A/N: This fic takes place in an altered universe with more Miraculous Stones (Created both before and during the fic) and altered Miraculous creation logic. (At least probably altered, we don't really have an explanation at the moment.)
Marinette sighed as she nestled herself perfectly into the curve of Adrien's body just before a boom shook the earth, various dishware in the kitchen rattling with it. Marinette laid unmoving for a moment, drinking in Adrien's warmth before standing and stretching with a groan. Behind her, Adrien grabbed her hand and used it to heave himself up. Marinette rolled her shoulder as Adrien glanced outside, where he saw smoke and a dark figure zipping around through the air.
"Every time we get comfortable..." muttered Adrien, absentmindedly rubbing his ring.
"About that, Adrien..." started Marinette, slowly walking to join Adrien at the window, slipping her hand into his. "We need to talk about all this."
"Fight first, talk later," laughed Adrien, peering at her through the corner of his eye and squeezing her hand. Frustrated, Marinette spun to Adrien and grabbed his other hand.
"No, kitten, now," she said, looking into his eyes firmly. "I think... we should quit this whole business."
"I know, lovebug," sighed Adrien, looking down and nodding. "I want to quit too-"
"There's a 'but' coming there and I won't allow it," interrupted Marinette, dropping his hands to cross her arms. "We have to drop this, it's taking too big a toll on our marriage. I can't keep going on like this. How long is this going to go? We're 23 now, Adrien, we aren't teenagers anymore. What happens when we're 30? 50? There have to be others that can take over for us. I just want it all to stop, so we can be a normal couple with a normal family without having to save Paris every three minutes! I don't want to be Ladybug anymore I don't know what you-" Just as Marinette was getting really fired up, she was interrupted by a small, squeaky voice.
"Um, Marinette?" squeaked Tikki. Plagg, who was floating next to her, held a single amber stone attached to a dangling silver twist. Tikki, on the other hand, was struggling to stay aloft under a tangled knot of various chains and what looked like six more stones.
"Those can't be..." whispered Adrien.
"Miraculous Stones," confirmed Tikki meekly. "Marinette made them on accident." Marinette took a step back, feeling a wave of fear crash over her.
"Adrien, what have I done?" she murmured. The realization of what she had done sent her blood cold. Just as her breathing began to grow ragged and tears began to sting her eyes, Adrien gently tilted her chin and kissed her. She practically melted into the embrace, his rough hands on her face and his soft, sweet lips just as special as their first kiss back in high school. He pulled back and traced his fingers down her cheek, those gorgeous green eyes sparkling as they crinkled in a smile.
"There's my lovebug," he whispered, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face. He reached over and untangling Tikki, who shook herself off gratefully. Plagg quickly added his stone to the pile, eager to get it out of his paws. Adrien strolled to the kitchen and dumped the stones into the bowl of foam fruit in the middle of the counter. "There, see?" he said playfully, brushing off his hands. "All hidden. We'll figure all this out as soon as we save Paris." As he began to stroll back to Marinette, she lurched into a jog, grabbing his shirt and landing her lips on his.
"Thanks, kitten," she smiled against his mouth. She felt his lips stretch in a smile and pulled back. "Now to save Paris."
"Yes my lady," he said, dipping into a bow and looking at her with that smirk of his that drove her crazy back in high school and still did now. The two quickly transformed, launching themselves out the window and rocketing toward the plume of smoke.
Adrien winced as Marinette stitched together a gash in his leg.
"Come on," she teased, "Don't be such a scaredy cat." She lightly shoved his shoulder, but immediately pulled back when he gasped in pain.
"Well I could say the same to you," he muttered through gritted teeth as Marinette continued tending to his injury. "You scaredy... bug." Marinette laughed as she tied a knot in the stitching, then began to gingerly apply some antiseptic cream.
"Nice one," she giggled, giving him a wink. "Think fast!" She threw the roll of bandages at him, but Adrien just cried out and ducked, the bandages flying over his head and leaving a trail that spanned the living room. With a sigh, Adrien tore off a section near enough for him to reach and wrapped it around his leg.
"That's your mess, you know," he grumbled as he fiddled with the cloth.
"No," replied Marinette jokingly, "Your mess."
"Our mess," said Adrien decisively as he tied the bandage in a final knot. "And done! Your, my, our mess can wait, we have bigger issues to attend to." He limped to the fruit bowl and retrieved the seven- oh stars above, there were seven of them- Miraculous Stones. Tikki zipped forward to float uneasily between Adrien and Marinette.
"So, when a Miraculous user says they want to quit and means it with no doubt, their kwami's magic produced a new Miraculous Stone to take the old user's place," she squeaked. "Adrien said it once and Marinette said it... she said it six times." A new wave of fear hit Marinette, but Tikki quickly zoomed over to comfort her. "It's okay, Marinette!" she said quickly, placing her small hand on Marinette's shoulder. "All we have to do is give these to other worthy users. Then you and Adrien don't have to worry about saving Paris anymore!"
"But seven?" she whispered. "I don't know, Tikki..."
"How about that school near us?" said Adrien, peering around Tikki. "Lots of kids, there have to be some good ones." Tikki nodded enthusiastically, tilting her head to block Marinette's view of Adrien. "Aren't you speaking to the fashion design class tomorrow?" Adrien asked, looking around the other side of Tikki. "Tikki and Plagg can scout and give them out while you do that. They'll probably be better judges than us, they've been around a lot longer."
Defeated, Marinette sighed. "Alright," she said. "Tomorrow."
Tikki hid in a corner, coping slightly better now that she wasn't trapped under a knot of chain, although all six stones still presented quite a burden. She had insisted on taking her six and Plagg his single stone, neither Marinette or Adrien objecting. It was currently the first five minute period in which the students switched classes, so she wasn't really expecting to find anyone. She still scanned the crowd because she had lots of stones to give out and not much time to do it. Suddenly, her head was turned by a loud laugh.
A girl was dashing through the crowd of sullen-looking students, her smile standing out among the sea of ducked heads. Long, messy brown hair fell into her eyes but she merely blew it aside hastily, both hands holding a stack of books. Her voice was loud too, although it didn't look like she made any effort to yell. She occasionally glanced behind her at another girl who also smiled, though hers was tight with a hint of frustration. She was trying to catch up with the loud girl ahead, but kept bumping into irritated students. The girl in front, however, barely brushed the others as she wove through the crowd with a quick grace. Tikki skimmed over her stones for a moment then looked at the girl and smiled. She had found her first Miraculous user. She carefully inched along the shadows until she was a short distance from the girl and lobbed one of the stones before she could run too far. It hit its mark on top of her large stack of books and, as expected, no one noticed.
"One down, five to go," whispered Tikki.
Tikki was just starting to nod off before she was awoken by someone shouting nearby. She looked up and almost immediately found the source of the yelling.
"Who do you think you are, degrading people like that?" shouted a girl up to a boy several inches taller than her. "What gives you the right to talk down to people like that?" A small crowd was slowly beginning to form around the scene, so Tikki snatched up the Miraculous Stones and flew near the ceiling to have a better look.
"Who do you think you are to stand up to me?" laughed the boy, shoving the girl back. She stumbled, but didn't fall. A bit of black hair fell into her inky eyes and she tossed it out of the way angrily.
"All I know is that I'm a better human being than you!" she shouted. The boy simply laughed and walked away, muttering about "stupid girls" as he went. Tikki took a moment, then quickly decided which Miraculous fit this one. As the girl crossed her arms and huffed, the crowd began to disperse. Tikki wove around the moving legs and tossed her stone into the girl's bag before quickly zipping back to the shadows. As the girl picked up the bag and left, Tikki sighed in relief.
Four left.
The next bell that rang seemed to be the lunch bell, judging by the students leaving their classes at breakneck speeds, at last looking like they had some life in them. They all seemed to be going to the same place, so Tikki followed them. On her way, she passed Marinette coming out of one of the classrooms. She waved enthusiastically and Marinette shot her a quick wink. The students all gathered in a courtyard, opening various bags and eating their lunches. A sad-looking girl sitting alone caught Tikki's eye and she couldn't help but feel sad for the her. However, a girl with a sharp nose and thick brown braid joined her with a warm smile. Immediately, Tikki knew which stone fit this girl. With a smile, she snuck behind the girl and dropped the stone gently into her lunch bag.
"What is that thing?" said a nearby voice, and Tikki looked up to see a long-haired boy pointing at her. She froze with a squeak, then quickly zipped up to the roof. As she rounded the corner she stopped abruptly, the Miraculous Stones swinging as she did. A stone wrapped around her arm swung a little too far and slipped off her limb, flying toward the rooftop below. With a squeal, Tikki dove after it, but before she could reach it-it hit the ground and broke.
Tikki froze, her grip subconsciously tightening around the other stones. Just as she started to figure out her plan for when Marinette would undoubtedly disown her, the broken stone flashed with a white light. As the light faded, Tikki groaned as she realized that this stone was still broken into five vertical slices, but then noticed that the chain now held each piece, all of them dangling on a separate, smaller chain. If it had enough magic to do that, then it had to still be in working order. Right? With a nervous sigh, Tikki grabbed the stone and flew back to the lunchyard, careful to stay out of sight. Suddenly, something slammed into Tikki and she flew to the side with a squeal.
"Haha, gotcha!" laughed Plagg, who was still in possession of his stone.
"Leave me alone, Plagg. Have you not found someone that fits your stone yet?" Tikki spat, carefully repositioning her three stones.
"No, but I found someone who may fit one of yours," he said, and pointed toward a table. "Over there. Alfredo girl." Tikki followed his paw to see a short girl with thin brown hair and thick glasses, laughing over three bowls of alfredo that all seemed to belong to her.
"Plagg," Tikki sighed, "Did you choose her just because she's eating all that food?"
"Of course not!" gasped Plagg, dramatic to a point where Tikki was unsure whether he was joking. "I saw her save a cat out of a tree, Tikki. She just scrambled right up there and got it for nothing in return, it was beautiful Tikki." She glanced skeptically at him, but he just responded with a wide-eyed look of sincerity. With a sigh of defeat, Tikki grabbed one of the chains.
"This one fits," she said. "And I swear if I find out that this is about the food-"
"I told you, it's not," groaned Plagg. "Now get over there and deliver that Miraculous!" As Tikki zipped away, Plagg chuckled to himself.
"It was totally the alfredo."
Tikki absentmindedly swung her two stones, scanning the shifting mass of students. She quickly stopped and tightened her grip, remembering the already broken Miraculous.
"You aren't fit to be a teacher!" cried a voice, catching Tikki's attention. A tall girl with short, dark hair was arguing with a teacher, her red face tilted up at a woman with straight, blond hair just barely taller than her. "Making comments like that, you don't deserve a job here." The teacher simply huffed and turned away, not even bothering to reply to the girl. At this point, the student gave off an almost tangible aura of rage.
"Man, she is bristling," murmured Tikki, before pausing to laugh. The accidental pun made Tikki realize that one of her stones was a perfect fit for her. She gently dropped the broken Miraculous into the girl's partially unzipped backpack, silently hoping that the kwami inside was still alright. Excitedly, Tikki grabbed her last Miraculous with both hands.
Almost done.
The chain made a quiet clinking noise as Tikki played with the circular stone attached to it. The students were making their way onto the buses and she had begun to worry that this last stone wouldn't find an owner. Amidst her worries, Tikki noticed voices coming from behind the school and went to investigate. Leaned against the wall, the laughing girl from before was hunched over the Miraculous Stone clenched in both fists, two girls standing over her. One had dark brown hair, the other had blond, and they both wore makeup, starkly contrasting against the other girl's plain face.
"We just want to see it, that's all," said the blond girl with fake sweetness.
"No!" replied the other girl, pulling the stone close. "It's mine!"
"Not for long," snapped the brunette, reaching out to grab the stone, obviously ready to use force. Suddenly, a fist slammed into her cheek and she was knocked aside. She and her friend immediately scurried away, muttering obscenities as they went. The girl who had thrown the punch was tall, sporting short, light brown hair pulled back into a tuft of a ponytail. She reached out a hand toward the shorter girl, who took it and pulled herself off the wall.
"You alright?" asked the tall girl, giving the other a pat on the shoulder.
"Yeah," she replied with a grin. "Thanks." As the two of them started to walk around to the front of the school, Tikki slipped the Miraculous into a pocket in the short-haired girl's purse. All the Miraculous were given out, now all that was left was to wait and see if she chose well.
Plagg zipped around, frantically searching for someone to give his Miraculous to. He regretted spending the whole day napping and eating cheese. He honestly didn't know what he was looking for, but a conversation he overheard gave him an idea.
"Hey, shorty," laughed a tall girl with a short ponytail good-naturedly. "What's up?"
"You know I would love to be as tall as you," replied another, much shorter student, tickling the tall one's waist which prompted her to bend over herself and let out an almost inhuman screech. The short girl laughed, crinkling her freckled nose and stormy gray eyes. Long, curly brown hair flew into her face as she was tickled back. Plagg watched her thoughtfully, glancing at his Miraculous Stone. When she had regained her composure and waved goodbye to her tall friend, Plagg lobbed the stone at her. It hit her squarely in the forehead. As she caught it and looked at it thoughtfully, Plagg zipped around a corner. Well, there was his job done. Time for some congratulatory cheese.