Unsung
achieving elysium
part iii. watch how the world burns
chapter thirteen
Marinette tapped her pencil against the desk, staring blankly at her homework before sighing and pushing herself away.
"Ugh," she grumbled, and Tikki laughed, curled up in a basket alongside spools of thread.
"You can do it, Marinette!" she cheered, and Marinette smiled at her kwami.
"Thanks, Tikki," she muttered absentmindedly, but though the encouragement was appreciated, it didn't help her in the slightest. Marinette spent the next hour struggling her way through the worksheet, feeling like she'd probably gotten it all wrong.
"Marinette," Maman called from downstairs. "It's time for dinner!"
Marinette shoved the history textbook away and exchanged a glance with Tikki before heading downstairs, her kwami hiding in her clothes. She helped set out the plates before they all gathered to eat, passing chopsticks around the table.
"Haven't seen you since this afternoon," Maman remarked, and Marinette had a brief flash of panic - what if they'd noticed her missing? But Maman didn't say anything else, so she just laughed nervously.
"Oh, you know me," Marinette said, spearing a dumpling with her chopsticks and grinning. "Hard at work, you know, a lot of homework to do."
"So how about that Agreste boy?"
Marinette choked on her dumpling, and Maman twisted in her chair to frown at Papa.
"Tom," she scolded as Marinette tried to recover, feeling her face burn at the thought. She gulped down a drink of water, realizing how much time she'd spent with Adrien lately - of course her parents had noticed.
Of course Papa had noticed.
"I- I- what?" she sputtered.
Maman was still giving Papa the look.
"Seems my princess has been spending a lot of time with a boy, hmm?"
"Stop teasing, Tom," Maman cut in.
"Come on, dear," he replied. "Don't you want to know about the boy who likes our daughter?"
"He doesn't like me," Marinette protested, setting down her water before she could choke on that, too. "And we're- we're just friends, that's all!"
Maman and Papa exchanged a meaningful look, like they knew something she didn't.
"I think you'd be surprised," Maman said gently, and Marinette shrugged, popping a dumpling in her mouth.
"He'll have to go through me first," Papa declared, and Marinette went red again. "No one deserves my princess."
He cracked his knuckles threateningly, and she slid down in her chair a little.
Adrien called her princess, too, she realized. The thought didn't help. Marinette wanted to slide from her chair and hide under the table from embarrassment.
"We're not dating, Papa."
"Alright," Maman interrupted before dinner became embarrass-Marinette-as-much-as-possible time. Still, even after they'd moved on, Marinette couldn't stop thinking about Adrien - her thoughts never seemed to stray very far from him these days.
She knew what Tikki would say, knew the conversation they'd have later in the safety of Marinette's room.
But there were still times Marinette would look at Adrien and find herself tongue-tied. Any sense of coherency went out the nearest window. Being closer didn't help. Their hands would brush together, or she'd catch him looking at her, or he'd smile when their eyes met, or-
She was still trying to figure out how Adrien fit into her life, what knowing the boy behind the mask meant when she'd spent so long trying to conceal their identities.
You belong here, he'd said earlier, and though she'd agreed, she wasn't sure she'd believed him in that moment.
You belong here, he'd insisted, as if he knew what she'd been thinking. With me.
Marinette swallowed, wondering if he knew how much that meant to her. She felt like she'd spent half a lifetime searching, looking for a place in the world.
Maybe she'd finally found it.
"What if Ladybug and Chat Noir didn't get along?" she asked Tikki later, sprawled on her bed and staring out the window. "Has that ever happened?"
"Why do you ask?"
Marinette shrugged. "I just..."
Tikki settled next to her. "Not every Ladybug and Chat Noir have started off liking each other, no, but eventually, they all got along."
She thought about that for a moment. "How do you know? I mean- if... if they will?"
"The Chosen are always meant to find each other. You were meant to be Ladybug. Long before you met, your fate and Adrien's were already intertwined. I think you'd call them... soulmates, I guess."
Marinette's heart jolted in her chest. "Soulmates?"
She wasn't sure if she believed Tikki, wasn't sure how fate had decided to tie the two of them together with a long, red thread.
Thread...
Marinette sat up in bed, blanket falling to her waist as she fumbled to turn on a nearby lamp. She missed it three times before Tikki turned it on for her, painting the room in a soft, yellow light.
"What is it?"
Marinette stumbled out of bed, trying to move quietly so her parents wouldn't hear her.
"Fabricator," she said, fully aware she wasn't making any sense. Marinette touched one ear gingerly, then the other, reaffirming that she really did have both earrings.
"Marinette, you know-" Tikki began, looking worried as Marinette eased the door to the balcony open, slipping out into the cold night. She shivered as a cold breeze drifted by, but ignored it, knowing that the suit would keep her warm.
"No, you don't get it," said Marinette, sweeping an arm out to gesture at Paris. "I mean... I never used Miraculous Ladybug, did I?"
Marinette ran her hand over her own twisted, deformed railing and looked out at the city. In all the excitement, she'd almost forgotten about being a hero - well, not really, but being Ladybug meant that after taking care of herself, she had to take care of others, too.
She looked over at Tikki.
"Let's give Paris a helping hand, yeah?"
Marinette took a deep breath and transformed. She surveyed the damage on her own roof then leapt away, her yo-yo secured tightly around a chimney. She zipped through the air, relishing in the feeling of weightlessness, in the way the wind caught in her air, and a laugh bubbled up in her throat.
She made her way through the streets - not towards the Eiffel Tower, like she would've usually. Instead, she headed to the park, swinging carefully to avoid the red thread that hung around the buildings.
At this time of night, there was no one around when Marinette landed at the foot of Theo's statue of her and Chat. She studied it for a moment, looking at their stone faces, immortalized forever for everyone to see.
"Oh," she murmured.
At Ladybug's feet were scattered flower bouquets: roses and tulips and daisies, though most common were clusters of beautiful blue flowers that Marinette remembered were called cornflowers.
Alya had done a Ladyblog post on them once - well, on flowers. She'd listed 25 ladybug-attracting flowers for her Fact Friday posts; a day later, Chat had brought her a handful of the same flowers as the ones in front of her.
Marinette smiled.
There were even a few notes attached to some of the bouquets, and she took the time to skim a few of them. They all said the same thing, essentially, sending best wishes to Ladybug.
Marinette found herself perching on the edge of the statue, reading through the messages. Instead of turning on their hero, condemning her for not being there in a time of need, they supported her instead.
Halfway through the messages, Marinette glanced up to her left, looking at the side of Chat's face. She touched his stone hand and wished he could be here with her now.
You belong here, she heard him say again, and this time, Marinette believed him.
"I belong here," she said quietly for herself. Then, louder, stronger, she said it again for him.
Marinette stood so she could look at herself. Theo had sculpted her mid-jump, her yo-yo arcing in the air. She bounced the same yo-yo up and down, running a gloved hand over the surface, then tossed it in the air.
"Lucky Charm!"
A familiar energy wrapped around the yo-yo before it landed back in her palm.
It was a flower.
Not a real one, like the ones laid at her feet. Instead it was made of several layers of deep red fabric, cross-stitched in the center in a pattern that made it reminiscent of petals folding in on one another.
She ran her fingers over it, a bittersweet feeling washing over her. It was too familiar, one of the very flowers that had decorated her dress. She'd spent hours making these flowers by hand and attaching them one-by-one until they'd been placed exactly how she'd wanted.
The fabric flower marked a tragedy, a disaster started in motion by Chloé's words. Marinette glanced at the cornflowers hanging at her wrist and touched the ring of flowers gently.
Maybe it could mean something else.
On a whim, Marinette tugged down a piece of thread from where it was wrapped around her statue's arm and tied that around her wrist, too, her mind working the entire time.
She'd spent the past week hopelessly lost and confused, struggling to reconcile her self-doubt, her guilt, and her identity as both a person and as a superhero.
Everything had become a challenge.
She'd felt like the entire world had turned on her, like Papillon's poison had spread through her. Anything red was a reminder of Fabricator - of what she'd done. The flowers were catalysts, the thread the remaining effects.
Cornflowers - what had Alya said they represented?
Fortune, Marinette remembered, and friendship.
The red thread of fate had led her to becoming a hero, had tied an unlikely team together; she didn't know if she would've met Adrien if not for the Miraculous, or if she'd know him as well as she did without there being Ladybug and Chat Noir.
And red... how had Marinette never realized before? Red was Fabricator's color, of course, but long before it'd stood for liars and a silence she'd craved, it'd been Ladybug's.
She turned the fabric flower over in her hand one last time and then uncurled her fingers, flinging it in the sky.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
Healing light burst around her, little ladybugs sweeping away the damage of the past, washing away the hurt. Marinette sighed, her hair caught in the wind, spreading her arms and smiling as Paris healed and the scars that had scabbed over faded.
A beeping in her ear reminded her that she had to go - sneaking back into the house as Marinette was much harder than Ladybug slipping in and detransforming, unnoticed, in her room.
Marinette paused and undid the only remaining string left, the piece she'd tied around her wrist. She tied it around her statue's pinky, the only finger she could reach without standing on her tip-toes, and after a moment's consideration, tied the other end around Chat's.
Then Marinette wrapped her fingers around her yo-yo and disappeared as quickly and as quietly as she'd come. She managed to make it back to her room in three minutes flat, just in time to detransform over her bed, both hero and kwami flopping down in exhaustion.
"I'll get you a cookie," Marinette finally whispered, slinging her legs over the side of the bed.
"Two," was Tikki's only response.
Marinette giggled. "Three it is, then," she murmured before making her way downstairs. The door to Maman and Papa's room was shut, which meant they were fast asleep. She was careful not to make too much noise as she crept like a thief in her own home.
"Tikki," she called quietly, waving the cookies in the air. Her kwami sat on the edge of the plate, taking a bite of the chocolate chip cookie and sighing.
Marinette took one herself, nibbling at it as she pulled her feet up onto the bed. The perks of living in a bakery - and incredibly lucky for Tikki - was that there was no shortage of bakery items, especially cookies.
Chocolate chip had always been her favorite. Papa's cookies were perfect; they weren't hard but weren't too soft either, delightfully chewy, with a wonderful balance of sweetness.
That she'd been apparently devouring them since last year meant there were always extras. She wondered if it was this easy in the Agreste household - Camembart was a tall order, but it wasn't like Adrien didn't have the money.
Tikki was halfway through her second cookie before she found the energy to speak.
"You did well tonight, Marinette."
Tikki, much like Marinette, was always overflowing with optimism and kind words. But they were still nice to hear - it was still nice to hear someone tell her she'd done a good thing. That whether she believed it most days or not, she deserved to be Ladybug.
Marinette savored her cookie.
"Thank you, Tikki."
The next day was samedi, which meant Marinette got to sleep in. It almost meant that she didn't have to worry about Alya yelling her face off about the Miraculous Ladybug that'd happened in the middle of the night, but she did have a barrage of texts that were only half-readable.
Though Marinette figured she'd regret it, she pressed the call button as she brushed her teeth. Alya picked up moments later.
"Marinette! Did you hear about-"
"Ladybug?" she interrupted around a mouthful of toothpaste. "Yeah."
"She- I- When?"
Marinette giggled and swept out of the bathroom, still on the phone as she climbed downstairs for brunch.
"Do you think ladybugs are nocturnal?"
"Um, no way," said Alya. "They're diurnal. And our Ladybug certainly isn't. Why would- how could I have missed this?"
"Anything up on the Ladyblog?" she asked.
"Everyone's as clueless as I am," Alya reported. "I'm gonna go to the park today - someone mentioned the Ladybug and Chat Noir statue. Coming? You can bring Manon."
Then, as if Marinette didn't already know, Alya sang, "Adrien will be there. Photoshoots on samedi, right?"
"Dimanche," Marinette replied automatically, "but I think he has one today."
"Girl," Alya said as Marinette padded into the bakery. "When are you going to ask him out?"
She covered her face with a hand. "Alya!"
"What?"
"Why is everyone so- so interested?" she cried, throwing her hands up. "Maman and Papa were asking about that yesterday, too."
"Asking about what?" Papa asked, pressing a warm, fresh slice of buttered toast into her hands. She took a bite and swallowed.
"Adrien," she said, fighting her blush.
"Ah," Papa said knowingly, eyeing her. She was already dressed to go out; Nadja would be here any minute to drop off Manon.
"What?" Marinette whined.
"Nothing," Papa and Alya answered at the same time.
"Can I go to the park today?" Marinette asked. Papa nodded.
"Take lunch with you," he called over his shoulder, and Marinette busied herself with grabbing a picnic basket and packing some of Papa's cold sandwiches and cookies from the bakery.
"You bringing lunch?" Alya asked, and Marinette used her shoulder to hold her phone so she could work with both hands.
"Yep," she replied, and Alya cheered.
"I'll buy us drinks, then," Alya said. "Text me when you're leaving. Meet at the usual spot?"
"Uh huh," Marinette mumbled. About to close the basket, she caught sight of the slice of cake Mme. Halle had insisted she take. She could split it, Marinette decided. It was large, after all, and she knew Alya and Manon would like it.
"Love you," Marinette said on autopilot, like she always did at the end of phone calls.
"Say that to Adrien," was Alya's only response before she hung up.
Marinette stared at her phone, Alya's photo taunting her, before she shook her head and slipped it in her pocket.
When she'd finished, Nadja and Manon were waiting in the front. Manon spotted her first, eyes lighting up and a smile splitting her face. Marinette felt her heart melt.
"Marinette!"
A moment later, she was almost bowled over by Manon, the little girl clinging to her leg.
"Hi, Manon," she murmured, amused.
"Going somewhere?" Nadja asked, smiling at her.
"To the park," Marinette replied.
Nadja's eyes brightened. "Well, have fun, you two. And Manon, be good for Marinette, yeah?"
"Yes, Mama!" Manon tugged on her hand. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
Marinette let Manon drag her through the streets to the park. Alya was already waiting for them, standing in the shade of the tree Marinette had carved her name on when she'd been in sixième with Nino. She waved when she saw them.
"Alya," she called in greeting, holding her basket up.
"Hey," her best friend replied, spreading a blanket she'd brought and patting the empty space next to her. Manon scrambled ahead of Marinette, flopping down on the blanket and giggling.
While Alya cracked the bottles of juice she'd brought open, Marinette passed out sandwiches to each of them and settled in, Manon already chattering away about this and that. She soaked in the moment - the dappled sunlight from the trees, Alya pushing her glasses higher up on her nose, the crumbs on the corners of Manon's mouth, stretched in a wide smile.
"So," Alya drawled, nudging her with an elbow and using her half-eaten cookie to point in the direction of something Marinette couldn't see, her view blocked. "What about Adrien?"
Marinette just about had a heart attack when she realized Alya was gesturing to Adrien himself, walking through the trees as Vincent snapped photos of him and yelled out encouragement.
"Adrien Agreste?" Manon butted in, eyes wide. She'd been in one of his photoshoots, Marinette remembered faintly, which was one more than Marinette had been in. The kid looked back up at her babysitter. "Is he your boyfriend?"
She had to swallow the piece of cookie in her mouth before she could spit it out.
"W-what?"
"See?" Alya pointed out, looking smug as she took a swig of juice. "Even the kid knows it."
"Alya," she protested, her face hot. "I thought... I thought we were, um, here for the Ladyblog."
"Oh, we are," she replied flippantly, "but it'd be a shame if you didn't go say hi."
"He's in the middle of a photoshoot!"
"So?"
"Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Manon interrupted. "Can we go see the statue, Marinette, please, please, please!"
"Yes!" she cried, standing up and putting away the cake they hadn't gotten to eat. "Let's go see the statue. Coming, Alya? Didn't you say there was something you wanted to see?"
Alya narrowed her eyes. "I know what you're doing, girl."
But the temptation was too much for the Ladyblogger, so off they went. There were a few people milling around the statue, taking pictures; Marinette grinned when she saw that the hanging thread she'd tied around Ladybug and Chat Noir's fingers was still there.
"Look," Alya said, pointing at it before pulling out her phone. "You think Ladybug did that?"
Marinette shrugged and hid her smile.
"What do you think?"
"I think she did," came a new voice, and Marinette whirled around, letting out a shriek when she saw Adrien standing there. She immediately went red.
"Hi, Adrien, oh, hi," she stammered, wondering if it was too late to leave.
"Hey, pretty boy," Alya said as Marinette tried to calm her heart. "What are you doing here? Thought you were taking pictures with Vincent."
Adrien shrugged. "He let me take a break so he could review a couple photos. Said there was just something..." he paused, holding up his fingers and snapping, his voice changing so he could imitate his photographer. "...missing."
Marinette giggled.
"What's it mean, though?" Alya pondered.
"Alya! Miss Alya!" someone cried, running up to them. On instinct, Marinette took a step back, surprised by the sudden attention even if it wasn't directed at her.
"Do I know you?" Alya asked.
"Oh, no," said the girl, eyes wide. "I'm just a follower of the Ladyblog. Have you seen Ladybug at all? I mean, no one knew about the Miraculous Ladybug at all."
"Yeah," Adrien chimed in. The poor girl started, not having realized he was there, and immediately blushed, asked for an autograph, and almost burst into tears. Marinette hid her face in her hands. Like almost every girl in Paris, she would've done the same.
"Let's go look." Alya saved the fan, starting up a conversation about the Ladyblog and looping arms with Manon, who was begging for pictures.
Marinette narrowed her eyes at Alya's back. She'd left her alone— with Adrien.
The day suddenly felt too hot. She tugged at the collar of her shirt, searching for a breeze as Adrien shifted his feet, scratching the back of his neck.
"Hey," he said finally.
Marinette averted her eyes. "Hi."
"Um-"
"So-"
They spoke at the same time, and she giggled.
"You go first."
"No, you go," she said, crossing her arms until he did.
"You didn't tell me you were going to... do this," he said, gesturing around them, his tone a little accusatory.
Marinette stared at the thread, the wind making it dance.
"I didn't, either," she told him. "It just kinda... happened."
Adrien opened his mouth to speak before they were interrupted by the sound of a camera shutter.
"Yes, wonderful," someone gushed. "Now, look intensely at the statue! It is the most beautiful piece of art you have ever seen. Yes, yes!"
The camera went off again and again. Marinette stumbled back a step, suddenly realizing what was happening and that she'd been holding Adrien's hand by reflex. She quickly dropped it as Adrien turned.
"Vincent, what... what are you doing?"
"No, no!" Vincent waved his hands frantically. "You ruined the shot! It was perfect, and now it is gone."
"What?" Marinette whispered, her throat dry, but no one heard her.
"You can't just...," said Adrien weakly, glancing at her.
"Ah," Vincent sighed. "But it was so romantic, the photo! Please, miss, you must let me photograph you."
"Uh, um, um," was her only response.
"Marinette, you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Adrien said.
"No, I, um," she said. She smoothed down her dress. "But I'm not wearing anything special. And, I, um-"
Her dress, plain black with a ladybug pattern that cut off just above her knees, was simple - good for a day out, but hardly worthy of a photoshoot.
"You look great," Adrien reassured her.
She didn't know if she could do this. Those photos would appear in thousands of publications promoting the Agreste line. Adrien and her.
"Can... can you not show my face?" she asked Vincent.
The photographer misunderstood her meaning.
"A wonderful idea," he boomed. "It will add a taste of mystery. Flair. Yes, I can see it - Adrien Agreste and mystery girl in photoshoot... romantic."
Marinette stared at him.
"Um, sure," she said weakly, trying for a smile.
"Act natural," Vincent told them. "I'm not even here!"
That was the worst thing anyone could say; Marinette could feel her limbs lock up, the nervousness that came from trying to "act natural" and having a camera trained on her a little overwhelming. She'd never been in a photoshoot before - she didn't know what to do.
Adrien linked their arms together. "You'll do great, Marinette."
She focused on him, trying to ignore Vincent in the background, shutter shots following them.
"Sorry about that," he said as they began to walk, turning so he could smile. Click. "Vincent is a little..."
"Excited?" she suggested, and he laughed.
"That's one way to put it," Adrien said. "So was that you?"
He jerked his head in the direction of the thread she'd left. Marinette tucked a stray hair that had escaped her ponytail back behind her ear.
"Um, yeah," she admitted.
"Why?"
The question was simple enough, but he cast a sidelong glance at her, his gaze burning. Electricity crackled in the air between them, and Marinette cleared her throat.
"Something Tikki told me," she said vaguely, hoping he wouldn't ask.
Soulmates.
Did she really believe that? Marinette wondered. Adrien's fingers brushed the inside of her wrist.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. Ladybug and Chat Noir. Soulmates.
"Did you see the flowers?" he asked, sensing she didn't want to talk about it. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, hoping she wasn't too obvious, and nodded.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat that had formed unwillingly. "Um, yeah."
The two of them walked closer, gazing up at the statue of themselves. Theo had really done a great job – they seemed almost real, and every piece of herself that she'd memorized was there, from the number of spots on her suit down to every facial feature, whether she liked them or not.
Click. Click. Marinette made a face, knowing Vincent couldn't see it.
"I always liked to come look at this," Adrien murmured, "to remind myself I had you. That I wasn't alone."
Marinette squeezed his hand.
"You're not," she said fiercely, then smiled. "And you won't have to come back alone, either."
Adrien's eyes lit up like the lights of Paris at night, the city rivaling the stars and moon above them. His lips curled into a smile.
Even after almost a year having known him as both Adrien and Chat Noir, the look on his face still took her breath away. Marinette was selfish, horribly so — she liked seeing that light in his eyes, and liked knowing that as Ladybug, she got to put it there. She'd always seen it after fighting an akuma, or in spare moments on night patrols, or when they sat on the Eiffel together, pumping their legs in the cold air and exchanging grins. As Adrien, she saw it less, but it was still there, sometimes.
She liked seeing him happy. And maybe it was a little self-centered to say, but she made him happy.
"Asking me out on a date, are we, my Lady?" he asked, teasing playfully.
Marinette rolled her eyes.
"Si- silly kitty," she shot back, but her world felt a little off-kilter. Suddenly, that playful, harmless flirting felt like it was something more, like he really meant it. Marinette shook her head.
Click. She sighed.
In the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Alya standing off to the side, holding hands with Manon. When she saw her looking, Alya shot her a thumbs up and a smile.
She was suddenly reminded of the picnic basket still hanging on her arm, and she glanced at Adrien before clearing her throat.
"Do you, uh, want to join us?" she asked shyly. Before he could say anything, she continued, "I have some cake from the boulangerie I was going to share, but Manon dragged us off before we could eat it so. Um. I mean, you don't really have to if you don't want to—"
He blinked at her.
"Of course I want to," he said enthusiastically, a smile splitting his face.
"Um, will Vincent mind?"
Adrien glanced over his shoulder at Vincent, a few short words flying over her head before he waved brightly at Alya and Manon.
"Hi, Adrien," Alya greeted warmly, "I see you got Marinette to model with you."
Marinette let out a giggle that was higher than she'd wanted it to be.
"Yeah," Adrien replied. "Vincent can get a little… er, enthusiastic about an idea sometimes."
"Hi!" Manon said, and despite herself, Marinette smiled.
"Did you get Alya to take some pictures for you, Manon?"
Manon's eyes shone. "Yeah!"
"Let's see them," Adrien said smoothly. Manon stole Alya's phone and clicked through her photos while Marinette spread the blanket out again, taking out the cake and setting it in the center. She deftly cut it into a few pieces and passed around paper plates and forks.
"You're too good to us, Mari," Alya said through a mouthful of cake. "Holy f- fudge, this is…"
"Really good," Adrien finished for her.
Marinette dug her fork in and ate, the rich flavors exploding across her tongue. The thick and sweet cream frosting paired with the taste of coffee dulling the sweetness created a delicious balance that had never ceased to impress Marinette.
She giggled when she saw Manon, cream smeared across her cheek. She found a napkin and wiped it off before tweaking her nose, making Manon laugh.
"Man, I love your dad," Alya said.
"Do you think he'll adopt us?"
Manon was too busy shoveling cake in her mouth to speak coherently, but she tried her best. Marinette just laughed.
When Adrien finished his cake, he looked at them and the empty plate regretfully.
"Think we should be about done," he told Marinette, looking over at Vincent, who was lurking in the distance.
"Oh," she said, a little crestfallen.
"Come on," he said, bumping their shoulders together. "Let's go see the statue one last time."
His eyes flitted over to Alya and Manon. "Do you two wanna come?"
Marinette gave Alya a hard look. Her friend only smiled in return.
"Nah. Thanks, though," she said, tapping her phone and grinning. "I've gotta update the Ladyblog before all the forums blow up more than they already have."
Adrien pulled Marinette to her feet.
"Send me the link, yeah, Alya?" he said as a farewell.
She winked and returned to her phone, her fingers flying over the keyboard. Manon stood so she could peer over Alya's shoulders.
"Shall we, my Lady?" he asked jokingly, offering her his arm.
She fit her hand in the crook of his elbow, fingers resting gently on the exposed skin where his jacket had ridden up.
"I guess we shall," she replied, blushing. "Such a gentleman."
"You know me," he said, winking. "I'm always a gentleman."
"As if."
He put a hand over his heart. "You wound me, Princess."
"Hmm," Marinette hummed in response. They made a few rounds about the statue, the sound of Vincent's camera going off in the distance, and Marinette peeked up shyly at Adrien and found him looking at her.
"What does it mean?" he asked quietly, reaching his fingers up to touch the thread, though he couldn't quite reach it, as high as it was. "What did Tikki tell you?"
"Oh," Marinette said, wringing her hands together. "I really can't."
He looked a little disappointed at that, but he nodded. Her heart squeezed.
"What do you think it means, then?" she asked him quietly. "That thread means a lot to me… but maybe it's something else to you."
Adrien cocked his head and pondered that for a moment, deep in thought. If he'd been in his suit – his superhero one, that was, she would've teased him for it, would've tapped the little golden bell that hung around his neck.
"I think," he began, "it's a promise."
Marinette couldn't help the giggle. She clapped her hand over her mouth at Adrien's startled and crestfallen look.
"I'm not laughing at you," she said quickly. "That's not- I'm sorry, that's awful, I didn't mean to. It was just so surprising… I wasn't expecting that at all."
He raised an eyebrow. "Not close to yours at all, then, huh?"
Marinette thought about it.
"I guess," she said eventually, "in a way. But why a promise?"
Adrien shrugged.
"I just… well." He paused. "I think both of us have made quite a few promises lately. And I'd like to keep them."
"Adrien," she said, touched.
They really had. From the little ones, like telling Alya she'd text her about the not-date or when she'd assured Mme Halle that Papa's coffee cake was to die for, to the bigger ones, like Adrien saying that it'd be okay. That people cared about her.
Even as Fabricator, she'd promised Papillon she'd bring him the Miraculous – though that was one she was glad to have broken.
"Shall we make another one?" he asked, offering her his pinky. She didn't miss the significance.
"For what?" Marinette asked, but she hooked her pinky with his anyway.
"To not being alone," he said, quoting his words from before. Marinette pressed their thumbs together.
"To being here for you," she replied. "If you need me, I'll be there."
Adrien caught her hand and laced their fingers together. There was that light again, brighter than she'd seen it.
"The same goes for you," he said, and even after she'd gone home with Alya and Manon had been picked up, that light stayed there in her chest, pocketed right next to her heart.
This is 5k. Take it! Take it!
(Also, this is one of my favorite chapters.)
achieving elysium