. “I get it,” she says softly as Kagami takes his other hand. “And I agree with you. We need to deal with this business first.”
“But even then.” Adrien’s face twists. “What if he is Hawkmoth? The evidence is all there. What happens in the fallout? I’ve got nowhere else to go. I probably won’t have any money to bring to the table because that’s definitely gonna be wrung through the legal system and my father’s company will tank with his reputation. I’ll be a wreck. And I don’t want to put that on anyone else, especially you two.”
“Rubbish,” Kagami says immediately. “We and Alya and Nino are your friends. You can’t push us away that easily.”
“And if you think we care about the money side of things then you really are a silly kitty,” Marinette scoffs. “You’re staying with one of us. I want to say me or Kagami but, well, considering this whole three-way idea we’re thinking of…”
“It could easily go south,” Kagami agrees. “Even if she is your superhero partner.”
“And Alya’s family probably wouldn’t have the space for a fifth kid, even if they’d love to take you in,” Marinette says slowly as the cogs in her brain whir. “But I’m sure Nino would love to be your adopted brother. Then you’d really be “bros”. And if he can’t…well, what about your bodyguard? Do you think he’s in with your father too?”
“No,” Adrien says immediately. “Definitely not. He’s the only adult who’s, well…actually been there for me since my mother disappeared. He’s the only one who lets me get away with small things here and there when I need it, like that photoshoot I did with Juleka to model your designs. Nathalie’s in too deep with Father – and Hawkmoth, if they’re different people, but, well…I can’t see anyone else trusting her enough to give her a Miraculous. And she can’t have stolen it, or Hawkmoth wouldn’t trust her, and why would she ally with him in that case?”
“And I’m sure Ladybug will personally ensure that no one dares to think that you were in collusion with Hawkmoth,” Kagami says. Marinette nods immediately, because like hell she’s going to turn her back on her kitty when he needs her most.
“Damn right. Especially with Chat Noir’s support.” She squeezes Adrien’s arm and adds, “But Kagami and I won’t put more on your shoulders. We’ll be here for you but…yeah, I think it’s a good idea to wait until this all blows over before we try, um…dating.” Her cheeks fill with hot blood at the mystical d-word, especially having said it to Adrien’s face. Yes, he’s Chat Noir and she knows he has feelings for her but…he’s still Adrien.
“And now that that’s settled,” Kagami says, “I hope you won’t let your performance slip during class today, because your father possibly being a magical terrorist is no excuse to slack off against me.”
To Marinette’s delight, that wrenches a small laugh out of Adrien, and he mockingly bows to Kagami. “When have I ever slacked off against you, Kagami?” he says. Kagami’s cheeks turn a faint pink.
“That’s the answer I was hoping to hear,” she says. “You’ll be staying to watch, right, Marinette?”
“Of course. But –” Marinette rests her hands on her hips, “– if you’re gonna drag me in to referee for you, I’m out.”
“Of course not,” Adrien and Kagami sing innocently. Marinette resists the urge to thump her head against the wall and wonder what the heck she’s gotten herself into by even considering jumping into a three-way relationship with them.
***
“All good?” Marinette says once Alya and Nino climb into her bedroom to join her and Kagami. Alya shoots her a thumbs-up.
“We owe Chris and the twins a whole week of desserts, but they let us go out and get Lila to babysit,” she says. “We convinced them that we’re playing a prank on her and they have to keep her busy.”
“They won’t spill?” Marinette says, nibbling on her bottom lip. This plan has to go right. If one little thing goes wrong…
“Nah,” Alya says. “Ella and Etta love being in on pranks. And Chris feels like a grown-up because this is a Big Kids Plan. They wouldn’t dare.”
“I wanted to make her a Césaire Specialty drink to make her feel sick,” Nino grumbles. “Nora would’ve helped me. But Al wouldn’t let me.”
“I don’t need you to defend my honour after how she screwed me over,” Alya drawls before pecking him on the lips. “But I appreciate the sentiment. Ready to go?”
Marinette nods and opens the Miracle Box to retrieve the Fox, the Horse, and the Tiger. She hands them to Nino, Kagami, and Alya respectively.
“I know the Fox won’t be seen,” she says apologetically when Alya glances wistfully at the orange necklace resting against Nino’s blue shirt. “But if on the slim chance he doesn’t turn out to be Hawkmoth, I want Nino to have some experience with the Fox so that he can replace Rena Rouge.”
“I get it,” Alya sighs and slides on the panjas bracelet, causing Roaar to materialise in a flash of magenta light. “And if he is Hawkmoth?”
“Well, I am the Guardian,” Marinette says slowly, trying not to grin at the way Alya’s eyes light up. “And since only Hawkmoth and Mayura know your identity for sure because no one who was brainwashed remembers anything…”
“You think Chloé remembers?” Nino says. Alya’s face darkens at the reminder of Miracle Queen.
“I don’t know. We did forcibly deakumatise her, rather than Hawkmoth recalling it, but…” Marinette shrugs helplessly. “I don’t know nearly enough about the Miraculouses. I’m kind of barely treading water here.”
“We should do this,” Kagami says. If she ever needs glasses in the future, there definitely won’t be any disappointment on Marinette’s part; not with how Kaalki’s glasses frame Kagami’s brown eyes and make her freckles pop. “Adrien’s waiting for us. And if we leave it too late, we run the risk of arousing suspicion.”
“Right, right,” Nino says. “Trixx, let’s pounce!”
“Roaar, stalk the shadows!”
“Kaalki, full gallop!”
Marinette grins at the sight of the three heroes before her, clad in orange, magenta, and brown. She takes Alya and Nino by the hands and nods at Kagami to open the portal that will deposit them around the corner from the Agreste mansion, and once they’ve leapt out onto the road, the three of them duck into an alleyway.
“Just picture what you wanna create,” Alya says once Nino’s unslung his flute. “And since it’s a glamour, you have to direct it specifically at Marinette instead of in the general area. Takes a bit more focus but I know you can do it. And hey…” She looks him up and down, from his fox-eared hood to his baggy jacket and pants and his knee-length boots. “You look hot in my colours. I like.”
“Alya, stay focused,” Marinette chastises, though she can’t deny that if she saw Adrien in her colours – which she had, now that she thinks about it, with Misterbug, and his butt hadn’t looked half-bad in spots, even if she’d denied it at the time because he was Chat Noir – no, focus, Marinette! No Agreste booty!
“Alright, here goes.” Nino plays a small tune on his flute and flicks the orange orb at Marinette with a, “Mirage!” When the light fades, Marinette looks down at herself and nearly throws up upon seeing that her usual clothes have been replaced with the dreaded black romper and red jacket. And her hair – her precious, silky hair – now it’s in sausages!
“Lord help me,” Marinette mumbles in Lila’s voice. Alya makes to slap her on the back, then remembers just in time that this will dissipate the illusion.
“You’ll live, girl,” she says. “Shadowcat!”
Before Marinette’s eyes, Alya ripples out of sight, until she can only be maybe seen if one happens to squint in exactly the right direction. Even then, her chameleoned form shifts and ripples with the shadows around her, not allowing Marinette’s eyes to keep track of her for longer than a few seconds at best.
“Sweet,” Alya whispers. “And hey, I wonder if one of the guys who created Kitty Pryde had the Tiger.”
Marinette snorts but doesn’t say anything, lest she accidentally trap Alya in a conversation about superheroes and derail their whole plan. The two of them emerge from the alleyway and round the corner to approach the Agreste mansion, with Marinette emulating Lila’s strut as best as she can – ew – and Alya following close behind, only detectable by Marinette’s sixth sense honed from her experience of being Ladybug.
“Miss Rossi,” says Nathalie’s signature dry voice once Marinette’s pressed the doorbell buzzer and the weird electronic eye’s come whirring out to verify who it is. “I wasn’t aware that you were expected today.”
Marinette gasps and clasps her hand to her chest as she’s seen Lila do before. “Oh, you didn’t know?” she cries. “I thought I was supposed to have a study date with Adrien today! I’m just really falling behind, you see, and considering that Marinette kept throwing herself at him today…well, I haven’t really gotten much done and I could really use the help. And Mr Agreste approved of me as Adrien’s friend, didn’t he?”
Badmouthing herself – not that Nathalie knows – seems to do the trick. In a moment, the eye’s buzzing back into its socket and the massive gates swing open to admit her. Just before they can slam shut, she senses Alya slipping inside after her. The surprises pile on even more when Gabriel Agreste himself is waiting in the foyer to greet her once the front doors open.
“Miss Rossi,” he says coolly, his hands clasped behind his back as usual. Marinette lifts her hand to toy with one of her fake sausage fox tails, even if she can only feel air. God, this is weird.
“Oh! Hello, Mr Agreste!” she chirps. “I thought a surprise study date would make Adrien feel better. It was just awful today, you see, watching Marinette Dupain-Cheng constantly try to –”
“Spare me your theatrics,” Gabriel says. “Did you enjoy your modelling gig last week?”
“Ooh, of course!” Marinette nods and clasps her hands to her chest again. “Thank you ever so much for the opportunity, Mr Agreste! I’m really growing as a model because of you!”
“I’m glad to hear it. However…” Gabriel descends the stairs until he’s towering over Marinette, who has to resist the crushing urge to back away to avoid risking him dissipating the illusion by accident, because Lila Rossi doesn’t back down from anyone. “I haven’t seen much, ah…progress with our deal.”
“Our…deal?” Marinette says. Gabriel’s eyes flare.
“I do hope you haven’t lost what few brain cells I’ve seen you use,” he says acidly. “Yes, our deal, you silly child. Must I spell it out for you? You keep Marinette Dupain-Cheng away from Adrien, preferably getting her upset enough to be akumatised so that she stays away, and I provide you unlimited access to my son. And right now, I’m not seeing much fulfilment on your end.”
It’s a wonder that Marinette doesn’t throw up right then and there. Her little sixth sense is telling her that yes, Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth, because why else would he care about her being akumatised? Especially since she’s fought off Hawkmoth’s akumas before, so of course he’d take an interest in her! Is that why Lila had gotten her expelled? Because the only reason she hadn’t been akumatised then was Hawkmoth suddenly giving up for whatever reason!
“Y-Yes, of course,” Marinette says on shaky autopilot and fumbles for something that Lila would say about her to placate Gabriel. “I promise you’ll have your results. She’s just…annoyingly optimistic. Ever since I got her expelled, I haven’t managed to get her upset enough again, because she just seems to shake it off.”
Gabriel snorts. “Well, Miss Rossi, that certainly doesn’t reflect well on you, does it? At this rate, I might have to push her and my son together and break her in that way, what with her annoyingly massive crush on him. I already have to deal with his relationship with Miss Tsurugi in a way that won’t alienate her mother and cost me valuable business. But I’m sure you wouldn’t want that, would you?”
Marinette swallows down the bile that’s rising in her throat. Honestly, she’s not even sure how Alya’s holding herself back right now, because if the roles had been reversed, she would have gone for Gabriel’s throat for daring to hurt Alya.
“U-Understood, Mr Agreste,” she croaks. It’s only then that Gabriel smiles, if it can even be called that. Sure, his lips quirk upwards, but…there’s nothing in them. He looks more like a predator about to pounce on a particularly juicy piece of prey.
“I’m glad we see eye-to-eye, Miss Rossi,” Gabriel says. “Adrien’s upstairs in his room. Please do keep the commotion down to a minimum.”
Marinette nods and hurries to get the hell out of there, tearing through the labyrinth of hallways until she finally arrives at Adrien’s room. She doesn’t even knock on the door; she just bursts in, scaring Adrien into falling off his bed, and his look of disgust upon seeing Lila Rossi lasts only for as long as it takes for him to take in the look on her face.
“Marinette?” He rushes to her side and grabs her by the biceps, causing the illusion of Lila to vanish with faint flute music. Marinette just claps a hand over her mouth and rushes in the direction of Adrien’s bathroom, her stomach rolling, and she heaves and empties its contents right into the expensive porcelain bowl of Adrien’s toilet.
Gross. She’s always hated vomiting so, so much. Pain? Sure, keep tossing it at her and she’ll groan and deal with it. She gets enough of it as Ladybug. But nausea and vomiting? Marinette would rather die than have to constantly deal with it. There’s no worse feeling than your body actively rebelling against you in such a painful and disgusting manner. She’s vaguely aware of someone brushing the hair back from her forehead, murmuring soothingly, but she can’t focus enough to discern who it is and what they’re saying until finally, at long last, her heaving and retching die down.
“Eww,” she rasps, pushing herself onto her shaky feet to flush the toilet. She gags again when she runs her tongue over her teeth and cops the aftertaste, so the mystery person immediately guides her to the sink and pushes a bottle of green mouthwash towards her. Judging by the paleness of the hand, her mystery hero is Adrien, and this is confirmed when she tips her head back to take a swig of mouthwash and she catches a glimpse of golden hair in her peripheral vision.
“Well,” Adrien says once she’s gargled and spit, then wiped her mouth on a fluffy white towel nearby. “That was a better reaction than me. At least you just threw up. I up and had a panic attack and fainted.”
“I’m sorry for all the times I was ever a creepy stalker,” Marinette croaks as they leave the bathroom. “I promise I’ll never steal your phone to delete an embarrassing voicemail again, or try to spy on you in your room because of Lila, or –”
“I’d really rather we go over this when we’re both in the right frame of mind, yeah?” Adrien says. He stops and clasps her by the shoulders and squeezes, providing the little extra grounding she needs after what she’d just learned. “Considering that Fa – that Hawkmoth’s using us both like chess pieces, that’s the least of our worries.”
“He said – he said –” Marinette’s eyes sting. “I can’t believe – he’d actually support us getting together just to b-break us up…just to turn me into an akuma…but why me? He can’t know I’m Ladybug!”
“I know why.” Adrien pulls her in close, wraps his arms around her, and says, “Because you’re one of the strongest, kindest, best people around. People like you are like poison to people like Lila and Fa – Hawkmoth. They can’t understand people like you, so they lash out and try to tear you down. If our everyday Ladybug was an akuma…well, Paris wouldn’t stand a chance. But that won’t happen because you have me.”
“And me.” Alya wraps her arms around Marinette as well, her arms now bare rather than clad in magenta material.
“Me too, dude.” Wait, when did Nino get here?
“And you have me as well.” Kagami’s voice tops it off. Marinette blinks.
“Um – how –”
“I told Kagami to get here and bring Nino,” Alya says. “Figured you could do with the support after what we learned. And god, I’m gonna kill that guy – no, wait, death is too good for him –”
“Uh, Al, as much as I wanna stab him and dump him in a ditch somewhere,” Nino says, “you’re kinda getting a bit scary.”
Alya huffs in Marinette’s ear but falls silent and keeps up the group hug. It feels like an eternity before the five of them untangle themselves from each other but honestly, with how dazed Marinette’s been, it could have just been a few minutes.
“Thanks, guys,” Marinette mumbles. Alya smiles and nudges her.
“Of course,” she says. “Nino and I might not want to get in on your little love polygon but we’re still your best friends. We’ll always have your back.”
“It just means that this all ends tonight,” Kagami says, thumping her fist into her palm. “We need to get that Miraculous away from him. Not only can Ladybug not be allowed to be akumatised, but I’d throw myself into the Seine before I let Marinette or Adrien experience what it’s like to be akumatised.”
“You remember it?” Adrien says as Alya and Nino nod in agreement.
“Bits and pieces, dude,” Nino grimaces. “It’s like a nightmare. You wake up and you feel like shit, but you don’t remember everything that happened. Then you have weird dreams about it and you never know whether it actually happened or your brain’s just messing with you. Did I really drop you guys from, like, five hundred feet?”
“We’ve had worse,” Marinette says with a weak smile. “But Kagami’s right: we can’t allow this to go on any longer. It ends tonight.”
Summary: Ladybug and Ryuuko have a little competition going on. The aim? To rescue Alya during akuma attacks. And naturally, Alya is Done with her girlfriends' shenanigans, while Chat Noir is just oblivious to the three-way tension.
Slot: 1-2.5k fic
Written for an anonymous donor for the @mlbforblm drive! Thank you so much for commissioning me and I hope you enjoy the sweet wlw disasters! The drive ends in just a few days so if you haven’t already, please consider coming over and commissioning me or another of the amazing contributors!
This assumes that Kagami didn’t reveal herself in ‘Ikari Gozen’ and that ‘Miracle Queen’ never happened, so none of the heroes had their identities outed.
AO3 link
“I got her!”
If anyone had told Alya that she’d be annoyed at a superhero rescue, she’d have looked at them funny and wondered if they’d hit their heads. But that was before…this.
“Don’t worry, Alya,” Ladybug says with a winning smile. “I’ll keep you safe. Ryuuko and Chat Noir can hold off Jess Tear –”
“Césaire!” howls the akuma as if on cue. With her snow-white face, jet-black lips and tear-streak eyeliner, and asymmetrically patterned black and purple jumpsuit and pigtails, she resembles a bargain bin version of Harley Quinn more than anything. Not that Alya would say that to her face…but Hawkmoth is a different story altogether. Is he drunk or something when he akumatises people?
“Why is she even mad at you?” Ladybug says as she deftly leaps and swings through the city, still holding Alya close.
“She tried to insult the Ladyblog, I told her to stop clowning, everyone laughed at her,” Alya says as though Ladybug doesn’t know exactly why Jess Tear is angry. If Alya could slap her oblivious fourteen-year-old self around the head, she so would, because how the hell hasn’t anyone else figured out that Ladybug is her dorky best friend slash girlfriend Marinette? Hmm. Maybe that’s why only Alya has figured it out. That and being Ladybug’s number one fan.
“You’re a good friend, Alya,” Ladybug says. “I – uh, you sound like a good friend!”
“Thanks,” Alya says dryly, wondering if facepalming will give the game away.
“Incoming!” Chat Noir cries from somewhere to the right, and that’s the only warning Alya and Ladybug have before a gigantic purple mass shoots up and snags both of them in its rubbery, shrieking coils. Jess Tear’s mad laughter provides the accompanying soundtrack as she perches on the purple head of a balloon snake nearby.
“You seem to be a little tied up, Césaire!” Jess Tear says. Alya rolls her eyes.
“Right, because I’ve never heard that one before,” she says. “I’ve been akuma bait for, like, three years and that’s the best you can come up with?”
“Who’s the clown now?” Jess Tear cries as though Alya hadn’t said anything. “Now I’ll strangle the life out of you and collect Ladybug’s Miraculous from her dead –”
With an explosive pop, Alya’s bonds vanish and she plummets towards the ground, screaming. But she’s caught in a pair of red arms before she can splatter like a cracked egg and whisked out of danger, held close to another scarlet-clad, black-haired superhero whose eyes are cinnamon brown instead of bubble-gum blue.
“I’ve got you, Alya,” says Ryuuko, aka Kagami, aka Alya’s other girlfriend, aka the whole damn reason for Alya’s constant headache because she and Ladybug can’t seem to stop themselves from turning “rescue Alya” into a goddamn competition.
(Ryuuko’s winning seventeen to thirteen, but there’s no way Alya will admit that she actually keeps count of how many times her girlfriends rescue her).
“Hey! I was saving her!” Ladybug shouts as she untangles herself from the deflated corpse of the balloon snake with Chat Noir’s help. Kagami lands on top of a nearby blue car, turns back to Ladybug, and has the audacity to wink at her. Alya feels the sudden urge to yeet herself out of Ryuuko’s arms and beg Jess Tear to end her suffering already. She’s, like, ninety percent sure that Ladybug and Ryuuko know each other’s identities, which is so not fair because what is she? Chopped fox liver?
If she was Rena Rouge right now, none of this would even be happening in the first place. There’s no justice in this world, honestly.
“Strategically, I’m the better choice to save Alya, while you and Chat Noir close in on Jess Tear!” Ryuuko calls back.
“Like hell!” Jess Tear yanks a purple handkerchief out of her sleeve and keeps pulling, revealing hanky after hanky tied in a long chain. She hefts this chain and cracks it at Chat Noir, causing him to yelp and jump away from Ladybug, who only just manages to leap out of the tangled mess of deflated balloon before it collapses on her. “Who’s the clown now, huh?”
“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug catches a tiny clothes peg. “Seriously? Why am I always the one getting trolled?”
“And that’s why I’m the better knight in red spandex.” Ryuuko unsheathes her sword and crouches in front of Alya. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
“At least you’re a cute damsel in distress!” Chat Noir calls from his hiding place behind a lamppost. Yeah. Alya doesn’t even know how that’s supposed to work, but Chat Noir’s always been two filaments short of a lightbulb. She rolls her eyes and flips him off.
“Just do your job and save me already!” she retorts.
“I believe that’s my job,” Ryuuko says. She throws herself at Alya and cradles her as they roll off the car and across the rocky road, just in time to avoid Jess Tear’s next hanky crack. “What’s the plan, Ladybug?”
A grumpy Ladybug swings over with Chat Noir in tow, who provides cover for the girls to dart behind the car. Once they’re safe and joined by Chat Noir, Ladybug frowns down at the peg and hums.
“I think it’s time for Jess Tear to find out what happens to clothes on a windy day,” she says, smiling slowly. Chat Noir and Ryuuko also grin. “Chat, give us some cover again?”
“But of course, milady. Cataclysm!” Chat Noir leaps out from behind the car. Alya peeks around just in time to witness a nearby building crumbling, dousing Jess Tear in dust and rubble, before Ladybug and Ryuuko pull her back.
“Stay here,” they say together, then narrow their eyes at each other.
“Oh my god, you can give it up already,” Alya mutters. “I know it’s you two. And I know you two know.”
“Uh…of course it’s us two!” Ladybug says quickly, while Ryuuko’s cheeks flush pink and her eyes dart away. “Who else would we be?”
Alya facepalms. “You know, a relationship is supposed to be nice. Happy. Beneficial. I’ve had more headaches since your silly little competition started than I’ve had my whole life. How the heck did you not expect me to notice after, like, the seventh time you two went at it to save me? I mean, sure, I love being the pretty damsel in distress, but honestly.”
Ladybug and Ryuuko just blink at her. It’s not until Chat Noir bellows, “Any day now!” that they’re snapped back into action.
“Um…Ryuuko!” Ladybug says in a higher voice than usual. Ryuuko jumps and almost drops her sword.
“Right! Wind Dragon!” Ryuuko dissipates into a burst of cool, fresh air that whooshes out towards Jess Tear. Right before the clown akuma can separate Chat Noir’s head from his body with one crack of her whip, Ryuuko hits her and howls around her in a whirlwind.
“Oh my god! Go away!” Jess Tear shrieks as she’s buffeted by wind on all sides. She tries to aim her hanky whip, but the chain of cloth seems to have a life of its own under Ryuuko’s guiding wind-hand, slapping Jess Tear around the head and coiling around her in a twisted imitation of her previous balloon snake. Once Jess Tear is nothing but a purple hanky mummy, Ryuuko lets her plummet and lands on the ground just in time to solidify and catch a wriggling Jess Tear, whose screams are muffled by her new face mask.
“Okay but how are we gonna find the akuma now?” Chat Noir says as he bounds over, followed by Ladybug, who pegs the ends of the hanky rope to hold Jess Tear’s bonds together.
“That’s your problem, not mine!” Alya calls from her car shelter. “I’m outta here now that she’s toast! I gotta have a good, long talk with my girls!”
She takes a moment to revel in the way Ladybug and Ryuuko blanch, then she turns and heads off, whistling. Ha. And her girlfriends thought they had it over her. Now she’s got the upper hand. Let them sweat while they deakumatise Jess Tear and do the whole post-akuma comfort thing with Jessica Terrence, who’s more than likely going to cuss them out, considering what she’d said about the Ladyblog.
“Gami seventeen, Mari thirteen, and Alya one million,” Alya snickers to herself.
“Wait, really?” Marinette’s mouth droops. “But he promised you could come to the concert!”
“I know he did,” Adrien’s voice says rather bitterly through the phone. “Apparently, I’m not good enough for him.”
“That’s rubbish!” If Marinette’s hands weren’t occupied with her phone and a cardboard box, she’d either be crossing her arms firmly or tugging on the hair that she’s left loose around her face today. “You’re a better pianist than half the people our age put together!”
“To be fair, I’d probably be better if I’d stop playing recordings to pretend I’m practicing while I actually go see – uh, go and do other things.”
Marinette snorts. “You sure you can’t sneak out? Put your foot down? It just won’t be the same without you here.”
“I would if I could. I’m sure Gorilla would cover for me if I asked, but there’s no getting past Nathalie. And she wouldn’t cover for me this time. She saw how annoyed Father was at my performance. Even if I could sneak out through my window, he’d know where I went, so there’d be no point. I wouldn’t want him to ruin your concert.”
“I’m sorry, Adrien. I know how much you were looking forward to it.”
“Yeah, well…I’d better go practice. Maybe if I’m up to his standards, he’ll let me come near the end. Better than nothing, right? And I was really looking forward to seeing Luka.”
“Luka? Who?”
“Juleka’s brother.”
Marinette blinks. “Juleka has a brother?”
“That was my reaction too,” Adrien says. “But he saved me and Kagami when we snuck out of fencing the other day and nearly got mobbed.”
“I’m not sure why they think chasing you down and demanding you marry them will make you want to do that,” Marinette snorts. “Anyway, good luck with your piano. I know you’ll smash it!”
The line goes dead a moment later. Marinette sighs and pockets her phone.
“Cap’n Anarka speakin’ to ya!” announces a rough woman’s voice. Marinette whirls around to see Juleka’s mother standing next to Rose with her hands on her hips, making Rose jump while adjusting the microphone stand with her sudden appearance. “So, how’s it comin’ along, me young pirates? Ready to celebrate the –”
Marinette gulps when Anarka’s blue eyes narrow at her. The older woman adjusts her red glasses before striding straight over to Marinette.
“Whatcha up to there, lady?” she says, snatching the box from Marinette. When Marinette explains that she’s cleaning the houseboat for the concert, Anarka laughs long and loud and then starts scattering the contents of the box everywhere on deck. “We never pick up in this house! Didn’t me daughter tell ya? We love the lived-in look! We have no rules on the Liberty! Out of chaos comes creation! Messiness is life!”
Huh. Maybe that’s why Marinette’s a hot artistic mess. With a smile, she heads with Alya and Nino into the steering room for a few minutes of quiet while Rose, Juleka, Mylène, and Ivan continue their loud preparations outside.
“Dude, don’t tell me Adrien’s dad put him on lockdown again,” Nino complains while Marinette rifles through a box on a shelf. She grimaces when a layer of dust billows out and coats her pink wrap-around top, white T-shirt, and blue jeans
“Afraid so,” she says, frowning as she pulls out a strange metal statue of a hand with its index and pinky fingers out. Nino groans.
“Bummer. I was lookin’ forward to hanging out with him for once.”
“We all were,” Alya says. “Man, and I thought my older sister was overprotective.” She takes the statue from Marinette, squints at it, then dumps it on the compass. “Wow, that’s creepy. I see where Juleka gets it from.”
“Juleka’s not creepy!” Marinette says. “She’s just…quietly punk.” When she reaches up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, her bracelet gleams in the sunlight, and her eyes are irresistibly drawn to it as it brings back the vivid memory of Chat Noir and his confession to her on her birthday over two weeks ago. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said that she’s got strong feelings for him, but she also hadn’t been lying when she’d said that she’s not completely sure of their nature yet, although she’d be deceiving herself if she insisted that they were definitely not romantic.
And yet…she can’t get Chat Noir’s confession out of her head. The thought of him is enough to send tingles down her skin and butterflies through her stomach, but what if this is just a rebound thing? The only downside about romance built on friendship is that if the romance goes sour, what if the friendship does too? And she’ll be damned if she loses Chat Noir’s friendship, especially after all the nights they’ve spent together being utter dorks.
And none of this would have happened if not for André. She never would’ve had that conversation with Chat Noir when he came to comfort her. He never would’ve tried to start moving on from Ladybug and fallen for her instead. Heck, he probably wouldn’t even have been as cool as he was on her birthday.
What if…André’s ice cream hadn’t been referring to Adrien, but rather to Chat Noir? After all, Chat Noir’s lips are also peach pink – not that she’s been thinking about them, ha, not at all – and his hair and eyes are also gold and mint green. In that case, is André’s ice cream really magical? Had he really been predicting her soulmate?
“Oh, ho ho, sailors!” Anarka once again appears out of nowhere, this time to snatch the statue off the compass as Marinette and Alya jump and clutch their chests. “Never put a metal object next to a compass! Ya hear, lass? Metal attracts the needle just like a magnet, which is why ya can’t get ‘em anywhere near each other.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s a deep literary metaphor in there somewhere,” Alya says sarcastically. Marinette and Nino conceal their laughter behind their hands.
“We’re ready, captain!” Rose salutes from the foot of the stairs, Juleka just behind her. Marinette can’t help but smile at what a cute couple they make. “Uh…but Luka’s missing!”
Anarka squints at Marinette. “Marinette, right? Since you’re free from yer cleanin’ duties, could ya go and tell Luka that we’re waitin’ for him to start rehearsals?”
“Of course!” Marinette says, then frowns. “But, uh…where is he?”
“In his cabin, of course!”
It’s a treacherous journey through the living room of the houseboat, what with the various musical items and other items scattered all over the floor. But there’s something comforting and warm about the mess; something that invites you to come in and revel in it. Marinette shrieks and jumps when she slips through a doorway and comes face-to-face with a boy sitting cross-legged on a bed, his eyes closed and his hands resting on his knees. Between his thumbs and index fingers are two black guitar picks, which make a lot more sense when Marinette catches sight of the black guitar next to him.
She jumps again when she realises that he’s opened his eyes and is staring straight at her with a smile. His eyes are the same shade of blue as his mother’s, also matching the teal tips of his black hair, and he’s wearing ripped black jeans and a short-sleeved blue jacket over a white Jagged Stone shirt.
Holy crap. He’s gorgeous.
“Hey!” Marinette blurts out. “My name’s Mama – Ma-Ma-Marinette!” Oh god, she’s stammering again. Why is this her life? She takes a deep breath to compose herself and pushes on. “Your mum sent me down here. The groove – ah, the group’s waiting for you.”
“Hello, Ma-Ma-Marinette,” the boy – Luka – says in a cool voice, then snickers behind his hand. Marinette’s heart drops. Great. He’s gorgeous, but he’s also a jerk. This is really Juleka’s brother? Her feelings must be painted across her face, because Luka’s smile vanishes, and he adds, “Sorry. I tend to make more sense with this.”
He pats the bed next to him. Marinette accepts the invitation, while he slings his guitar around his neck and then strums a few chords.
“That’s strange.” Luka frowns at her. “It seems you have something like this in your heart.” He plays a short tune, rising and falling in pitch, somehow exactly matching the utter chaos that’s currently got Marinette’s heart in a vice grip. She closes her eyes and rests a hand on her heart, losing herself in the sweet melody, and it takes a moment for her brain to register that Luka’s stopped playing.
“How do you do that?” she says in awe. Luka smiles at her when she opens her eyes.
“Music is often simpler than words,” is all he says. Marinette hums and jumps up to get a closer look at the pick collection underneath his Jagged Stone poster. Her eyes are drawn to a pick with Jagged Stone’s face, which she grabs so that she can get a closer look.
“You like Jagged Stone?” she says.
“He’s my favourite singer.” Luka slides off the bed to stand next to her.
“Mine too!”
Luka’s smile widens, and he looks at the pick in her hand. “You can have it if you like. I’ve got plenty.”
“Thanks!”
“I think I’d better go and join the… “groove” you said,” Luka says, rolling his eyes with a smirk. Marinette whines and facepalms.
“Did I really –? Oh no! At least Adrien wasn’t here to see that. He’d never let me live it down, the dork.”
“Adrien?” Luka tilts his head. “You know him?”
“Yeah, he’s one of my best friends. You’re the guy who saved him from being mobbed, right?”
Luka nods. “He wasn’t ready for a child just yet.”
“Uh…what?”
“An inside joke. One of his fans was screaming for him to have her babies.”
Marinette shudders. “Ick. I can’t believe I used to be like that.”
“That’s not the impression I get.” Luka plays a few oxymoronic notes, somehow both chaotic and gentle. “You have a passionate heart. You just struggle with your chaotic brain. You’re not the kind of person to behave like that.”
“Seriously, how do you do that?” Marinette complains as blood rushes to pool in her cheeks and stomach.
“Just like I told Adrien, I can hear people’s heart songs,” Luka says. Whoa. Seriously? That’s…how is that possible? “And just like I told Adrien, I talk to Juleka. You’re a funny girl, Marinette.”
With that, Luka heads out of the room, leaving Marinette scrambling to catch up so that she’s not left all alone with her whirling thoughts because nope, nope, this is not happening. Although what happens only minutes later is enough to push all thoughts of Luka from her mind, when Anarka is reprimanded by Roger Raincomprix for pretty much blowing the sound barrier with Kitty Section and their instruments. Apparently, Hawkmoth doesn’t take a day off, because Marinette can’t even enjoy a music festival with her friends without him being a bastard and akumatising someone. Before anyone can so much as blink, Anarka has became the pirate Captain Hardrock, with a sentient ship totally under her control that chains up Marinette and her friends when they try to reason with Captain Hardrock and point out that maybe Roger had a point about the volume.
“Ow!” Rose cries when her head knocks against the wood. Groaning, Marinette struggles to sit up, pushing back against Luka to as a counterweight; thankfully, he catches on and adds his force to the equation to help them sit up. Around them, the other bound pairs are doing the same.
“Well,” Alya says when they’ve all rolled to a stop in the ship’s hold. “That was fun. Now what?”
“I guess we wait for Ladybug and Chat Noir?” Nino says. Marinette’s eyes dart down to her purse, not that that’ll do much good since she can’t very well transform in front of a bunch of people, especially someone she’s only just met. Luckily, Tikki’s skills extend beyond magical transformations, as she’s able to zip out of the purse and phase through the padlock securing the chains around Marinette and Luka.
“Wow!” Luka exclaims when their chains fall away. “How’d you do that?”
Marinette freezes and fumbles for an explanation. She dips her hand into her purse to make sure that Tikki’s back inside, and her fingers close around the pick that Luka had given her. Perfect! “Uh…with this!” she says, showing him the pick. Luka smiles as he climbs to his feet.
“You’re a real magician, Marinette,” he says, helping her up. Marinette scoffs.
“Oh, it was nothing! Just – you know –” Her face grows warm under Luka’s awestruck gaze.
“Ahem.” Alya clears her throat. “When you’re quite ready?”
But before Marinette and Luka can work on freeing the others, Captain Hardrock comes stomping down the stairs. With a hasty apology, Marinette and Luka sprint through the door behind them and secure it shut with Luka’s guitar, and while this isn’t enough to keep Captain Hardrock out, it buys them enough time to get the window open. Luka immediately pushes Marinette towards the bed and points at the slim but long drawer built into the base. Catching on, she races over and shuts herself inside, and not a moment too soon.
“Run, Marinette! Quick!” Luka calls when the door smashes open. Marinette’s heart leaps into her throat at Luka’s pained cry when Captain Hardrock’s chains capture him again, but his sacrifice works; Captain Hardrock storms out of the room a moment later, clearly under the impression that Marinette had escaped through the window, dragging Luka with her judging by the scraping sound that accompanies her.
“Phew! That was close!” Tikki says when Marinette pushes the drawer back open and clambers out.
“I have to save my friends!” Marinette clenches her fists. “Tikki, spots on!”
Chat Noir’s already arrived when Ladybug finally manages to sneak up to the deck. Although the battle against Captain Hardrock and the Liberty is fairly straightforward as far as akuma fights go, it’s made far more difficult by the fact that Ladybug’s got a constant chanting of don’t flirt with the cat in her head to keep her on track because if Ladybug is one thing, it’s not a hypocrite. She can’t exactly flirt with Chat Noir after lecturing him about inappropriate timing in the wake of Green Giant, especially since he doesn’t even know that it’s her civilian form that he’s caught feelings for and vice versa.
With the help of the metal clasp of her Lucky Charm chain and Chat Noir, they chain Captain Hardrock to the ship’s compass and, just like when Alya had put the statue on top of it, the compass goes haywire around the clasp. This time, though, the entire ship is affected by the compass going out of control, and they manage to steer the ship up one of the slopes on the bank of the Seine and crash-land on a patch of grass. With the ship out of commission and the prisoners in the hull no longer in danger, it’s a simple matter for Chat Noir to Cataclysm the compass and disintegrate the ship, freeing the akuma for Ladybug to purify.
Pity, though, that Chat Noir has to book it as soon as Captain Hardrock turns back into Anarka. Ladybug wouldn’t have minded a bit of post-battle banter with him, along with asking what was up with him earlier. But really, it’s probably for the best for her headspace, considering that she’s only ninety-nine percent sure that she wants to be with him and it’s that one percent that’s shrieking inside her skull that she’s going to mess everything up.
“You okay, girl?” Alya says when Ladybug’s detransformed and re-joined everyone as Marinette.
“Uh huh,” Marinette mumbles. Alya raises an eyebrow but she thankfully doesn’t push the issue.
An hour or so later, while Kitty Section is still rehearsing for the music festival, they’re pleasantly surprised by a familiar face boarding the houseboat, waving and beaming at everyone.
“Adrien! Hi!” Marinette bounces on the spot and waves. Adrien’s face lights up and he waves back, then immediately trips and sends a long, thin black case flying, and Marinette can’t help the flutters inside her and the giggle that escapes her at what a dork he is.
“Adrien!” Nino runs over to help Adrien sit up. “You okay, bro?”
“Nah, it’s all good, I –” Adrien pauses rubbing his head to open the case he’d knocked over, revealing a keyboard inside. “Whoa, an original ZX20.4? I love the sound of this instrument!”
“Aww, that old thing?” Anarka scoffs. “No one knows how to play it.”
“I know how to play it,” Adrien says.
“Great.” Luka holds out a hand to help Adrien to his feet. “Welcome to the band, Adrien.”
Adrien beams. “Really? Thanks, Luka!”
Luka and Adrien still haven’t let go of the other’s hand. An odd look passes between them, making Marinette squint, until Adrien catches sight of her and quickly lets go of Luka’s hand.
“Looks like I could make it after all!” Adrien says to her. Marinette grins and gives him a thumbs-up.
“Your dad caved in?” she says. Adrien shrugs.
“Yeah. I think I impressed him enough.”
“Can’t wait to see how you impress us, then,” Luka says. Adrien jumps, his cheeks pinkening, and Marinette raises her eyebrows and bites her lip when Luka smiles and winks at him as well as her.
Well. One thing’s for sure: the future’s going to be very, very interesting.
Okay. So. Marinette has a crush on Chat Noir. That’s clear as day.
The problem is Luka Couffaine. Specifically, how Marinette’s insides flutter and tingle whenever she’s around him. Which totally isn’t fair. Aren’t you supposed to be in love with one person and be with them and only them?
To be fair, Marinette isn’t actually with Chat Noir. And yeah, there’s plenty of infidelity in the world, when someone decides that another person is hot and yes please, I’ll have some of that.
But that’s the problem here. It’s not just that Luka’s attractive. It’s that smile of his that’s so soft, like he’s reading your very soul when he looks at you. It’s how he looks so at peace when he’s sitting there, strumming on his guitar before Kitty Section’s rehearsals (that Marinette has definitely attended only because she’s friends with Rose and Juleka and Ivan, thank you very much). It’s how he never has a harsh word about Juleka, even when he’s doing his brotherly duty and teasing her, and how she immediately looks to him every time she’s starting to stress, such as when her guitar string had snapped and one of Ivan’s drumsticks had fallen overboard.
No. Marinette can’t be in love with two people at once. That’s rubbish, and it’s needlessly complicated, and Chat Noir was here first, so he’s her first choice.
But what if…
“Marinette?” someone says. Marinette shrieks and nearly stumbles over the side of the boat as she’s yanked out of her own little world of patterns and colours and Kitty Section-inspired designs.
“Hi! Yes!” she yelps. Luka smiles apologetically.
“Sorry I scared you. Adrien’s here, and it looks like he’s brought his friend.”
“Wait, Adrien’s dad let him out?” Marinette says. But sure enough, Adrien is boarding the Couffaine houseboat along with the girl from fencing – Kagami, Chat Noir had said her name was. Marinette can’t help but smile when, after leaping off the plank to the deck of the boat, Adrien holds out his hand and helps Kagami step down. What a gentleman. Does he like Kagami? They’d be really cute together.
“Hey, guys!” Adrien waves.
“Adrien! Hi!” Rose rushes over to throw her arms around him for a quick hug. “Your father let you come!”
“Surprisingly, yeah,” Adrien says. “I’ve learned not to question it.”
“Which is probably what he’s relying on, but sure,” Juleka mutters.
“My mother only allowed me to come because I said I was strengthening my relationship with Adrien,” Kagami says. “I’m just surprised she approves of him.”
“Probably a rich parent thing,” Adrien says. Kagami snorts.
“Probably.”
An awkward silence falls on the boat as everyone sneaks looks at Kagami, who just stares right back evenly. It’s understandable, since she’s a newcomer and none of them know her, but in Marinette’s case, it also just might have something to do with how she’d panicked and ruled in Adrien’s favour back at fencing tryouts. Does Kagami hate her for it? Or had Adrien talked to her about it?
“Um – hi!” Marinette decides that she might as well take the first step. “I’m Marinette!”
“Adrien’s friend, right?” Kagami says coolly. Marinette’s cheeks flush, although she can’t decide whether it’s because Kagami most definitely dislikes her or because the way this cute girl is narrowing her eyes at Marinette is doing something to Marinette’s insides. Something that she most definitely doesn’t want to think about right now.
“I’m sorry,” Marinette says. “I should have abstained from that ruling. I just…well, I’m new to fencing, and I went along because Adrien asked if I wanted to try out, so I don’t actually know a whole lot about it. I just panicked when I got shoved into refereeing. I wasn’t trying to cheat or favour Adrien…”
For a moment, Kagami says nothing. But just as Marinette’s contemplating throwing herself off the boat to escape that steely stare, something in Kagami’s eyes softens, and she gives an awkward attempt at a smile that’s all teeth.
“Apology accepted,” Kagami says. “And I apologise for suspecting you of favouritism. It seems that we both misunderstood each other. My name is Kagami.”
With that, the atmosphere shifts and settles as everyone seems to let out a breath that no one knew they were holding. Luka gestures towards the disassembled keyboard.
“You’re welcome to set that up and practice with us, bandmate,” he says.
“Really?” Adrien’s eyes light up. “I’m part of Kitty Section? I can never make it to rehearsals consistently…”
Being the only other person on the houseboat who doesn’t play an instrument, Kagami seems to naturally gravitate towards where Marinette is sitting cross-legged near the cockpit, safely away from the side of the boat, sketchbook once again open. As Kagami sits next to her, Marinette offers her a small smile and Kagami hesitantly smiles back. Then Marinette’s eyes are inevitably drawn to Luka, who’s just strummed a sweet chord, and he catches her gaze and winks at her, and she’s forced to stare down at her notebook so that she doesn’t spontaneously combust on the spot.
No. No. This can’t be happening. Marinette has a crush on Chat Noir. That’s clear as day. So, why must her insides flutter and tingle at the way Luka smiles and winks, charming and mellow with no effort or annoying flair at all?
To be fair, Marinette isn’t actually with Chat Noir. And yeah, there’s plenty of infidelity in the world, when someone decides that another person is hot and yes please, I’ll have some of that. But Marinette can’t love two people at once. That’s rubbish, and it’s needlessly complicated, and Chat Noir was here first, so he’s her first choice, especially since she’d only met Luka the other day.
“You like him.”
Marinette’s brain screeches to a halt when Kagami speaks.
“Huh? What?” she blurts out.
“Luka. You like him. You should go and ask him out.”
“But I can’t!”
“Why not? You clearly have feelings for him. And hesitation costs you the prize.”
“No, no, it’s…” Marinette bites her lip. “You’re okay with me just…exploding on you? My brain’s a mess right now.”
Kagami gives another of her weird, toothy smiles, like someone who’s seen a human smile and then tried to replicate it. It’s a little unnerving but again, maybe that’s just what Kagami’s like. And if her upbringing is anything like Adrien’s, what with his comment about rich parents, she might also have had limited social contact.
“I’ve heard that friends “explode” on each other,” Kagami says. “And crushes aside, I would like to be your friend. Adrien talks a lot about you.”
“He does?”
“It’s the only reason I accepted your apology. Adrien assured me that you would never have meant to rig that ruling.”
“Oh.” Marinette looks down at her sketchbook, realising that she’s been twirling her pencil in her fingers absently. “Well…yeah, I think I might…well, I just met Luka a few weeks ago, but I fell for Adrien the day after we met, so I don’t think that matters. But I…I like someone else.”
“Adrien, right?” Kagami says. Marinette lets out a small laugh.
“A little bit still, yeah, but that’s in the realm of once upon a time,” she says. “And the things I did because of that crush…I’m not proud of them. I stole his phone once just to delete an embarrassing voicemail. He doesn’t know that, by the way, and he never will.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” Kagami says with twitching lips. “Who is this other person that you like?”
“Chat Noir. And the thing is…he likes me too. He accidentally confessed when he gave me this bracelet for my birthday –” Marinette holds up her wrist to show Kagami the gleaming silver, “– and I ended up telling him that I liked him too, but I wanted a bit longer to sort out my head. You know, to make sure I’m committed to being with Chat.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Kagami says. “Chat Noir is a certainty. Luka’s a possibility.”
“But how can I be with Chat when I might be starting to like Luka as well?” Marinette says. “I’d never cheat on him, but – gah! You’re supposed to be in love with one person at a time!”
“That’s rubbish,” Kagami says. “You can be in love with many people. It’s who you choose that matters. My mother’s always told me that love isn’t a feeling. It’s a choice.”
“What do you mean, love’s not a feeling?” Marinette says. “I’m pretty sure I know what love feels like!”
Kagami sighs and twists the ring on her right hand. It’s got some sort of symbol on it, but Marinette can’t make it out from here and she doesn’t want to stare and come across as rude.
“Let me think,” Kagami mumbles. “Okay. You’re right that love is a feeling. But love – true love – it’s a choice. It’s a commitment that you make to someone. What happens years later when that spark for your partner fades? You can either choose to stay with them with that comfortable love or you can leave them and find someone else to chase that spark again. If you truly love someone, you’ll wake up every day and consciously choose them instead of constantly pursuing that spark of infatuation. Of course, that’s assuming that you haven’t just drifted apart and it would be more beneficial to end the relationship, but that’s another thing entirely.”
Huh. That’s…a way of looking at love that Marinette’s never even thought about. And Kagami’s got a point. All those people who go out and cheat and ruin their relationships just because the spark for their partner is gone…sure, Marinette knows that that’s a choice, but she’s never actually thought of love as being a choice either.
“Your mother sounds really wise,” Marinette finally says. This time, Kagami’s smile is small but soft.
“She is,” Kagami says. “She rightly expects a lot of me, for me to uphold the Tsurugi family name. But she’s a very wise woman.”
Marinette wants to point out that being like Gabriel Agreste and having super high expectations of your kid isn’t a good thing, but she manages to swallow the words down just in time. She doesn’t actually know what Kagami’s home life is like, and it’s not like they’re best friends after one conversation. Huh. For once, she’s got some semblance of a brain filter.
“So…you’re saying I have to choose one of them and keep choosing them?” Marinette says.
“You don’t have to make your choice right now,” Kagami says. “There’s no sense in making a hasty decision. But I do warn you, if you take too long to decide, you might lose the boy you choose to someone else. That’s why I never hesitate.”
“I wish I could just date two people at once,” Marinette groans.
“Then why don’t you?” Kagami says.
“Wh-What?” Blood rushes to Marinette’s cheeks. “I couldn’t – I don’t – huh?”
“Your astonishment is cute,” Kagami laughs. “It’s called polyamory. A girl I had a crush on back in Japan told me that she was polyamorous. She said that so long as you’re completely open with your partners, there’s no reason why multiple relationships can’t work.”
“A girl? You’re gay?”
“I rarely develop romantic feelings but when I do, their gender doesn’t matter. And I’m asexual. But my mother doesn’t know, because I’m not sure whether her reaction would be positive or negative. And it will stay that way.”
“Of course!” Marinette hastens to say. “I wouldn’t dream of telling her. Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me. But, uh…asexual? I don’t know anything.”
“Of course not, if you haven’t had any reason to suspect that you’re not straight,” Kagami says. “I’ve only known for a year or so, after I realised that I liked Rin, but I didn’t want to do anything physical with her. The thought of it…didn’t repulse me, but it didn’t excite or interest me either. I wasn’t drawn to her in that way at all. That’s when I realised that I was asexual, and I’m not attracted to anyone in that way.”
“Are they more accepting in Japan than in France?” Marinette says. Kagami shrugs.
“Some accept it, some don’t, just like here. It’s just considered more private there than here.”
“Oh.” Marinette falls silent and finds herself staring at Adrien. But he’s too busy with his keyboard, in the middle of Kitty Section’s current song, so he doesn’t notice her gaze. “How do you know if you’re polyamorous?”
“Well, I can’t tell you if you are,” Kagami says. “All I can tell you is what Rin told me when I was wondering the same thing myself. Look at how you reacted to the thought of dating Luka and Chat at the same time. Did you hasten to deny it because it truly didn’t appeal to you? Or because you’re so used to thinking of a romantic relationship as being between only two people?”
Marinette immediately opens her mouth to reply, but nothing comes out. Kagami’s lips twitch, as if she’s saying, see? Not as easy as you thought, huh?
“That was awesome!” Rose trills, her voice forcibly yanking Marinette out of her muddled thoughts. “We should celebrate!”
“Lunch!” Marinette blurts out. “Takeout! By the Seine!” God, why is she such a disaster again? Hadn’t she been through this song and dance before with Adrien?
“Perfect!” Juleka says as Ivan and Mylène nod. “A picnic! I’ll go grab a blanket!”
“Great idea, Marinette,” Luka says. His smile both chills and boils Marinette’s insides, just like when Chat Noir makes a ridiculous joke.
“Yeah! Marinette’s full of good ideas!” a pink-faced Adrien says, and his cheeks flush darker when Luka turns to smile at him.
“I’ve never been on a picnic before,” Kagami says. “It’ll be a good learning experience.”
Plagg, the little shit, can just shut the hell up.
This is a nightmare. Adrien’s in love with Marinette. Her kindness, that creative spark simmering in her, the way her dark hair glistens in the sunlight, how her eyes sparkle like grey fire when she’s enthusing about something…
Except now, there’s another contender. Someone whose dark hair also shines under the sun, who also has bright eyes that burn brilliantly when lost in passion, who also exudes the energy of soft and sweet but will happily kick your arse if need be.
Just like Marinette, Luka Couffaine’s creative soul shines brighter than the sun. Just like Marinette, Luka makes Adrien’s insides tingle and burn with as little as a smile. And yet, with as many similarities as he shares with Marinette, Luka is also nothing like her. Where Marinette is a hurricane, forceful and mesmerising and drawing people into her tempest of passion, Luka is a tsunami, appearing perfectly serene and soft on the surface with that stormy soul underneath, until it’s too late to realise that you’re about to be swallowed. And Adrien hadn’t realised until now, until there was no chance of escape. Not only this, but after their adventure that had resulted in meeting Luka, Kagami’s also starting to creep up on him like a thunderstorm, visible and foreboding on the horizon but not quite close enough to warrant action. At least, not until it’s too late to act, just like Luka’s tsunami but almost deadlier since she’s not yet registering in his brain as anything more than one of his closest friends underneath all the carefully deliberate suppression.
And Plagg takes every possible moment to remind Adrien of this, as if Adrien could ever forget it. When the group waits outside a little Lebanese takeout place for Rose and Juleka to grab their food, Plagg rhythmically scrapes his tiny claws along Adrien’s chest from inside the shirt pocket where he’s hiding. While Marinette and Kagami set up the picnic blanket on the banks of the river once they’ve found the perfect little concrete platform down a flight of stairs, Plagg pokes his head out and gives Adrien a shit-eating grin that makes Adrien scowl and poke the little kwami back down. And when Luka passes him a manakish za’atar and their fingers brush as Adrien takes the little spiced pizza, Plagg snickers so loudly that a red-faced Adrien has to pass that sound off as his rumbling stomach, even if not everyone looks like they believe him.
“Your band is really good,” Kagami says as she scoops up a spoonful of tabbouleh from the massive container in the middle of the blanket. “How long have you been together?”
“A few months now?” Juleka says. “Rose, Ivan, and I had to work on a particle physics project together.”
“Yeah!” Rose says. “And we figured out that we all loved music, so we decided to form a band!”
“Lucky,” Marinette says, wrinkling her nose. “I had to work with Chloé and Sabrina. Adrien hogged our friends.”
“Have you tried standing up to Ms Mendeleiev?” Adrien says. “I’d rather face Hawkmoth than her.”
Anyone who knows Ms Mendeleiev snorts, which happens to be all of them except Kagami.
“How generous of you, Ma-Ma-Marinette,” Luka says dryly. Marinette makes a strange sound that’s somewhere between a yelp and a strangled gasp.
“I’m gonna elbow-drop your dad if he doesn’t let you come out more often,” Ivan says.
“Ivan!” Mylène chides, although she’s concealing a grin behind her hand, so no one really takes her seriously.
“I appreciate the offer,” Adrien says. “But elbow-dropping my father will probably make him lock me up again.”
“Then we’ll find Ladybug and Chat Noir and stage a grand rescue,” Luka says. If it wasn’t for the fact that Luka’s vow had pretty much set Adrien’s insides on fire, Adrien might have been more concerned about the fact that Chat Noir can’t really stage a grand rescue of himself. As it is, he can literally feel Plagg’s mirth in the atmosphere, and he doesn’t need to hear Plagg to know that the little shit is laughing his butt off.
“And Rena Rouge,” Marinette says with a mysterious little smile.
“Yes! Rena Rouge!” Rose flails and nearly knocks Juleka’s falafel out of her hand. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe there’s a new hero!”
“Who do you think she is?” Mylène says.
“She’ll tell us when she’s ready,” Kagami says. “So will Ladybug and Chat Noir. If Hawkmoth found out who they were, he could target them and their families. They may not even be able to be heroes anymore.”
“Thank you!” Marinette gestures wildly at Kagami. “Someone finally understands the importance of secret identities!”
“Hey! I get it too!” Adrien says.
“Okay, Adrien,” Marinette and Kagami coo together. Adrien scowls and crosses his arms as everyone else laughs, but his insides are doing a little happy jig because having a picnic with friends who tease him is just so…normal.
Enjoy this fluff because next chapter is when shit goes down :)
Chapter 42 | Chapter 44 | AO3 link
[7:02 pm] Luka <3
Adrien: so
Adrien: mari and kagami are on their date
Adrien: wanna chat?
Luka: that better not have been a pun
Adrien: :)
Adrien: no but srsly
Adrien: i’m gonna do it
Luka: ???
Adrien: i’m gonna come out
Adrien: and my dad can suck it
Luka: not sure whether i like being a reason for you to stick it to him
Adrien: nah you’re not
Adrien: more like a convenient excuse
Adrien: but like
Adrien: fuck if i gotta be the agreste poster boy then let me be out
Luka: for what it’s worth, i’m proud of you
Adrien: aww you know how to make a cat blush
Luka: you’re going to have so many people looking up to you
Luka: speaking from experience
Adrien: if i gotta be a role model then at least it’s for this
Luka: are you going to talk to marinette and kagami about it first?
Adrien: ofc
Adrien: just let them enjoy their date first lol
Adrien: wonder how they’re going
Luka: well, we haven’t seen any akumas yet, so i’m assuming it’s going well
Adrien: lmao
Adrien: so like uh
Adrien: wanna help me figure out wtf to say in the vid?
Luka: it’d be my pleasure
.
“Nathalie?” Adrien says at dinner two nights later. “Could I speak to Father for five minutes?”
“He’s very busy,” Nathalie says automatically. “If you have a message for him –”
“I know he’s too busy to see me most days. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
Nathalie raises an eyebrow. “Just how important can it be that you would disturb him?”
With a sigh, Adrien beckons her over, then unlocks his phone and taps into the video he’d sweated over all afternoon thanks to his last-minute Chinese cancellation. “I’m going to go ahead and say something no matter what,” he says. “But I want to make sure that it’s not going to “besmirch” the Agreste name or whatever Father says. I promised him I wouldn’t do that if I got to be with Marinette.”
After Adrien presses play, his face appears on the small phone screen, grinning rather nervously.
“Hey, everyone,” video Adrien says, scratching the back of his neck. “So, you’ve all been really great about my relationship with Marinette, and I couldn’t be more thankful. She’s just…amazing. The light of my life. But there’s something else that’s been going on behind the scenes, and I wanted to be honest and upfront with you guys. You all deserve that much.
“I’m just gonna come right out and say this first part. I’m…bi. Bisexual. As in, I don’t just like girls. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for months now, and my amazing princess has been my anchor while I’ve been figuring it out. She’s bi too, you know? And yes, she told me to say that, otherwise I wouldn’t breathe a word.
“A lot of people seem to think that being bi makes you, uh…promiscuous. That you want to jump every person you see. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. If a straight guy can be attracted to other girls and still choose his girlfriend, I can be attracted to other people and still be faithful to my Marinette. Attraction, not actions – and yes, I did come up with that, so feel free to use it.” Video Adrien shoots a finger-gun at the camera.
“But there’s another aspect of both me and Marinette that we’ve spent months wrestling over, and I like to think that us being so open about it with each other is what made our relationship so strong. We’re both polyamorous. We both love more than one person and want to be with that boy and girl, and we do plan on taking a group pic and being totally open about it with you guys to avoid any rumours, although we do ask that you respect our privacy and don’t bombard us with negativity or requests to “join” us.
“And I just wanna be clear: I’m not bi because I’m polyam, and I’m not polyam because I’m bi. You know, the whole promiscuous bi stereotype I mentioned before. Being polyam doesn’t mean I’m open to every single person who asks me out. It just means that having a relationship with multiple people who I’m attracted to feels…right. You know, how most people might be attracted to someone else but feel wrong if they choose to date that person as well as their partner. It’s the opposite for me and Marinette. We’ve both got so much love to give and we don’t feel right being constrained by this expectation that we can only date each other. There’s nothing wrong with monogamy or polyamory, and we’re just asking people to be respectful of us.
“So, um…yeah. That’s it. Thanks for listening, guys. And thanks for being respectful. I figured that if I could help just one person by coming out, this would be worth it, because I know I would’ve killed for someone to look up to and help me figure myself out. Uh, bye!”
The video ends with another finger-gun. Adrien swallows and tries not to shift in his seat as Nathalie regards him silently with her usual impassive face. It’s always impossible to read just what his father’s assistant is thinking, even after years of knowing her.
“I see no problem with the video,” Nathalie finally says. “But I’d refrain from posting it until I show your father and get his approval. Just send it to me and I’ll show him.”
“Right – thanks, Nathalie!”
Surprisingly, Adrien’s father must be in a good mood today, because Nathalie returns to summon Adrien as soon as he’s finished eating. There’s a knot in Adrien’s stomach as he knocks on the door of Gabriel’s atelier and pushes it open as soon as he’s instructed to do so, and he can only pray that he doesn’t throw up right in front of Gabriel, because that’s possibly the fastest way to shoot himself in the foot right now.
“So…” Adrien says. Gabriel holds a hand up, his cold grey eyes piercing Adrien’s very core, unsettling Adrien’s soul and leaving him to direct his willpower into not fidgeting with his ring.
“That was quite the interesting video that Nathalie showed me,” Gabriel finally says. Adrien swallows and wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans.
“Y-Yeah…”
“I can’t help but feel that it’s a little…greedy of you, Adrien. You have Miss Dupain-Cheng, after all.”
Adrien’s fingers twitch with the effort it takes to not clench them into fists. “I’m not greedy for liking more than one person, Father,” he says as evenly as he can manage.
“Well, if Miss Dupain-Cheng has this many…ah, shortcomings –”
“What? You think I want to be with Luka and Kagami as well to – to make up for Marinette’s flaws?” Now Adrien does clench his fists, and he’s pretty sure his set jaw is visibly rigid. “That’s not how polyamory works, Father. I’ve done my research! You think this is something I’d just jump into –”
“Watch your tone,” Gabriel says sharply. “Perhaps your girlfriend has been a negative influence after all. I may have to –”
“No,” Adrien hisses. Gabriel’s eyebrows fly to his hairline.
“No?” he repeats, as though it’s a word he’s never heard in his life. Adrien’s heart starts to race.
“I said no. You’re not taking Marinette away from me, Father. You’re not taking…the best thing that’s happened to me. And you’re not taking the others either. I didn’t come to ask for your permission. I came to compromise with you and let you approve of what I say in the video.”
“I’m not sure I like your attitude, young man. In fact, allowing you to attend school in the first place may have been my biggest error.”
Adrien can’t stop his jaw from dropping. What. The. Hell. Is Gabriel really that much of a control freak that he’d wish that Adrien had never found happiness just to maintain a modicum of control?
“You can withdraw me from school, but you can’t stop me from seeing my friends, Father,” Adrien snaps. His head’s spinning ever so slightly, and there’s a growl starting to rumble in his chest, and is he Adrien right now or Chat Noir? Adrien. He’s Adrien. Otherwise, Gabriel wouldn’t be looking at him like…that. “I’ll sneak out. I’ll always find a way to sneak out. I do fencing and Chinese and modelling to make you happy, because it’s a fair trade for letting me have a life with normal friends and normal school. But if you take away what makes me happy, I’ll take away any bit of control you have over me.”
“You are a child! You do whatever I say! I am your father!” Gabriel slams his palm on his desk. Adrien reflexively flinches, but then a tiny paw is digging into his ribs from inside his shirt, and it’s just grounding enough to stop him from babbling apologies and fleeing the room. He can do this. He can stand his ground. For Marinette and Luka and Kagami. For himself. All that’s necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing…even if he's about two seconds from falling to the floor unable to breathe in sheer panic.
“You’d really prefer that your own son has no happiness in his life just so you can keep controlling him like a puppet?” he says breathlessly. Gabriel visibly reacts, reeling back as though he’d been slapped, and he looks like he’s going to say something for a moment before looking down at his desk and shaking his head.
“Everything I’ve done has been for you, Adrien Agreste,” Gabriel says, his hand rising to clutch at his tie for a split second. His voice is so soft that it’s barely audible, so Adrien can’t quite make out whether there’s any danger in it. “All I’ve ever wanted is to keep you safe. To not lose you like I lost…”
Adrien’s shoulders slump. “You can’t shelter me forever, Father,” he says, forcing himself to imagine Marinette and Kagami and Luka’s voices alternating counting his breaths so that he doesn’t pass out. “I’ll be an adult in a few years and then I can leave, and I’ve still got no idea how to function like a normal person. Normal people don’t have my life. They’re not world-famous and modelling and studying Mandarin and fencing. And if you had your way…I’d never leave. I’d never have any idea how to leave. And I’d…I’d resent you for it.”
Gabriel is silent for such a long time that Adrien absently wonders if he’ll pass out anyway before his father speaks again, because the room is suddenly claustrophobic and hot and closing in on him, despite his controlled breathing.
“I see,” Gabriel eventually says. “If that’s how you really feel…”
Adrien braces himself for the inevitable crackdown for daring to speak his mind.
“…then I will allow you to also date this boy and girl,” Gabriel finishes. Adrien blinks, then blinks again to make sure that he’d heard right, because what? “So long as all of you behave properly and do not besmirch the Agreste name. The same conditions from when I allowed you to date Miss Dupain-Cheng still apply.”
“R-Really?” is all Adrien can say. Gabriel nods.
“I’ll also lessen your obligations on one weekday and one weekend day so that you may spend proper time with your partners,” he says. “In return, you will fully apply yourself to your studies and your extracurricular activities. You will not complain when I ask you to do something. You will let me know when you are going out and where you will be going. If your grades slip or your activities suffer, I will rescind my permission. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes!” Adrien blurts out, not even caring that he’s effectively agreeing to sit down and do as he’s told, because this is the most freedom he’s ever been given by his father! “Yes – thank you, Father! Thank you so much!”
For a nanosecond, there’s a ghost of a smile on Gabriel’s face. But it’s gone so fast that Adrien’s left wondering if his brain is playing tricks on him.
“I must admit, I may have become a little…overprotective after I was akumatised,” Gabriel says. “But unfortunately, you are right. I can’t shelter you forever. Before you go, tell me the people in whom you and Miss Dupain-Cheng are both interested.”
“The girl is Kagami,” Adrien says. “Ms Tsurugi knows. Marinette met her the other day. And the boy…his name’s Luka. Luka Couffaine. He’s…amazing, Father. He’s just as amazing as Marinette and Kagami, but in a totally different way.”
“Hmm.” Gabriel pulls his tablet back towards him. “Goodnight, Adrien.”
“Goodnight, Father,” Adrien replies, recognising a clear dismissal when he sees one. Well, now it’s time to head back to his room, scream into his pillow for a good minute, throw said pillow at Plagg when the little shit makes fun of him, then call Marinette and Luka and Kagami to yell at them for good measure.
.
“I have prior obligations,” Kagami sighs over FaceTime while Adrien and Luka are waiting for Marinette to finish getting ready for their date. “And besides, I had a date with Marinette last night. It’s fair that you both have one without me.”
“Kagami, we’re a quad,” Adrien says. “Why would we have weird arbitrary rules like that? I know we agreed to have different dates but not like that.”
“Exactly,” says a voice from behind Adrien. When he turns and is greeted by the sight of Marinette in a floaty blue sundress with her hair in a loose bun, his brain immediately short-circuits and all he can do is make garbled sounds that in no way resemble words in any language on Earth. A quick glance next to him informs him that Luka is in very much the same state.
“Oh, just you wait,” Marinette grins. “Next time, I’ll break you too. Wait, don’t distract me when I’m scolding you! No one’s more important than anyone else in this, Kagami. I told you that the other night.”
“We’re all in this together,” Adrien sings while his brain reboots. Marinette and Luka groan.
“I don’t understand,” Kagami says.
“If you reference that again, you won’t get any cuddles for a week,” Marinette says.
“I’ll put on my kitten eyes,” Adrien shoots back.
“What, the ones that make you look like a constipated whale?” Plagg says from inside Marinette’s purse, where he’s taken to hanging out with Tikki whenever Marinette and Adrien are in the same place. That one makes Marinette, Luka, and Kagami burst out laughing, while Adrien scowls at Marinette’s purse and Tikki can be heard scolding Plagg.
“Thank you for helping to soothe my irrationality,” Kagami says once the laughter’s died down. “I appreciate all of you. But I wasn’t lying when I said that I had prior obligations. Mother wants to test my fencing skills, to see how I’m progressing.”
“Ew.” Marinette wrinkles her nose. “Have fun. We’ll think of you while we’re drinking ice cold lemonade.”
“Thanks,” Kagami deadpans. Then she looks over her shoulder. “I have to go. Enjoy your date and tell me everything about it tonight.”
“Bye, Kagami!” the other three chorus before Kagami’s face disappears from Adrien’s phone screen.
“C’mon, let’s hurry up and get to the park!” Adrien whines, jumping up and tugging on Luka’s arm. “Then I can get sandwiched between two pretty people on a picnic blanket!”
“Really?” Marinette says. “You’re going to make a bread pun?”
“Hey, when the opportunity rises.”
“And just who says you’ll be the one in the middle?” Luka teases. Butterflies erupt in Adrien’s stomach when Luka slings an arm around him, then reaches out to ensnare a pink-faced Marinette and draw her to his other side. “I’m the tallest.”
“But I’m a cat,” Adrien argues. “You’re supposed to use me as a pillow.”
“Oh my god,” Marinette mutters. Luka grins and then, rather than arguing back, he simply dips his head and captures Adrien’s mouth in a sweet little kiss, and Adrien’s brain promptly liquefies and starts to trickle out of his ears.
“You were saying?” Luka says.
“I – no – must – stay strong,” Adrien babbles.
“I’ll be in the freaking middle!” Marinette says. “I’m the girl and the team leader, so there!”
“Ah, but we’re partners, bugaboo,” Adrien manages to fire back.
“And I’m not even part of the team,” Luka adds with a smirk. Marinette rolls her eyes.
“I’ll lie across both of you and you can cuddle each other!” she says, throwing her hands into the air. “How’s that?”
Adrien and Luka exchange grins. “Fine with us,” they chorus. Marinette sighs.
