They don't take it seriously enough, Marinette thinks with contempt. But her lips curl upward into that confident smile three years of practice perfected.
The reporters crowd in and the cameras flash before their eyes. Microphones are shoved in their faces and a million and one questions are shouted at them in vain hopes of getting an answer.
Beside her, Cat Noir smiles perfectly at the camera like he always does. Coyly running a hand through his messy blond hair, flattening his ears, making him that much more desirable to the general population. He turns to her with that cat-eyed gaze and says something flirty and she flirts back. Their hands entwine in a show of solidarity. We're partners. We're unstoppable.
But she sees it in him, too. His green eyes are dark in ways that only three years of constant battle can do. They glance at each other with their wide-open celebrity smiles and watch as their stretched mouths take over their whole face in a twisted version of how they really feel. What it was truly like.
The reporters drone on in their desire to scoop out their souls in the midst of the dirt that is their superhero lives.
"When are you going to reveal to us your identities?"
"How did you come to receive your powers?"
"Are you dating?"
"What is the next thing we can expect the Dynamic Duo of Paris to accomplish?"
Cat Noir says something cheesy. Ladybug rolls her eyes at him before she grins and turns toward the camera.
"We will continue to fight every day, until Paris is free of the akumas. We will protect everyone. Always. You can count on us!"
Her heroic speech is met with cheers from reporters and fans alike. Right on cue, their miraculouses start beeping in warning. The two jump in realization, like they always do. They turn to the crowd with apologetic smiles, like they always do. They turn around to show them their best posture, their straight backs to show them they can bear any weight, any problem, any evil. With a dramatic flair, the two bid farewell to the cameras and speed off in opposite directions.
Like they always do.
Five kilometers away, Ladybug strays from her trajectory to aim at the symbol of Paris itself: the Eiffel Tower. In minutes, she's on top of the sturdy structure, looking out at the rest of the city beneath, twinkling lights shimmering in the night. Her miraculous beeps faster, then beeps one last time, and when it stops, she de-transforms.
Moments later, she is joined by a dark figure, miraculous beeping frantically before a flash of green tells her he, too, de-transformed.
Tikki pops out from her earrings, tired and sleepy. She can feel Marinette's distress, but she had spent so much energy, she could barely keep her eyes open. She gives Marinette a soft kiss before settling herself in the bag she has long since called home.
Plagg, too, appears with a groan and a yawn, mumbling something like, "Coulda been worse," in that tactless way he has before snuggling against Adrien's breast pocket like he always does.
Marinette looks at Adrien, her blue eyes wide in the night. The wind whips around them ferociously, threatening to push them off the tip. They hold their ground.
Marinette's shoulders start shaking, and not because of the chill. The battle they just fought is all she can think of. This akuma had the power of fire. It had been the fault of stupid teenage boys who started a fire that got out of control, burning a timid young man's precious pottery collection he had created himself. Years of hard work, all gone in a single moment. The pain, the anger, and the mocking laughter of the unrepentant culprits had left the boy vulnerable to demonization. The evil butterfly crept into the empty lighter one of the bullies threw at him in contempt. And the next thing Paris knew, an entire section of the city was up in flames, leaving nothing but ash and rubble.
When Ladybug arrived on the screen, the stench of burned flesh and the smoke of corpses reduced to ash suffocated the air like it was the only thing she could breathe.
She had to watch over and over as the pyromaniac burned and burned and burned and the people of Paris screamed and screamed and screamed. They dropped like flies, faces twisted in horrific putrefaction.
It was the worse carnage she had seen yet. But the news helicopters spun in the air and the TV trucks raced down the street, cameras trained on the action. She had swallowed down the bile bubbling up her throat and raced to confront the enemy.
Ladybug had watched normal people burn before her eyes. Had watched people crushed beneath the rubble of collapsing burning buildings. She watched Cat Noir jump in front of a flaming ball to protect her. He had screamed in such agony, Ladybug nearly fainted. Their magical suits may have protected them, but the pain was still there.
Yet, the cat had picked himself up, cameras trained on his face. His mouth split in a wide smile and remarked with confidence she knew he didn't have, "Is that all ya got?"
All she wished to do at that moment was cradle him to her chest, ease the pain away, stroke at the burning flesh that wouldn't even leave a mark thanks to their suits. Her watery gaze twisted into a smile as she taunted the akuma, "You're gonna have to try a little harder to knock this cat off his feet."
And the akuma had tried harder. Maybe it was the rage against the three boys who destroyed his hard work. Maybe it was the fact that Cat Noir and his trademark smirk evoked recollections of snarky bullies who had nothing better to do than torment him. The akuma's flames concentrated on her feline companion with reckless abandon. Ladybug had never heard him scream like that before.
But the cameras circled around them, capturing the fight like it was a spectator sport. Even though their arena was littered with burnt corpses, even though the air was polluted with ashen flesh. Ladybug and Cat Noir had to laugh at the pain, souls tearing in two at the hypocrisy.
On the highest point of the Eiffel Tower, Marinette reaches out to the blond boy in front of her. His eyes never leave hers as she runs her fingers over his face—tracing his eyebrows, stroking his cheek bones—where he would have gotten burned if he was not a superhero. She feels his jaw clench and tremble beneath her touch.
She whispers, "I watched them die, Adrien."
He swallows, his throat bobbing up in down in terrible affirmation. She watches his green eyes film over with tears. "Your powers brought them back," he reminds her, gently.
But she cannot think of the miracle of her powers. She can only think of their burned flesh searing images in her heart.
"They were dead." She trembles like a leaf in a tempest. "They were burned to ash! I could smell their…their…!"
She bites against the tears that threaten to spill from her eyes. Adrien's warm hands take hers, holding them against his cheeks. "They didn't. You brought them back." His voice trembles, but she clings onto his comfort like a starved man to bread.
She can only think of her Cat Noir, her best friend, her partner, screaming in pain. "I almost lost you."
The quiet admittance breaks a dam in her chest that has her heaving and collapsing against the boy in front of her. She wails into his chest. "Adrien…" she sobs. "Oh, Adrien!"
They cannot lose hope because they are hope. They are forced to smile, feigning confidence in battles they come so close to losing because they have cameras trained on their faces. Even when the kill count reaches into the dozens and the city falls into pieces all around them, they must smile because they are all Paris has. The world holds their breath and waits for the resounding victory of the LadyNoir team that has protected it for three years.
Day after day, battle after battle. They fight and they fight until they cannot fight anymore. They teeter over life and death. They face the darkness in front of them. And they do it with a smile.
Adrien holds her because that is all he can do. With the shimmering lights of a healed Paris beneath him, the only ones to hold the scars of battle are two teenagers atop the Eiffel Tower. Fighting against the wind.
A/N: I thought I wouldn't find another fandom. Then, I watched this cheesy show. I was tempted to rage-quit so many times because it is just so illogically inconsistent. But gosh, Adrien and Marinette just totally captured my heart.