Merry Christmas! (Or late Hanukah, or early Kwanza. . . or if you don't celebrate anything I just mentioned, just a very happy hello to you)
Sorry I was gone so long, but look- I brought a present! The third installation of my Miraculous Comic Con series! (If you just stumbled across this, I highly recommend going back and reading the previous two). It's a little shy of midnight when I'm posting this for me which technically puts me at Christmas Eve. If I get enough comments maybe I'll post chapter 2 tomorrow as a bonus present!
A big thank you to everyone who's followed and favorited my past two stories.
In particular I wanted to thank Starlitte, and Starlin's Ghost for their comments and support even when I wasn't posting! You're both so kind.
Without further adue, let the story begin!
I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.
"TIIIIKIIIIII!" Marinette shouted as she came barreling into the shop's back room that morning.
Tikki looked up from the dress she was hemming with an amused smile. "What is it this time?"
"So I was on Reddit this morning-"
"I thought Alya banned you from that," Tikki said, interrupting.
"Hush, I'm an adult and can do what I want," Marinette said, sticking her tongue out at her sister childishly. "Anyway, so I was on Reddit, and look at the thread that I found."
She held her phone out to her sister and Tikki looked over the title before giving her little sister an unimpressed stare. "'Who is Ladybug?' You're going to freak yourself out looking at this. You were just supposed to leave this side of things to Alya and Nino while you focus on building up the reveal and not having a panic attack."
"But my name is on that list!"
"Wait, seriously?" Tikki kept reading and scrolled though the thread until she found what her sister was talking about. She read aloud, "Number six- Marinette Dupain Cheng. The recent on again/off again girlfriend of Adrien Agreste has also made the list of potential Ladybugs and made it into the top ten most likely despite only coming into the public eye six months ago. Along with her striking resemblance to the superhero/comic artist, there is also debate over whether the letters found in the corner of the most recent Ladybug comic were in fact an "MDC" (for reference to the MDC vs UOE debate on the initials of the latest Miraculous Ladybug comic, click here) it could stand for her civilian name Marinette Dupain Cheng.
"Number seven on the list is Selena Gomez who-" Tikki broke off as she looked up at her sister. "You doing okay?"
"Is it normal to want to both jump up and down in excitement, but also feel the need to puke in panic?"
Tikki laughed. "In your case, I think it is."
"I'm also a little annoyed that they called Adrien and I 'on again/off again'. We never technically broke up. We only faked it until we could take down Lila, who was blackmailing me and trying to steal from Adrien's company." She muttered something else under her breath which to Tikki sounded suspiciously like "the witch," but had a feeling her sister had used a far cruder word.
"Well, 'on again/off again' takes four words to describe the situation, versus the truth probably would have to take a couple paragraphs to properly explain," Tikki said, handing the phone back with a little shrug. "How are things going with you and Adrien anyway?"
Marinette lit up the way she always did when she was talking about her boyfriend. "Really well. A couple weeks ago Dr. Fu suggested that Adrien come in for the two of us to talk over The Incident together and we finally matched up all our schedules yesterday. He's also been helping me to not second guess my choice to reveal myself and be proud of me instead of just my masked accomplishments."
"You're the same amazing woman with and without the mask. I've been telling you since day one," Tikki said, going back to her sewing.
Marinette smiled shyly. "Thanks."
"Do you and Adrien have any plans for the evening?"
Marinette lit up at that, completely distracted from her previous worries. "We're going to his favorite parkour run."
Tikki frowned. "That sounds dangerous."
"Eh, it's not that different than gymnastics. Just take away the safety nets and make it freeform," Marinette said with a shrug.
"Sooo more dangerous."
Marinette gave another shrug. "Perhaps, but it's fun and I trust him to catch me if I fall."
Tikki pursed her lips, but let it go. Her sister was an adult and could do what she wanted. . .even if Tikki thought it was stupidly dangerous.
The day went by quietly and quickly with both of them having plenty of sewing to do. When closing time came, Adrien appeared to take Marinette home. The two left together, and Tikki shooed Manon away to finish closing up and do some cleaning before finally heading home herself. She had a tupperware container of lemon chicken as well as a plate of cookies with her name on it. She pulled into her parking lot and made her way upstairs to her apartment. Before she even unlocked the door, she could hear the clacking of keys and sighed.
"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered before she threw open the door.
Plagg looked up from the miniature man cave he had created for himself on her coffee table and removed his headphones. "Sup? Care to join me for a couple rounds?"
Tikki felt her snark rise, mostly out of habit at this point than actual annoyance. "No, I have things to do. Don't you have your own apartment to troll in?"
"I do, but you have my computer."
"So take it home," she said, walking past him and into her kitchen.
"But it was so heavy and hard to get it here," Plagg moaned.
"So you just live here now?" Tikki said, raising her voice so he could hear her from the other room.
"Basically, yeah," Plagg shot back.
As they bickered, she turned on the oven and pulled out her tupperware of lemon chicken, popping that in the microwave and pulling out a loaf of French bread along with olive oil and some cheeses. On one slice she put parmesan, and on the other she put camembert then put them on a cookie tray and popped them in the now preheated oven. While those two cooked, she grabbed some spinach, julienned carrots, and she diced up a small apple and tossed all of that before pulling out two plates and assembling everything between the two of them.
That done, she took both plates and walked back into her front room where Plagg had cleared a space on the coffee table for Tikki to sit down next to him on the floor and hand him one of her plates.
"Thanks. If you don't like me coming here, why'd you give me a key?" Plagg said as he took a bite of chicken.
"Why feed you either, for that matter? Everyone says that just makes stray cats stick around."
"Oi. If anyone's the cat- it's Adrien. He's the weirdo running around in a leather cat suit."
This was Tikki's new routine. Come home, fix dinner, bicker with Plagg, kick him out right before bedtime. When it first started, their arguments had much more heat behind them, but now it was more a matter of habit. Tikki wasn't sure she knew how to talk to this man without fighting with him.
It was a new experience for her. She'd always prided herself on being easy going and able to get along with just about everyone, but he had this way of getting instantly under her skin. She'd yet to give him a proper thank you for all he'd done for her sister. As well as, more recently in his helping keep away the loneliness now that her sister spent all of her time with her boyfriend. Especially now that Marinette had moved in with him. She'd tried to thank him, but every time it came out with a bite of sarcasm and they'd end up fighting again. So she'd taken to cooking for him as a way to express her gratitude.
Bickering aside, she found herself enjoying his company. Around him, she didn't feel a need to be perfect, which was a big deal to her. He was chaotic and loud and brash, but he had a confidence about him that only came from being comfortable in one's own skin.
Plagg took a bite of the cheesy bread and moaned. "This is amazing."
"Glad you like it; it stunk up my whole fridge."
"I can buy you a mini fridge to keep it in if you like." Plagg said it so casually, she wasn't sure if he was joking or not.
"You know, you could also just go home to eat."
He paused mid-bite and put his fork down. "In all seriousness, do you want me to leave?"
Tikki started at that and put her fork down as well. "Plagg, I'm sorry if I made you think that. You've been a big help to my sister and to me as well. You're a great friend."
Plagg coughed and looked away. "It was nothing."
Tikki reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm serious. I know we kinda started off on the wrong foot and have been tripping around each other ever since, but I really do consider you my friend."
He looked over and gave her a small smile. "Thanks." There was a beat of silence and then he spoke again. "Hey, after you're done with dinner, you up for a friendly pvp game?"
Her face slipped from a kind smile to a competitive smirk. "Oh, it's on."
Hope you liked it. Let me know what you think! Like I said before, if I get enough reviews, maybe I'll post chapter 2 as well ;)