Well, this was not the chapter I had planned at all! The miraculous characters and my OC's have taken over and there's nothing I can do about it. I've had to split the chapter in half again. It really got so long.
Somebody asked why I had named her Celeste, and tbh it was just a pretty French name. It didn't even occur to me that it rhymed with Agreste until I wrote the last chapter, but what perfect fodder for teasing teenagers. Just to say, the reason I didn't call her Emma is because I felt that was the name Marinette would have called Adrien's baby and she wouldn't have felt right calling Nath's baby that.
On with the angst.
Dear Chat Noir,
I wasn't even sure how to start writing this letter to you, I think this might be my tenth draft of this, it's just so hard to even put down everything I might want to say to you. I do want you to know though, that with everything we've been through together, and whoever you may be under that mask, I couldn't have hoped for a better partner. You were everything I needed to balance me out and we were the perfect team. You are my best friend, and I love you.
Between akumas and patrols, fighting against you or trying to kiss you - I never did tell you what happened with Dark Cupid - you've always been there by my side.
Whatever happens in the future, and whoever we are behind the masks, know that you are the most kind-hearted, giving, selfless and brave man I have ever known. I've even gotten used to the puns. I can't wait to get to know you all over again, even if I have to wait a year to do it.
So yes, I'll meet you at the Eiffel Tower, 7 o'clock on the 28th. I'll be the one in the spots!
Never forget that I love you.
Ladybug
Adrien sat on the floor of his bedroom, the lingering light of day long having fled, leaving his room in shadows. The piece of paper in his hand hung limply by his side, the room too dark to read her written words, but her voice reverberated through his mind, as if she was there, reading her letter aloud to him.
She said she loved him, but had never come back for him. He wanted to believe there was a good reason for it. His Lady would never just abandon him like that. But his insecurities plagued him.
Silent tears tracked down the blond man's face, the feeling of loss overwhelming him. It seemed the bad luck of the black cat had always been with him and would never leave. There was no other reason Adrien could think of that the women in his life never stayed, and never came back to him. He had always tried so hard at everything he did, but in the end, it seemed that being Adrien just wasn't enough.
Alya stomped around the room with gusto. When she was fixated on something, energy just seemed to radiate off of her and it left Nino exhausted just to watch. He sat on the bed, slouched back against the headboard, headphones slung around his neck, although he could still hear the music quietly streaming from the speakers. He knew better than to interrupt his fiancée's tirade so just watched until she had finished. From what he could gather, Marinette was going to break up with Adrien. Nino didn't even realise they were dating.
It's important to understand, Nino did keep in touch with his best bud, and of course Adrien had mentioned getting drinks with Marinette a couple of weeks back. Nino knew that Adrien was interested in pursuing a relationship with Marinette, he just didn't think it had gone any further than that. Not that it really mattered. As far as Nino was concerned, and he was quite laid back about the whole dating situation, all he needed to know was that Marinette was stopping things before they had really gotten started.
It was hard to tell from his relaxed posture, but he really was upset to hear this. Adrien didn't get to catch a break often. The women who went after him were usually only after one of two things; the reputation of dating one of Paris' former top models, or the lucrative lifestyle that came from dating a rich family, and it had taken his best friend dating a lot of women for him to finally figure it out. His boy really was too pure for this world. Or he had been. He was a lot more discerning now. That being said, he knew that Marinette was neither of those things, so Nino was sad to know that Adrien would be losing out to a genuine woman who had loved him since they went to school together. He thought they would make a perfect couple. He just didn't think it was any of their business to get involved.
Alya had a very different opinion on the whole thing.
"Nino," she cried, finally coming to a stop with her hands on her hips, glaring at the lounging man. He raised an eyebrow at her as an indication that he was listening. "I need to tell her that Adrien was Chat Noir. These two need to be together. They are totally meant to be. If it hadn't been for that ridiculous love square in school - which was only because they didn't tell each other their identities right away - they would have been together this whole time! It would save a lot of heartache all round if I told them."
At this, Nino finally did show some visible interest. But it wasn't the positive interest that Alya was hoping for.
"No."
Alya froze, her jaw going slack as she took in the unexpectedly alert figure of Nino, determination transparent in his golden brown eyes. Being the dominant one in the relationship, she had never really heard that word ever coming out of his mouth.
"N-no?" she queried, suddenly unsure of herself.
"No," he affirmed. "You don't know what kind of damage you could cause by telling them each other's secret. There's a reason they haven't broadcast their identities, and if you go and tell them, you could end up breaking the trust they have in each other. This is something they need to do for themselves. Things might look bad now," Nino held his hand up to stop whatever sputtering protestation Alya was about to make, "but things will work out, one way or another. If they're meant to be, then they'll be. You just need to trust in that and don't interfere."
Nino sat back, his uncharacteristically impassioned speech over. Alya stood gawping for a few moments before coming to sit next to him on the bed, all her pent up need to act suddenly draining from her.
"But I can't just sit back and do nothing. This is my best friend. This is making her miserable."
Nino slid his arms around her shoulders comfortingly.
"You just need to be there for her, as Marinette, not as Ladybug. The past is the past so let it go. You don't need to tell her he's Chat Noir to convince her that she's making a mistake. I believe in you girl, if anyone can do it, you can."
With that, he placed a light kiss on her forehead and drew her closer to his chest so that they were both reclined against the headboard. They lay there quietly for a few minutes, the music from his headphones sounding louder in the silence.
"You know," Alya began playfully, her finger drawing circles on his chest. "You're kinda hot when you put your foot down like that," and she glanced up at him through her lashes, eyes slightly widened coquettishly.
Nino's lips twitched into a smirk.
"You like that, huh?" he asked, his tone husky, causing a shiver to run down her spine.
She nodded her head, biting down on her lip until Nino took it's pink plumpness between his teeth, gently nipping it before sucking it into his mouth and making Alya groan.
All thoughts of Adrien and Marinette, Ladybug and Chat Noir, were quickly forgotten in the couples heated embrace.
Before Marinette had met with Adrien on the Tuesday, Celeste had come home from school, demanding to go and stay with her father.
"I've already spoken to him and he said it's fine. I'm just going to put some things in my bag and then I'll be ready to go."
Marinette hadn't been able to form a response before Celeste had disappeared up to her room. With a heavy heart, Marinette drove her daughter to her ex-husbands house, the silence in the car stifling. Celeste didn't say a word when they arrived, grabbing her backpack and striding to the door, where Natasha stood waiting, a sympathetic smile on her face for the woman left sitting bereft in the car.
Marinette sat there for a moment more until the front door closed, leaving her staring at the blank facade of the house. Then, working on automatic, she started the engine and pulled out of the driveway to have her fateful meeting with Adrien.
A few hours later, after the three of them had had dinner, Celeste had gone back up to her room. There came a knock at Celeste's bedroom door and the young girl looked up from where she lay stretched out on her front, an open book of French Literature in front of her.
"Yeah?" she called, granting entry to whoever was on the other side of the door.
She wasn't particularly surprised to see that it was Natasha. The bubbly brunette was always trying hard to befriend Celeste. The young bluenette just found her efforts annoying. She looked back down at the page but had stopped actually taking in any of the words as soon as Natasha had walked in, she just wanted to give the woman the impression that she wasn't interested.
Truth be told, she actually liked her father's current girlfriend. She always thought of them as 'current'. You never could be sure how long they would last. She didn't want to get too attached though. Natasha had already outlasted most of the previous ones and Celeste supposed it wouldn't be long before this one moved on as well.
She looked up again as the bed dipped next to her.
Natasha wasn't looking at Celeste, her focus on a point on the opposite wall and Celeste took the moment to take in her face, clouded by uncertainty. It was unusual to see Natasha looking consternated, as she almost always projected a happy-go-lucky persona. Concerned despite herself, Celeste drew herself up into a seated position.
"What's up?" she asked, breaking the silence. The brunette had yet to utter a word. Then she released a pent up sigh.
"I'm sorry to bother you," she began, finally meeting the pair of bluebell eyes. "I'm just a little... worried."
Celeste frowned slightly up at her.
"About what?" she questioned, her curiosity piqued.
Natasha gave her an assessing look, a crease forming between her brows.
"It was just... do you know what, never mind. I can see you're busy, I didn't want to disturb your homework," she moved to stand up, uncertainly biting her lip. "I'm sorry, I'll go."
Celeste scrambled to stand as well, reaching a hand out but not quite touching Natasha.
"No, no," she insisted. "What is it?"
Natasha prevaricated, glancing from the pre-teen to the door and back again uncertainly. Then her expression became resolute and she sat back down on the bed, prompting Celeste to do this same.
"It's your mother," she began and made a fluttering gesture with her hands when Celeste pulled a face. "No, please listen. I went over to see her today, she seemed really very upset about something, and I'm not sure what to do. She said something about one of the teachers at your school, but I couldn't really make heads or tails of what she was saying. Something silly about not being able to be his friend anymore? Isn't that just ridiculous?" Natasha puffed out a laugh, but her expression turned sad. "I don't know how to help though. Your mother doesn't really have any friends except for Alya. You know she must be desperate if she wanted to see me!"
She sighed self-derisively then glanced sideways at Celeste who had her eyes cast down, gauging how her words were affecting the young girl. At Celeste's slightly down-trodden expression, Natasha smiled secretly then pulled her lips back into a pout.
"I thought maybe you could help me," she continued on. "You know her better than anyone. Do you know anything about this friend of hers?"
Celeste brought her hand up to her mouth and chewed on the side of her thumbnail, unsure of what exactly to say. Natasha's words were making her reconsider the situation, and she wasn't happy to have her perception altered. She was upset herself, and Celeste really didn't want to have to see it her mother's way, to understand how she might be hurting Marinette.
"It's nothing. Just one of my professors. Apparently they're dating, but she never told me. A few of the kids have been teasing me about it."
Natasha nodded in understanding.
"That's tough. School is hard enough without having to worry about things like that and kids can be cruel. Tell me about your professor?"
Celeste cocked an eyebrow at Natasha's unusual line of questioning. She really didn't know where the older woman was going with this, but she decided to humour her.
"He's alright, I guess. He used to be a model and a lot of the girls at school fancy him."
"Oh yeah, Adrien Agreste right?" Natasha queried. Celeste just nodded. "Hmm... a model. He's probably pretty conceited isn't he? I'll bet he's a terrible teacher. More concerned with how he looks than the students doing well. Typical."
Celeste was quick to jump in, her expression irritated.
"No, that's not true," she insisted. "He's the best teacher. He actually cares that we're doing well."
Natasha feigned a look of surprise.
"Oh, I see. Still, your maman is probably better off not being friends with him. A man like that seems like the love 'em and leave 'em type. We wouldn't want her to get mixed up with someone like that. Having a crush on him at school didn't really work out for her."
After her initial surprise - she hadn't realised Natasha knew about her mother's crush on Professor Agreste back then - Celeste's expression became more stormy.
"Of course not! Professor Agreste is kind and sweet. I've seen some of the parents fawn over him and he never gives them the time of day. I think, if he really liked maman then he'd be good to her."
Natasha quirked an eyebrow, deciding not to comment further. It looked like Celeste wasn't quite done.
"In fact, she's been really happy these last few weeks. I think that he makes her happy! So don't come in here acting like you know anything about what's going on. Professor Agreste is great." Celeste sat back, her frown still in place and her breath coming out in small huffs.
Natasha stood, facing away from the angry pre-teen, exceptionally pleased with how this had worked out. She kept her face averted so that Celeste couldn't see her expression and moved towards the door. While it was true that she might have sacrificed any advances she had made in the past to win Celeste over, it was worth it.
She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder to find Celeste's expression had morphed from angry to uncertain. Looks like the girl had worked out the message, or at least was starting to.
"We're leaving at seven thirty as usual in the morning. Better get some sleep," she said before stepping out the room and closing the door behind her.
There were still whispers floating around wherever Celeste went at school. She knew that it wouldn't disappear overnight, but that didn't stop the crushing disappointment that came with the pointing and staring of her classmates, and even students in the school she had never met before. It would seem she had become an overnight sensation and Celeste couldn't feel worse about it.
That morning, Celeste had been woken bright and early by Natasha. After their talk the night before, the bluenette was a little apprehensive at finding the older woman in her room, opening her curtains to the harsh light of day. But then, wasn't that a perfect metaphor for what she had done during their 'little chat'?
She always made it to school nearly three quarters of an hour early when she stayed over at her papa's house, and that was how she found herself in the blissfully empty form room. She pulled her backpack onto the desk and used it as a cushion for her head, ready to catch a last minute nap before the inevitable hell that would be the rest of the school day.
The bag was uncomfortable, the edges of books digging into her face and Celeste shifted around, trying to find a position that she could actually get some shut-eye. Her situation wasn't helped by the memory of her mother's face the evening before, when Celeste had told her she wanted to spend the night away from her. Every time Celeste closed her eyes now, all she could see was Marinette's desolate expression.
The young girl growled in frustration and tossed her bag on the floor, tipping her head back to rest on the desk that sat behind her and slightly raised due to the tiered seating. It was just about the perfect height and once again she attempted to rest her eyes. This time, her attempt at sleep was disturbed by the rattle of the door handle.
Celeste could have cried. No sleep for her, and it looked as though the teasing was going to start early today. Joy.
Deciding that meeting the bullying head on would be the better option, rather than leaving herself in her currently vulnerable position, Celeste raised her head and opened her eyes to glare accusingly at the opening door.
Her expression quickly fell as her crush quietly slipped into the room before he froze, noticing the presence of someone else. When Lucas's eyes met her, he visibly relaxed, and even allowed himself to smile, offering her a small wave by way of greeting.
Her eyes widened and her heart lurched in her chest. She could feel a flush creeping across her cheeks and could do nothing about it.
"Um... Hi," he greeted when Celeste seemed frozen in place. Lucas closed the door behind him and made his way further into the room, walking towards where she sat. "Do you mind if I..." he cut himself off and gestured to the seat next to her. She bit her lip to keep her smile in check - she didn't want him to think she was some crazy grinning fool - and nodded, shifting over slightly to make room.
"I'm sorry that you've had to put up with everyone being idiots. Do you want to talk about it?" Lucas asked, raising a hand as if to place it on her shoulder before nervously running it through his hair at the last moment.
"Oh... uh, that's okay," she smiled at him, eyes crinkling at the corners. "You don't want to listen to me go on about my problems."
Lucas frowned slightly and this time he did rest his hand on her shoulder, making her stare up at him in surprise, her mouth hanging slightly open.
"Please?" be pleaded, and Celeste found herself drowning in his sparkling chocolate brown eyes. He looked especially good that day, his white top contrasting with his tan skin and his hair slightly dishevelled from having pushed his fingers through it just now. Internally she sighed girlishly but on the outside she just nodded her ascent.
"Okay," she agreed. "I guess, it's all just been a bit much. As if breaking my wrist wasn't bad enough, when I came to school the next day everyone was teasing me about my maman dating Professor Agreste. But then, you already knew that," she said, remembering that he too had been sent out of class for disrupting it. "It just sucks, because maman never told me that she was dating anyone, and it's just been me and her for so long that it hurt that she didn't tell me. And all the girls fancy Professor Agreste, so any gossip about him spreads really quickly and I just can't seem to get away from it. We had this fight about it and I spent last night at papa's house."
Lucas nodded his head in understanding.
"How did they all find out? If even you didn't know they were dating?"
Celeste shrugged, staring down at where her hands were clasped in front of her.
"I don't really know. I told a couple of the girls that Professor Agreste had brought my mamon to the hospital but as far as I knew they were just old school friends. Actually, she used to have a huge crush on him at school," Celeste blushed just mentioning the word 'crush' to the object of her own affections, as if he could see through her words and figure out her secret. "But now I just feel stupid and I wish everyone would just shut up about it."
"What do you want to happen now then?" he asked, the caring evident in his solemn gaze.
"Ugh, I don't know. I spoke to my papa's girlfriend last night and she told me that maman is going to stop seeing him."
"Well that's good then, isn't it?" Lucas didn't really believe that. It seemed unfair that if two people liked each other they should have to break up just to make other people happy. He looked adoringly down at the sweet bluenette before him, desperately wanting to see her smile, but at the same time, he couldn't let her go on believing that making her maman unhappy was the right thing to do.
Celeste grunted, whether in agreement or not he wasn't sure. Then she covered her pretty mouth with her hand, eyes widened at the unladylike sound she just made. Lucas just chuckled.
"But then, what if Professor Agreste can make your maman happy? Has she ever had a boyfriend after your papa? You said it was just you and her for so long."
Celeste looked at her with her mouth slightly slack. She didn't realise that he was paying that much attention. It warmed her to know that he was really listening, and how perceptive he seemed.
"I mean, I wouldn't want a group of stupid kids making jokes to get in between me and the girl Ii..." Lucas stopped speaking and snapped his mouth shut, his face staining bright pink.
Celeste's brain had stopped working. Had Lucas been about to tell her he liked a girl? Who was she? As much as Celeste desperately wanted to pursue that avenue of conversation, a few things stopped her. Firstly, if the girl wasn't her, she was sure her heart would break. She always imagined that one day Lucas would be her boyfriend and that they would live happily ever after. She agreed with him that she wouldn't want a bit of teasing getting in the way of that. Who's business would it be...?
Oh.
The seed that Natasha had planted the night before had suddenly bloomed through the attentive care of Lucas. It wasn't anyone's business. It didn't matter what the kids at school thought of her maman and Professor Agreste. It didn't matter what she thought about it either. Not really. If her mother got the chance at her happily ever after and she stood in the way of that? She could never forgive herself.
She needed to speak to her mother. She needed to apologise.
"Thank you, Lucas. You're right. I need to talk to my maman. I need to fix this," and with that she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a swift kiss on his cheek, letting him go just as quickly and making to run out of the classroom to call Marinette. She didn't notice how he froze at her touch, and how his blush had deepened to scarlet. The boy suddenly seemed incapable of speech.
She called out to him just as she reached the door, turning back to give him one last lingering look.
"And whoever that girl is that you like... well, she's really lucky."
And with that she was gone. Lucas's head fell to the desk in front of him with a discernible thump.
Adrien hadn't spotted Marinette bringing Celeste to school that morning. Not that he had been looking for her, of course. He just hadn't seen her.
He already missed her, wasn't that ridiculous?
The last bell rang for the end of the school day and all the students rushed to throw their things into their bags and head home. Normally, at this point, Adrien would stay for another hour or two, marking homework and preparing for the next day's teaching. Today, however, he just wanted to get home. Waiting until the classroom emptied, he packed his own bag, throwing it over his shoulder before he trudged outside to the teacher's car park.
All of a sudden, he wished he had decided to stay back.
There, not twenty feet from him, was Marinette, and she had just noticed him.
They both stood stock still for a moment, staring mutely at each other's face. Marinette swallowed hard when Adrien's face switched from shocked to determined. As he took a step towards her, she was motivated into action, quickly turning away from him and hurrying in the opposite direction. Adrien was left behind, the hole inside him widening just that little bit more.
Marinette could feel a burning sensation at the back of her eyes, signalling that she was close to tears. All it had taken was seeing his beautiful face and his soulful green eyes and she could feel her heart breaking all over again. But she couldn't do it. She couldn't talk to him here, in the school, in front of all the children. That would make the situation a thousand times worse.
She was glad that Celeste had messaged her earlier, asking Mariette to pick her up from school. She had been worried about what she would do if Celeste still refused to speak to her. Hopefully now, they could actually sit down and talk it all out properly, and her little girl wouldn't hate her anymore.
And hopefully, one day, she and Adrien could try being friends again.
Just friends.
It was better that way.
