Delicate, Chapter 19
Monday morning brought with it many expected things. A reluctance to get out of bed, a bit of traffic on the usual byways, and fresh coffee in the pot in the break room were all routine for Marinette... as were the heads that turned her way the moment that she passed through the office door.
"Hey!" Amy called, with a smile and a wave.
"Hi, Amy! Hi, Gail," Marinette waved back. "How was your weekend?"
"Not bad," Gail replied, as Marinette settled in. "Peter took me out to a movie on Saturday night; otherwise, nothing too unusual."
"What did you see?" asked Amy, determined to keep herself from peppering Marinette with all the questions in the first three minutes.
"A period piece, about a portrait-painter and the woman she falls in love with. It was second-run, I'm trying to recall its name. Very artsy. I liked it," Gail replied. "How about you?"
"I got tied up doing things with my mom most of yesterday," Amy said. "Saturday night, Jacques and I went out dancing and drinking a bit, and, um..."
"...And," grinned Marinette. "It's not like we really have to guess."
"And how about you?" beamed Amy, now that Marinette had put that topic in the air. "Did you get some Adrien time in? Or, more like, did Adrien get some time in..."
"You... could say that," Marinette offered, gliding past the double entendre. "I spent most of the weekend with him... and a little bit with his father, too."
That was a conversation-halter.
"...What," Amy blurted out.
"You met with Gabriel Agreste?" Gail marveled. "Already?"
"Oh my gosh tell me everything!" bubbled Amy, pulling her chair closer.
Marinette smiled in Amy's direction. "Oh, now you want to hear about that instead of the sex?"
"I want to hear about that and the sex," Amy clarified, getting a laugh. "As long as it wasn't sex with his father."
"Ewww! Hell, no," Marinette cringed. "He's about as alluring as a plane crash."
"Now that that's settled..." quipped Gail, "let's slow down. You'd told us that Adrien and his father quite literally had a blowup, and they hadn't spoken since. Did you two go and confront him?"
"Not yet... Adrien wasn't ready for that. So I... um... didn't let him know that I was going to talk with his father."
Amy's jaw dropped, as Gail whistled in quiet appreciation. "Marinette... you are a wonder," she remarked. "As in, I wonder what goes through your mind sometimes! Whatever did you do?"
Needless to say, much of her conversation with Gabriel needed to be redacted, but Marinette did her best not to be obviously evasive as she described it. "I was trying to play peacemaker, without laying wrong on either side. It's up to them if they can ever be half of what they once were... but Adrien had made it clear that he wanted some place in his father's life. Some connection, even if it ended up being just closure. And Gabr... Mr. Agreste said much the same to me."
"If you're on a first-name basis with Gabriel Agreste and you're still working here..." said Amy, shaking her head.
"A dangerous game... but one that sounds like it turned out all right in the end. Something that you have a knack for," Gail smiled. "What did Adrien say to you about it?"
"We talked for half the night once I got home; he was waiting for me there. He'd figured out where I'd gone, but he wasn't mad... I mean, he didn't like it but he understood it. I think he was more worried for me than angry at me," explained Marinette. "But we made up quickly, and enjoyed the rest of the weekend."
"And now we get to the good part," giggled Amy.
"Actually, tonight is the... oops!" Marinette began. She stopped when she realized what she'd said, but knew that there was no putting that genie back in the bottle.
"Tonight's the whaaaat?" Amy grinned.
"And do I even want to know?" added Gail.
"We're getting together tonight, and... uh..."
Marinette felt herself blushing as she said it. Now, how am I supposed to explain THIS? she wondered, thinking back to the night before...
A strange and nervous feeling came over Marinette as she and Nooroo stepped into her kitchen for privacy. What's worrying him? she thought. This isn't usually like him.
"Okay," Nooroo began. "I wish to clarify something first, and Adrien asked me to speak with you about part of this, so... um..."
"I don't think that you're going to offend me, Nooroo. Though you do have me wondering," Marinette assured him. "What's on your mind?"
"I, as you know, am a Kwami," stated Nooroo, amusing Marinette with his formal tone. "And a Kwami is not a human being, or originally of this world. We are fascinated by human behavior in all of its manifestations, especially those that are not for public view... "
"Ah," said Marinette, sensing where this could be going.
"Including their mating rituals, both for procreation and for recreation. It is an area in which many humans show great creativity," Nooroo continued. "But we are not... aroused by what we see in the ways that you are. We are not wired the same way, I suppose you could call it... and we do not have the relevant parts. Nothing even analogous to those, truthfully."
"Nooroo," Marinette replied, softly, "I know that you've watched Adrien and I making love, more than once. Once was by accident, in the living room when you heard a sound. Another time, you and Tikki were peeking from the closet. Tikki lives with me; she has to have seen me naked hundreds of times by now, and she's not a peeper, right? So, no, I am not accusing you of anything bad or dirty; you were just curious about what we were doing."
"And last night, for full disclosure," stammered Nooroo. "The second and third times. I, uh..."
Marinette gave him a glare, but relented after a moment. He's trying, she thought.
"Part of it is the way in which I see the material world; I will be happy to describe it to you sometime in more detail. I am sensitive to both light and to emotional auras... and when you and Adrien are being intimate, the lightshow is irresistible to me. Like a siren's call. Even though I do wish to respect your privacy..."
"We can talk about this again when we're not in the middle of something, okay? Unless this has something to do with your butterflies?" wondered Marinette. "I thought that's what we were all discussing just now."
Nooroo paused. As Marinette watched him, she found herself wondering, ...Is he BLUSHING? He's naturally lavender, so it's hard to tell!
"My powers are keyed to emotions. Something about which, when they were misused by Hawkmoth, you were painfully aware," Nooroo answered. "The stronger the emotional response, the stronger the Akuma would become. That is equally true for positive emotions: courage, joy, yearning, compassion, a need to help... and love. Love may be the strongest of them all, so you can see how you and Adrien are ideal candidates for me."
"Go on..." Marinette told him, raising an eyebrow.
"And you already know that I can transform someone with just a touch, rather than with a host and a butterfly. We did that earlier today," he continued. "I've transformed multiple people at once negatively, as Adrien pointed out, when they were touching the same object. That's how you had to fight the Sapotis, or Oblivio, or that horrible mariachi band thing that one time."
Marinette closed her eyes. "But on the light side of your powers... you don't necessarily need an object," she sighed.
"No, I don't. The targets do have to be touching each other, though. And the more emotional they feel when they are touched by me, the better... and I cannot imagine a more emotional spectacle than... er... how you and Adrien interact."
"So what you are telling me," glared Marinette, "is that you want Adrien and I to make love, with you right next to us, watching us, waiting for just the right moment to transform us in the middle of the act."
"Preferably at a moment of... er... mutual climax," Nooroo managed. "If you think that you can manage that. Ideally. I know that not every couple has the knack, though from what I've witnessed... I've said too much."
"And Tikki and Wayzz ought to be nearby, too, just to monitor the process, I suppose?" Marinette added, with a hint of a smile on her face.
"It would not be a bad idea, for safety's sake. And I assure you, they wouldn't be any more aroused than I would be," mumbled Nooroo. "Which is to say, not at all. Of course."
"Of course," repeated Marinette. "And you don't have to touch anywhere... in particular, right?"
"Oh, no, no," Nooroo babbled. "As long as I can make contact with both of you at once. I can recommend a couple of positions that would maximize..."
Marinette crouched down, feeling herself about to crack up laughing. "I think that you've seen that we're already pretty good at a bunch of positions, thank you very much," she ventured.
"I am aware that this may make you most uncomfortable," Nooroo apologized. "Many humans prefer complete privacy when it comes to intimate relations. Although there was one of my hosts..."
Marinette's laughter stopped abruptly. "Please tell me that Adrien's father isn't an exhibitionist," she pleaded.
"Not while I knew him," Nooroo assured her. "He was as far from that as I could imagine. I think that I only caught him touching himself once, and it might have been by accident."
"Nooroo," Marinette smiled, "if you want this to happen... please keep that mental image as far out of my head as possible for the duration."
"There is one very positive side effect," parried Nooroo, "that I feel that I must inform you about."
He whispered in Marinette's ear...
A moment later, she strode out of the kitchen with Nooroo following her, with three anxious faces waiting for them on the couch.
"Adrien," she declared, "your Kwami has just made me an interesting proposal. An indecent proposal, to be precise. And having heard his logic, I'm inclined to accept."
"You are?" asked Adrien.
"You... are?" repeated Tikki, looking surprised.
"Tell me, love," Marinette smiled as she approached Adrien. "When I found you after all that time, you were in a pretty kinky situation. But have you ever had sex with three others watching you, and one of them helping?"
"N-no?" a startled Adrien replied. "Never. I didn't even know it was an option."
"Are you busy tomorrow night?"
With that memory in mind, Marinette took a deep breath before replying.
"Tonight is going to be something special in that department. I'm sure of it," she began her explanation. "Everything up to now has been wonderful, don't get me wrong... but I just have a strong feeling that tonight will be a real moment for us."
"And, no, Amy," she added quickly, "that does not mean that I've been taking gymnastics classes, or that I'll be breaking out the toy-box, or calling in two more people and a referee."
"All right," Amy allowed, "though I wouldn't say that I've never tried at least two of those. What's the difference, then?"
"I should say that it's obvious," noted Gail. "After talking with Adrien about what happened with his father, your connection is that much stronger now, right?"
"That's where I was going, yeah," agreed Marinette. "He's coming over tonight; we'll turn on the soft music, light a few candles, I'll show off a little something I bought for just such an occasion..."
"I'm guessing lace," Amy ventured. "You don't seem like a skintight leather kind of girl."
That gave Marinette a good laugh inside. Amy, you have no idea how much time I've spent swinging around Paris in a form-fitting outfit! I bet that you never pictured me as a swinger, either...
"I think that he'll approve," Marinette smiled. "Trust me on that."
"I have no doubt of that at all," Gail agreed. "Are you calling out of work tomorrow?"
"I... don't think so?" replied Marinette, looking surprised. "I'm not sick."
"But you will be exhausted, from the sounds of it," grinned Gail. "Or, let me put it another way. Do you think that you'll have both recovered sufficiently to come by my place tomorrow night?"
"Sure... I'll check with Adrien, but I know that he said he should be free," she smiled. "And I know he had a good time meeting all of you last week."
"I, uh... didn't embarrass myself too much that night, did I?" wondered Amy. "Fangirling over him?"
"No, don't worry about that. He's got a good sense of humor about that kind of thing, and from what he told me, it'd had been a while since he'd been recognized like that," Marinette assured her. "And he got through the evening ungroped. By you, at least."
"I'll behave, I promise," Amy grinned. "If there's anything left of him after tonight, at least."
Around six o'clock, Adrien checked his reflection in the mirror for the fourth time, then swigged a cap of breath-freshening mouthwash just to be sure.
"You look fine, I assure you," Nooroo told him. "Nor do I suspect that anything would dissuade your lady-love tonight."
"I am still trying hard to figure out how you talked her into this," Adrien grinned in his direction. "It's one thing for her to know that you've been watching our lovemaking. But it's quite another for her to invite you in with us!"
"Do not get me wrong!" protested Nooroo. "I will not be a participant, per se! I am not going to be... touching either of you in a salacious manner. Or myself! There's nothing there on me to touch!"
"Which is good to know, I guess. For what it's worth, I've never looked down there very closely." Adrien made a point of not looking there now. "So how do Kwamis reproduce?"
"We... don't?" Nooroo replied, reluctantly. "We are born when a new concept emerges in the universe... a new idea of such potency that it rocks the universe. There aren't many of those left, I suspect, though I've been surprised before. And, of course, the Miraculous are something else entirely; they bind us to this plane, but they do not create us."
"About that," Adrien asked, pausing his outfit adjustments. "If Duusu is both trapped with my mother and floating freely after I destroyed the Peacock... how does that work? Is one or the other the 'real' Duusu?"
"I do not know," Nooroo evaded. "Personally, I believe that they both are. A concept can exist in multiple places, after all; our current shapes are related to how humans perceive us and choose to perceive us. Different cultures interpret us in different ways. Duusu may be flickering through the universe, drawn to the next strong source of emotion she can find... or she might be right here watching all of us right now, unable to interact but fully aware. Or something else entirely that we can't know. Plagg was a bit melodramatic that night."
"You think?" Adrien said, rolling his eyes a bit. "Though he had every right to be angry."
"That is between the two of you. I choose not to get in his way when he's sulky," sniffed Nooroo. "Which, as I'm sure you know, can be much of the time. Anyway... as I said, I will not be stimulating you or Marinette. You two do a tremendous job of that on your own! At the moment in which I sense the most heightened emotions, I will touch each of you lightly and transfer power, and we will see what becomes of it. Perhaps Veilpiercer and Unraveler will manifest... but likely something else."
"...Like what?" asked Adrien.
"Again, I cannot know. It depends on the strength of the emotions, the guidance towards 'translating the book' that I may provide, the desires in your subconscious mind... many such factors," Nooroo smiled. "What I do know is that if things go as I suspect they may... this could be a night that neither of you will never forget."
"And what does that mean?"
Nooroo answered that with a silent and knowing smile.
A nervous Marinette darted through every room of her apartment, getting every detail just right, then returning to get every detail even righter.
"Marinette... you are going to blow his mind tonight," Tikki chided her. "You're tidying up things that he will never even look at. If his eyes leave you for more than a minute, I'll be amazed."
"Well... I know that, but this is a big night! The closer we are when Nooroo does his thing, the more power he says that we could channel... so I want this to be perfect," Marinette called back.
"I'm sure it will be," said Tikki. "You're sure that you want to do it this way? With all of our... company?"
"I do prefer a little privacy, but... was Nooroo wrong about anything, the way that he described it?" countered Marinette. "Nooroo powering the two of us so that we can uncover secrets and translate them at the same time. You and Wayzz nearby to help pull us out of it if something goes wrong again, and to provide insight on what it is that we're finding. I would rather have you steer me away from something dangerous than to find it out myself, and then wake up in Cairo or be turned into a newt."
"Fair enough. You've done some strange things since you became Ladybug, I guess this isn't the strangest," Tikki allowed. "And what else was it that he told you that helped convince you?"
"Well..." Marinette replied, feeling herself blush a bit. "Do you remember how Adrien described it when I butterflied him as Lumière? That he felt like I was combined with him, and I felt like a living, feeling part of him? I felt pretty much the same when he butterflied me as Papillon Noir."
"Uh-huh..."
"Now, just imagine... Adrien and I, making love, going over the edge at the same time... and at that instant, I'm in his head and he's in mine, feeling everything the other's feeling at that moment, on top of our own sensations."
Tikki blinked, processing that, then blinked again.
"Boom," Marinette grinned.
"You did take your vitamins, right?" Tikki said, after a moment.
A knock on the door sent Marinette running to it. "Too late now, if I didn't!" she giggled.
Marinette opened the door and instantly knew that she'd made the right decision. "Well, well," she purred. "Look what I found!"
A handsome young man stood before her, dressed for a night on the town... or perhaps just to stay in and look adorable on her couch. A dress shirt and tie, dark slacks, and a jacket slung over his shoulder comprised a classic ensemble.
"I followed you home. Will you keep me?" Adrien asked, equally enchanted by what he saw before him.
The apple of his eye had dressed for the occasion, just as he had. A black party dress, the "little black dress" of fame and folklore, accentuated Marinette's curves. White stockings, black heels, a subtle silver necklace... her blue eyes were the brightest spark of color to be seen, captivating him as always.
"Oh, I think I can make room around here for one more like this," she giggled. "I haven't seen you all dressed up like this for a very long time."
"I had a feeling that it would be worth it," smiled Adrien. "And, obviously, it was."
"Do you know why I like a man with a necktie?" asked Marinette, coyly.
"Why is that?"
Her hand reached out and grasped his tie, tugging on it gently. "Get in here, you," she grinned, leading him inside on his impromptu leash.
A glance at the living room revealed some lit candles, a bottle of wine and two glasses waiting for them.
"I figured that we don't need to rush into things right away," Marinette noted as they approached the couch. Not that I couldn't just tear that off of you right now, she grinned to herself.
"Certainly," Adrien agreed. "I'm here until you kick me out."
"Don't tell me that," Marinette winked. "Or you'll need a change-of-address form."
She stepped out of her heels and settled onto the couch as Adrien opened the wine bottle. "It's nothing very fancy," she told him. "And not too much of it tonight for either of us."
"Ah, so you're not getting me drunk so you can have your way with me?" grinned Adrien, pouring out two glasses.
"No, I want you sober when I do that," Marinette flirted back.
"Someone's in the mood tonight," Adrien parried. "Good."
"How can I not be?" she simmered. "I have you here. A wonderful, romantic evening for two... plus three more, eventually..."
"Speaking of," said Adrien. "Nooroo, do you want to meet up with the other Kwamis for a bit?"
"They're back in the bedroom," gestured Marinette. "Trust me, we won't, er... get started without you. We're just going to talk for a bit."
Nooroo floated out of Adrien's jacket pocket and nodded at her. "That suits me. We will make whatever preparations are needed, if any," he declared, then fluttered off.
"I'm not sure what 'preparations' he's talking about," smiled Marinette, sipping at her wine. "If we go back there and he's set up a trampoline and a trapeze, we're coming back out here."
"He told me what he said that he'd told you," Adrien clarified. "That he will stay out of the way, and only power us up at the right moment. I told him that we do not need any warm-up exercises."
"Oh, I know we don't," cooed Marinette.
She leaned in and kissed him, softly and tenderly, lingering just for a moment. "Just thinking about this had my motor running all day," she smiled.
"That feeling is absolutely mutual," breathed Adrien. "Whether the Book part of it works or not. If it doesn't, we can always try again another time, or another way. But being here with you..."
He watched her melting at his words. "Ever since I fell back into your life... for the first time in a very long time, I've known what I want most. Where everything in my life has been leading me. Where I know that I need to be."
"Exactly," she beamed. "It's a funny feeling that we're also doing this for a reason... like we're on a mission, or something..."
"Hah," laughed Adrien. "Imagine Master Fu telling us, 'Hawkmoth is threatening Paris. Go and make love and power up.'"
"Oh, he'd never," Marinette said, laughing with him. "I think he knew that this was destined... he certainly knew how I felt... but we were kids then, and he knew not to rush things. We'd figure it out someday."
Adrien raised his glass. "To Master Fu, wherever he is," he declared, touching Marinette's glass gently with his. "For changing our lives for the better, in so many ways."
"Agreed," smiled Marinette. "May he be as happy as we are."
She leaned into another kiss... and, this time, there was no chance of it ending any time soon.
In the bedroom, the Kwamis compared notes.
"Are you sure that you're ready for this, Wayzz?" asked Tikki. "The translations may come fast and furious, once they get going."
"If they are reading what they're finding correctly, which would mean that Nooroo's transformations are performing as desired, they should be able to spot most potential wards," Wayzz replied. "But I will be listening intently."
"From the looks of them, there should be no shortages of energy," smiled Nooroo. "They're glowing brightly to my eyes already."
"You might need little sunglasses once they get going," chortled Tikki.
"They are that... athletic?" wondered Wayzz. "Or creative?"
"What do you think?" Tikki asked him.
"I would not know. Master Fu had a bit of a dry spell going on... since around the 1950s, and he was hardly a libertine before that!" Wayzz noted. "I do not have much of a basis for comparison."
"This may prove educational, then," Nooroo declared. "They get high marks for enthusiasm, commitment and artistic merit."
Wayzz stared at Nooroo. "Just for the sake of knowing... all of that talk of 'I know nothing of human arousal' and 'I am simply observing,'" he asked. "You are being completely truthful about that, aren't you?"
Nooroo gasped in indignation. "I certainly am!" he snapped back. "And I'm not the only one here who's been peeking."
"I... have a vested interest in Marinette's happiness," Tikki mumbled, as Wayzz turned in her direction. "And I am very satisfied that Adrien does, as well."
Footsteps were heard in the hall right about then. The Kwamis turned to see Adrien at the doorway, holding Marinette in a bridal carry position, breaking their kiss just long enough to ensure she wouldn't hit her head on the way through.
"As I was saying," Tikki grinned. "The Book of Lore is on the dresser. Good luck to all!"
"Are the two of you remaining close?" Marinette asked Wayzz and Tikki, as Adrien set her back on her feet.
"I am," Tikki said. "Wayzz, that's up to you if you would rather remain outside until the transformation."
Wayzz stared back at her, silently... then muttered, "I will remain here. Just in case."
"Uh-huh," laughed Tikki.
"All right, then. Ground rules. Nooroo, you know what to do and when to do it," Adrien declared. "As for you two, no advice, no heckling, no telling us that we're doing it wrong! And hold your applause until the ride comes to a complete stop."
"We wouldn't dream of it," Wayzz replied, nervously.
"I would... but I'll be good," Tikki smiled.
Marinette turned her back to Adrien, momentarily. "Would you get the zipper, please?" she asked him. Once the deed was done, she looked back over her shoulder with a big smile on her face. "And now..." she breathed.
Slowly - very slowly - Adrien shimmied the black dress off her shoulders, down her body and to the floor, his hands following the contours of her body as he lowered it. As she stepped out of it and turned slowly, giving him a good look, Adrien's eyes went wide. She wore a white lace camisole on top, a garter belt and white stockings, and very little else.
"You are a vision," Adrien encouraged her. "Wow!"
"I was saving this look for a special occasion," blushed Marinette. "I think this qualifies."
As she stepped forward again and kissed him while unbuttoning his shirt, Nooroo moved to the headboard while Tikki motioned Wayzz over to the nearby dresser.
"I hope that you brought some popcorn," Tikki giggled to him. "This may be a while."
"My word!"
Tikki glanced over at Wayzz, whose gaze was riveted on the spectacle before him. Marinette's hands were clutching the sheets tightly as Adrien did his best to make her quiver... and, evidently, his best was more than sufficient. Her eyes were locked onto his, her breathing was heavy, and Wayzz had certainly never heard those sounds from either of them before.
"Inspirational, aren't they?" smiled Tikki.
"That's one way to put it," Wayzz agreed. "I am so used to thinking of them as children, that this was slightly jarring to me at first... but their mutual passion is undeniable. Master Fu called them 'made for each other' at first sight, and as usual, he was quite correct."
"Look at Nooroo!" giggled Tikki, pointing in his direction. "He's like a child at Christmas right now, just watching them. It must be like a fireworks show for his perceptions."
"Indeed," chuckled Wayzz. "But their ardor doesn't surprise me entirely... These two try so hard to please each other, in every way. So why not like this, as well?"
"They pined so strongly for each other when they knew each other before," Tikki said, "and had so many difficulties that kept them apart. It does my heart good to see them like this, free at last to express themselves."
They watched as Marinette flipped Adrien over onto his back in a smooth motion.
"And expressing themselves, they are," Wayzz approved. "As a man I once knew used to sing... the kids are alright."
Tikki turned back to him. "Wait, you knew Roger Daltrey?" she asked.
"Who?" he replied.
"Exactly," smiled Tikki.
"I meant Claude the garbageman down at the local market. Whom did you mean?" asked Wayzz, looking puzzled.
"Never mind," sighed Tikki, pleasantly. "I should have known that Master Fu didn't care for that kind of music. We'd better pay attention... it looks like Nooroo's about to make his move."
While Nooroo was indeed watching them intently, he was the last thing on Marinette and Adrien's minds at that moment. They were face to face, Adrien in a sitting position, Marinette facing him on his lap with her legs wrapped around him. Their movements from there were subtle, but increasingly insistent, and clearly bringing both of them closer to losing control.
"I love you, Marinette," Adrien murmured in a low voice, holding her tightly.
"I love you, Adrien," Marinette shined back. "Yesterday... I know you that didn't ask me for real... but you heard what I said once I caught my breath."
Adrien remembered Marinette in what resembled a bridal gown, and replied, "I saw that you were nervous... but I heard an 'I do.'"
"Someday," she managed, "I'm going to say it again. When the time is right."
"Someday," he told her, "you'll have no doubt of what I'm asking. When we're ready."
They melted into a passionate kiss, still entwined intimately, and as their combined writhing continued to intensify, so did the volume of their vocal output.
"I'm... I'm close," moaned Marinette. "So close."
"M-me, too," Adrien gasped. "Nooroo, if you're gonna..."
"I hear you," Nooroo declared, flying to their side. His eyes were mostly closed, their combined emotion apparently too bright for even his mystic eyes to bear. "Do the two of you accept my power?"
"Yes!" bellowed Adrien.
"YES!" Marinette shouted, even louder.
Just as their movements reached their peak, as their bodies stiffened, and as Marinette let out an incoherent wail... Nooroo leaned forward and touched each of their shoulders, very gently.
There are many in the city of Paris who have put what happened next to intense debate.
Some investigators claimed it to be some sort of mass hallucination - a delusional wave cascading over the area, its provenance unknown. Others suspected a chemical leak, though they could never specify from where or what chemical could have produced the effects. There were some who claimed divine intervention or some sort of similar miracle... and who can say for sure about that, really?
About all they can agree upon is that, on that Monday evening... it most definitely happened.
Tikki opened her eyes, mildly surprised that she still could.
She remembered a blinding white flash... no, a flash came and went in an instant. This was a wave! It was like sitting in your bedroom and having a bomb go off in your hat. She remembered being fearful as it erupted, frightened that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong...
...And, yet, it wasn't anything dire. There was no heat, no concussion, no disintegration effects... she had fallen off the box she had been sitting on, but was otherwise unmoved, lying on Marinette's dresser and looking straight up at the ceiling. She felt down her tiny body to make sure that all of the parts were still there, and they were intact.
She looked to her left and saw Wayzz in a similar state, flat on his own back, a tiny bit of drool escaping from his open mouth. He looked unharmed, but also thoroughly disconnected from coherent thought patterns.
"Wayzz?" she managed. "Are you all right?"
Her voice brought him around somewhat. "Tikki?" he mumbled. "I... I am, I think. Are you?"
"I am. Actually... I feel wonnnnnderful."
She had to admit; she really, really did. There was some dissociation, as if her body and mind were separate entities and the latter was studying the former's capacities... but all in all, she felt far more euphoric than anything else. A sense of relaxation swept over her; a calmness, with a knowledge that nothing was wrong nor could possibly be wrong anywhere near her.
"I haven't felt like this in a thousand years," Wayzz added, in amazement. "Perhaps ten thousand. Or more."
"What in the blue hell just happened?"
Wayzz turned his head towards her, the small movement clearly an effort for him. "...I think that the COSMOS just had an orgasm," he said, flatly.
Tikki stared at him, blankly. "I beg your pardon?" she deadpanned.
"You felt it," said Wayzz, matter-of-factly. "Extraordinarily positive emotions, physical pleasure at its strongest, emotional bonds, excitement, passion, love! All swirling together, a combined target of a magnitude which Nooroo might never have contacted before. It didn't just transform them... it exploded!"
"Oh, my goodness...!" Tikki realized, whirling around. "Are they..."
The first thing that she saw was Nooroo, apparently having been thrown onto a nearby pillow. Weakly, Tikki forced herself to wobble to his side; he was physically whole, but unconscious. His mouth hung open, and the look on his face spoke more of utter rapture than terror, despite his unresponsiveness.
"Come on, come on... wake up!" she muttered, shaking him gently.
"Is he all right?" a reverberating voice intoned. "That was certainly not our intent. It seems that none of us knew our true inner strength."
Tikki turned to face the voice, and was startled into silence.
The two figures before her certainly resembled Marinette and Adrien, still entwined in the seated position they had been in moments before... but infused with a glowing golden-and-red power. Like a red-hot coal, the glow was somewhat muted but only hinted at the raw fires churning within. A bedsheet wound itself around their lower bodies and rotated around them slowly, glowing in the same manner, as if to grant them a small modicum of modesty.
They were also hovering in the air together, nearly a meter above the mattress.
"Marinette? Adrien? Are you all right?" she asked, slowly. "You're in control of this?"
"We are two and are one," they said, simultaneously. Their voices could be distinguished as male and female, but hung in the air with a distinct heaviness.
"We are in control, yes. Have no fear, Tikki," added Marinette, smiling down at her. "Nooroo has granted us a gift beyond our wildest dreams."
"If my father had known that Nooroo could do THIS," Adrien laughed, "he might have never bothered to chase the Cat and Ladybug. Nothing could have prepared me for this!"
"I did my best," Marinette answered him, teasingly.
"And so you did, my love," Adrien replied. "Nevertheless... you are not overwhelmed?"
"I didn't say THAT," Marinette giggled. "Words can't describe this feeling!"
A small voice from the dresser indicated that Wayzz was slightly mobile again. "Nooroo, what have you done?" he mumbled, very quietly, then addressed the floating lovers. "You are certain that you are in control of yourselves, and we do not need to intervene?" he asked them. "What are your powers in this form?"
"Understanding," replied Marinette. "Of ourselves, of each other... of everything that we can imagine."
"Of how all things should be," smiled Adrien.
"You're omniscient?" boggled Tikki.
"No, I wouldn't say that," said Adrien. "We do not know everything that there is to know. More like... we share insight into all that is around us."
"Shall we demonstrate?" Marinette asked him, and when he nodded, she waved her hand in the air. The Book of Lore launched itself off of her dresser, hovered in a golden energy ball before them, and opened to its first page, which glowed slightly with a blue tint.
"Do you see?" she asked Tikki and Wayzz. "The secret text that I found before... and a second secret that I'd missed!"
Abruptly, she burst into laughter. Adrien looked at her inquisitively, studied the page, and started laughing himself.
"What a sense of humor the Guardians had!" he chuckled. Turning to the curious Kwamis, he added, "It's a note about the ancient Ladybug shown here... but also kind of a pun, a play on words. Quite clever!"
"So you can read it? All of it?" wondered Wayzz. "Do we need to get water and clove oil and the other things that we used yesterday?"
"No need," grinned Marinette. "With us like this, no secrets can escape my sight. Do be a dear and write these down, my love?"
"My pleasure."
Adrien gestured towards one of Marinette's blank notebooks, joining the Book of Lore in the energy ball. They raised their joined hands towards the books... and as Marinette spoke aloud from the Book of Lore, emitting sounds both recognizable and unknown to Tikki, words appeared on the pages of Adrien's book.
"Be careful!" hissed Tikki. "I mean, you seem to know what you're doing, but..."
"Thank you, my friend," said Adrien. "We will avoid the traps by simply not reading them."
"And how will you know which are the traps within?" Wayzz queried.
Marinette tapped her glowing head. "Insight," she winked. "Watch!"
The pages of the book began to flip faster, then faster still... as did the notebooks. Wayzz and Tikki stared in awe as the golden figures reached the back cover within the next two minutes.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Adrien asked.
"Well, that one spell COULD have put us into suspended animation," Marinette chided him. "Good thing that we skipped over it, huh?"
"So," intoned Adrien. "Now what shall we do?"
"I have an idea," Marinette cooed, giving him an idea of what she meant with a caressing hand and a sultry glance.
"An excellent idea," Adrien agreed. "And no time like the present!"
"Um..."
Tikki watched as the pair rose into the air a little higher, the golden bedsheet falling down and returning to its normal cloth state. Their figures entwined once more, beginning a horizontal dance in mid-air, turning and writhing and emitting little giggly noises...
A hand reached out and grabbed Tikki's shoulder. "We should leave now," Wayzz told her. "We have demigods at play before us - and can we say that they have not earned it?"
"But... but... that!" mumbled Tikki, helplessly.
"Let me put it another way, then. They could emit another pulse of cosmic passion at any moment. Do you want to be at point-blank range when they do?" Wayzz smiled. "We should see if the rest of the neighborhood is still standing. And the Miracle Box! And we need to get Nooroo out of here so he doesn't have a seizure when they do pulse again! The poor thing's still overloaded."
"...You're right," Tikki said, shaking her head and clearing her thoughts. "Let's do this, while we can."
Together, they lifted Nooroo up and gently carried him into the closet, where the Miracle Box resided. They pushed the door shut with a mighty shove, the golden glow still shining through the slats on the closet door.
"Do you think this is far enough?" wondered Tikki.
"I have no idea. For now, I'll take him inside," Wayzz said, "and see if the Box sheltered the other Kwamis. Can you check on Audrey and the neighbors?"
"I'm on it," Tikki declared.
She touched Nooroo's forehead gently, watching him still slumbering. "It's a good thing that your transformations are temporary," she told him. "But how much energy do you think they'll need to burn off to revert to normal?"
Wayzz sighed with a smile. "It may be a looooong night," he replied.