When Ladybug distracted the akuma, Adrien used that opportunity to ditch Nino, Alya, and Lila. While buying Plagg a wheel of camembert, thoughts on what the akuma said filled his mind. Exiting the shop, the blond's mind was filled with two girls: Ladybug and… Marinette
The akuma happened to be in the area when a familiar bluenette exiting a shop caught the model's attention.
…What if?
The green-eyed blond ran towards Marinette and grabbed her hand, the akuma went after them. In the corner of his eye, saw an anxious Marinette. Adrien bit his lip, feeling guilty for dragging her with him. They found themselves in a dead end and a blinding light wrapped around them.
The light faded. Sitting up, Adrien's eyes immediately fell to the mop of blonde hair in Marinette's arms. The said thing peeked through its fluffy hair, revealing its bluebell eyes that were eerily similar to the ones that he adore.
"Oh my goodness it's alive!" A voice squeaked. Flinching a bit and realizing it came from Marinette, who was in the midst of freaking out, who was currently sitting on the blond's lap and his arms around her waist.
'Wait, my lap?'
Adrien stiffened and felt heat creeping up on his face, not daring to move his arms or move at all for that matter. Alas, Marinette seemed to have noticed the position they were in when she blushed and scurried off his lap to stand a meter away from him, apologizing profusely.
The model brushed off the wave of disappointment that came over him, holding off the pout that was threating to come out. He stood up and got a closer look at the child in her arms. The little girl shifted her position and turned towards him. Her hair matched his, and her face reminds him of…
… Marinette
A sense of warmth filled the blond's heart, the same warmth when his Mother was still around.
'All this time its Marinette not Ladybug…..'
Adrien snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Marinette was still talking, her voice sounded wobbly. "−It's fine, really…. I-I don't mind, e-everything's peachy." 'What?'
"I-It's not like y-you need to take the responsibility, I t-totally get why y-you wouldn't w-want this." Marinette continued, wrapping her arms protectively at the child in her hands as if to make her point. Her eyes glassy, shoulders slumped, and lips set in a thin line. 'W-what?'
Oh
Oh… Crap!
"Mari−"
Without warning, Marinette scuttled away and the blond rushed after her as he heard her broke down sobbing. Crap. Crap. Crap. Bumping to someone when he rounded the corner, it was a man in his late thirties wearing sunglasses and a face mask.
"I'm sorry." Adrien apologized, picking up the things that he knocked over and giving it to the man. "I-its fine−" The man started, but the model excused himself to go after Marinette.
Mari was nowhere in sight.
The blond stopped to catch his breath. H grabbed his hair, slammed his eyes shut and groaned. "…..I messed up…"
"Yep, you nailed it." A gruff voice chimed in. Plagg poked his head out of the pocket, his eyes glinting. "I thought you, out of all people would know that curiosity killed the cat."
"… It brought back satisfaction though…" Adrien muttered. His hands fell on his side and stared at the direction where Marinette ran.
"Too bad your satisfaction led you to this, no Princess and no akuma." The lazy kwami teased. "And I'm starving."
"Wait, the akuma." The model jerked, and scanned his surrounding in search of the akuma.
"Went away while you were busy ogling." The black kwami surmised. "Now give me my cheese."
"Wha− I'm not ogling!" Adrien argued, as his face heated up.
All a sudden, the blond's phone vibrated. He grabbed the phone from his pocket to see Nathalie calling. Sighing and sliding his thumb across the screen to answer. "Nathalie?"
"Adrien where are you? You have a photo shoot today." She said in her typical monotonous voice.
"I thought I don't have anything scheduled today?" The model's brows knitted into a frown. He pushed back Plagg's stupid head back into his shirt pocket when he demanded his cheese. "Nathalie, can't this wait? I have important things to do."
"That's not possible, the photographer will not be available tomorrow so you're having photo shoot now. Marinette can wait, and this can't." Nathalie stated, leaving no room for arguments.
"Wait, how did you−"
Nathalie's sigh was heard on the phone. "Adrien, must I remind you that every time you say 'important', Marinette is always involved." At this, the blond's face heated up for the umpteenth time.
"I expect you to be at the usual place. You'll have more time with Marinette if you finish this early." She added and hanged up the phone. Plagg cackled like a mad man inside the shirt pocket.
Ignoring the black kwami, Adrien decided to go to the photo shoot and tried calling his bluebell-eyed friend to talk. He dashed towards the studio and skidded to an abrupt halt.
"The number called is currently unavailable" 'Eh?'
'… Did she− did she block me?!'
Marinette ran as far as her legs can go and stopped to catch her breath as she takes in her surroundings. She's at the park near her school. She sat on a bench by the fountain, put her daughter on her lap, and Tikki flew out of her purse.
"Marinette, are you okay?" The red kwami asked while patting her hair.
The dark-haired girl sniffed and wiped her tears with one hand while her other hand still on the little blonde. "I'm fine Tikki."
"You should've let Adrien talk earlier." Tikki started and hovered in front of her.
"What is there to talk? He clearly doesn't want this." Marinette asserted and patted her daughter. "He stood there like a statue with a blank look on his face."
She took out her phone to turn it off but decided to block a certain blond model instead. Staring on the reflection on her phone; her eyes' red, cheeks' flushed and hair unkempt, overall she's a mess.
Tikki shook her head and sighed. "Maybe he's just trying to process it all." The ladybug kwami interjected and patted her chosen at the head.
"Ma,"
A squeaky voice caught Marinette's attention. She looked at the blonde on her lap. Both mother and daughter blinked, and stared at each other.
"Mawwy!"
"S-she talked. Tikki, she talked." Marinette exclaimed her eyes went wide and her mouth agape. Using her fingers, she gingerly poked her daughter's cheek. The little blonde puffed her cheeks and let out a giggle.
"Oh my goodness she's laughing!"
"Well, what do you expect?" Tikki flew to face her chosen's daughter. "Even if she's not the real thing, she's still based on reality."
The blonde continued to giggle and reached for Tikki who hovered around her. At this Marinette smiled, and momentarily forgot her problems.
The bluenette noticed the golden bell on the little girl's onesie, and blinked. She gently pulled up the blonde's hood, causing it to reveal cat ears.
It even has a tail….
Marinette watched as the tiny blonde fumbled to remove the hood that was covering half of her face, all the while giggling to what her mother had done.
She pulled her daughter to a hug, careful not to squeeze the blonde too hard.
Oh Chat….
She couldn't help but miss her pun-loving partner.
At the studio, where Adrien was doing his photo shoots. The blonde paced back and forth inside the dressing room, phone in his hand.
"She's not answering. Did she seriously block me?" Adrien sat on his chair, biting the nail of his thumb on his free hand, his feet tapping on the floor. He took his spare phone from his bag at the desk and saw Plagg swallow a slice of Camembert. The blond gagged at the smell. "Plagg, can you not? My bag stinks like cheese."
"Plagg can't hear you, Plagg is busy." At this, the black kwami swallowed another slice.
Ignoring the disgusting noises his kwami makes while eating. Adrien clicked his tongue and used his spare phone to call his princess.
"The number you called is currently unavailable." She blocked this too?!
The model stood up, knocked down his chair in the process and paced across the room again. "How did she know this number?"
"Plagg, what am I going to do?" The blond ran a hand over his face and paced the room even faster.
"How about you stop moving like you needed to pee so badly?" The glutton suggested, still not bothering to move from the bag.
"I DON'T PEE!"
Just then, one of the crews opened the door, looking at him as if he grew two heads. Adrien shoved his phone next to his ear, his face turning red. "I-I mean, um I'm not- ugh."
"Um," The staff officer said, still looking at the blond like he was a mad man. "We're starting in five minutes, Sir."
"O-okay, I got it." The blond picked up his chair with his free hand and sat down on it. The staff officer stared at him a bit longer and proceeded with caution to close the door.
When he was sure the staff officer left, he groaned and planted his face on the desk. Plagg let out a guffaw. Adrien tossed his spare phone inside his bag, earning a hiss from the cat kwami. And the blond placed his arms under his head and made a muffled whine.
"…Princess,"
After resting on the park, Marinette fixed herself and made her way home to make her parents look after her daughter, since there's still an akuma on the loose.
"Tikki, how do I explain this to my parents?" The bluenette's brows knitted in a frown while maintaining her gaze on the blonde, who tilted her head on the side.
"Easy, tell them" The ladybug kwami chirped when she peeked from the purse.
"They'll ask who the father is…" Marinette pouted as she turned her gaze to her kwami.
"So? It's not like Adrien is a bad person. Your parents will even be ecstatic about it." The red kwami grinned and winked at her then closed the purse.
The dark-haired girl sighed when they're already in front of the bakery. It's now or never. Marinette opened the door and saw there's no customer at the moment.
Sabine looked over from the counter when she realized someone entered. "Welcome− Oh Marinette, I saw on the news there's an akuma near school today. Are you okay?" Sabine stood up and went over to hug her daughter only to stop, when she realized her daughter was holding something or rather someone.
"Uh hi maman, classes are suspended till noon like usual so uh…" Marinette bit her lip and glanced down at the blonde then back to her own mother. "I- well- you see um."
The tiny blonde stared at her grandmother and then back at her mother.
Sabine squealed in delight, causing Marinette to jump slightly, "Tom, dear you've got to see this!"
"See what?" Tom asked as he went over from the kitchen. His eyes widen, mouth hanging, and dropped the towel he was using to dry his hands.
"U-um," Marinette shrank back, looking at anything that's not her parents.
"I'm a grandpa!" Tom ran to the three, and gave them his classic bear hug, minding the little girl in his daughter's arms.
He let go, then proceeded to take the bluebell-eyed blonde from her daughter, albeit gently. Tom lifted his granddaughter high up in the air. "Little lady you're going to call me Papi from now on." The blonde in a Chat Noir onesie blinked down to her granddaddy and giggled.
Marinette could only blink at them. What?
"Mari dear, where's Adrien?" Sabine asked, patting the tiny girl on the head when Tom lowered his arms.
"How- how did you um…" Marinette made her typical weird gestures, like pulling her own hair. Sabine stared at her daughter for a while, then back to the wee blonde on her husband's arms. "She's blonde."
Marinette scrunched up her face. "Maman, there's a lot of blond in the world."
The Chinese woman made a face of indifference and stared at her daughter.
"Okay, fine. It's Adrien." Marinette threw her hands up, surrendering. Her parents began squealing while the tiny blonde giggled as usual.
"Well then, why don't the three of us head upstairs to get something to eat?" Sabine suggested.
"That's a great idea." Tom laughed and nodded. Sabine looked at her husband. "But dear, you can't leave that unattended." She pointed at the counter.
"But−"
Sabine smiled at her husband. Tom handed his granddaughter to his wife and went to the counter, pouting like a child who got scolded for eating too much candy.
At the Dupain-Cheng's living room, Marinette and her daughter sat on the couch while Sabine went to get something to eat.
"Told you so," Tikki poked her head out of the purse.
"Okay, you were right this time…." Marinette pouted, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
"Only this time?"
The bluenette muttered. "Fine. All the time." The ladybug kwami beamed at her chosen and chirped "Great, then you'll reveal yourself to Chat Noir, yes?"
"…"
"Mari?" Tikki watched her chosen's stared wide eye at the screen.
"Tikki, look,"
The red kwami turned her head at the television. The reporter announced. "The akuma turned back to normal without the help of our heroes." The TV showed a video of the akuma turning back to normal as a black butterfly emerged out of the victim.
"How− what−why," The dark-haired girl stood up and paced. "This never happened before." pulled her hair and looked at her kwami.
"Calm down Marinette. We don't know what Hawk moth's intentions are, but I'm sure everything will be alright." The red kwami reassured.
"But what about," The bluenette gestured to her daughter who was currently crawling under the couch pillows.
"About that….Miraculous cure won't work with the akuma gone." Tikki said looking a bit sheepish.
Her chosen stared at her and sat back on the couch before grabbing a pillow to muffle her scream. Sabine entered the living room and Mari lifted her face to look at her. Tikki ducked her head back at the purse.
"So," The woman started as she put the food on table and sat down on the couch. She sipped her tea "Where is Adrien?"
Marinette gulped. "Um I," She looked down at her feet and fiddled with her fingers. "Uh Photo shoot, he had a Photo shoot."
"Is he now?"
The half Chinese nodded quickly and picked up the little blonde to place her on her lap, petting her head.
"Marinette," Sabine said in a stern yet gentle voice. "Did something happen?"
"No-nothing ha−" Marinette stopped when she saw her mother worried. Not wanting to lie any further, she decided to tell the truth. "Um, I kind of ran away from him."
"Why?"
"Uh, I freaked out and um g-got scared of what he'll think of… uh you know." She ducked her head in shame.
Sabine put her tea down on the table, stood up and sat next to her daughter, giving her a hug. "Oh sweetie, it is okay to be afraid, but Adrien must be worried right now."
Marinette nodded her head. "I-I'll talk to him…. Later…"
The Chinese woman kissed her for forehead. "Good" She turned her attention to the little blonde who was staring at the both of them. "For now, how about you give this little sweetie a name?"
Marinette sighed in relief for the change of subject, glancing down at the tiny blonde. "She already has a name." She smiled. "Her name's Emma."
Meanwhile, at a certain green-eyed blond's photo shoot…
"Non, non, non." The photographer complained. "Give me the smile when your mama brings spaghetti."
Adrien resisted the urge to grimace and complied with the photographer's wishes instead. The shoot hadn't been going well, considering the only thing in his mind was: 'Princess ran away with little princess and even blocked my phone…'
"Okay! And now, Oh no! Mama dropped the spaghetti. "
The scene when Marinette ran away from him kept replaying in his mind like a movie on a loop. He grabbed his hair in frustration, narrowed his eyes and bit his lip.
"Maaaariiii!"
The model's sudden outbursts made everyone silent and stare at him. Well, everyone except Vincent, the photographer.
"Yes! Yes! That's the look! You're angry! Show me you're angry!"
Adrien groaned, wanting nothing else than to bang his head on the wall. Well, nothing else except his princesses….
Waiting for noon to come, Marinette was on her chaise while Tikki played with Emma on the floor of her room. Startled when her phone vibrated on her desk, she got up to look at her phone. It was a message from the school.
"Marinette?" Tikki asked as Emma reached for the Chat Noir doll.
"The school made an announcement: The students who got caught up with the akuma attack, should bring their children at school when classes resume." The dark-haired girl read aloud.
"Why?"
The bluenette shrugged her shoulders. Her eyes widened. "Wait, I'm going to bring Emma to school? Oh no,"
"I don't see the problem to that." The ladybug kwami stated.
The half Chinese sat on the floor near Emma and Tikki. "If they found out about Emma, I'll become a victim of Adrien's fans." She placed her hand on the face and propped her elbow on her lap.
Emma wobbled towards Mari and climbed on her mother's lap, causing Marinette to retract her arm. The blonde made herself comfortable on the bluenette's lap.
"Aw you're such a kitten. Are you sure your Adrien's daughter and not Chat's?" The dark-haired girl cooed. Patting her daughter the way she pats Chat (whenever he comes over for pets).
Tikki giggled and shook her head at the irony. If you only knew…
"Tikki, why do you think she's wearing a Chat Noir onesie of all things?" Marinette smiled sadly as she caressed the blonde's hair. "I- do you think I'll never get over Chat?"
"I'm sure that's not the case."
"But what if it is," She sighed, brows knitted to a frown. "I feel like I'm cheating on Adrien."
"Or maybe your case is just special." Tikki smiled and patted her chosen on the cheek.
"Huh?"
"Anyway, what are you going to do about school?" Tikki chirped and tilted her head on the side.
Marinette raised a brow at the sudden change of topic, but decided to ignore it. "I can pretend I didn't get hit by the akuma, no one saw me anyway."
"I thought ladybug doesn't like lying." Tikki said as she hovered in front of her chosen. "Are you ashamed of Emma and Adrien?"
"NO! That's not it, its just−" The bluenette sighed. "It's already hard to deal with his fans as it is, if they found out about Adrien and me, they'll flip."
"As much as I wanted to say they wouldn't, they probably would…" Tikki stated. Remembering the memories of how her chosen was being bullied at the same time hiding it from her best friends, especially Adrien. "Well, staying silent is not lying right?"
"Looks like that's the only option I have. The question is… can we?" Marinette groaned. "I'll be interrogated by Alya for sure."
"Speaking of Alya, she hasn't called nor texted you." The red kwami reminded.
"True, I was expecting her to rant on the phone. In any case, she has Nino with her." The bluenette agreed, smiling down at her daughter. "Looks like you're going to school with me, kitty."
"Kiwwy?" Emma tilted her head on the side and stared at her mother, causing Marinette to chuckle
"Yes, kitty,"
NEXT CHAPTER: Classmates and their kids...
AUTHOR NOTES:
It's my first story ever, so please excuse me if the chapter is not that great. Geez, this is so embarrasing... *sighs*
SPECIAL THANKS to MC's Meow for helping me with the names for the next chapter!
Other notes: If you guys have any suggestions for future chapters, please do tell. I MIGHT consider it.
